Transcription
Teachers are noticing something disturbing in classrooms across America. Everywhere right now, teachers are saying the same thing. Kids can't read. And honestly, I think a lot of parents are shocked hearing that. Because when you hear can't read, you picture a little kid struggling with ABCs. But teachers are talking about middle schoolers, high schoolers, even college students. Now, obviously, this isn't every kid. There are still amazing students, great parents, fantastic teachers out there, but something definitely feels different lately. Attention spans, motivation, screens, reading, even just getting kids to care about learning.
So, in this video, I want to react to teachers, parents, and other people talking about what they're seeing right now in schools. Because whether you agree with them or not, this conversation is getting bigger and bigger. This person is asking, "People often mention that students are losing their ability to read and write like they used to. Did you notice any decline in your last years of teaching?"
"So, I started teaching in '92. I retired in 2024 and I noticed a significant decline. And I will say there are a few different factors. I talked in another video about one of the factors being that students are not reading anymore. They're not reading on their own. They're not reading for class assignments. I stopped giving independent reading because students were just not doing it and were happy to take the zero or the F or the D in order to not read the book. So they were actively trying not to read anything. I started reading to them which definitely did help but when you're not reading you're also not expanding your vocabulary and the way that you communicate also narrows as well. And another factor that I started to notice, especially around like 2022, was um a lot of students just don't care. And that's heartbreaking. It really, really is because they don't care that their grades are low. They don't care that they're not reading. And when I had honest conversations with some of my students, I got the constant refrain that nothing is going to work for them anyway. They're never going to be able to get ahead. They're never going to be able to own a home. They're never going to be able to raise a family like their parents and grandparents did. So, why even try? And of course, I did all my usual pep talks and I I try to encourage them in tangible ways. But when they have that feeling in high school and when education isn't valued or pushed at home, that's a deadly combination for a kid to say, 'Why am I going to read this? Who cares if I know how to write a paragraph, a sentence, because I'm never going to need it?' I'm really curious if other teachers have seen this in their career as well. I will target the big decline starting around 2021-2022, but I saw another decline in the value of education and the um desire to learn reading and writing happen around like 2016. Has anybody else experienced that in the classroom? And if you were a student who used to feel that way and you don't feel that way anymore, what made it change?"
"The part that hit me the hardest isn't even the reading. It's the students saying, 'Why try?' That's a really heavy mindset for teenagers to already have. And I think a lot of teachers are seeing that loss of motivation, not just academically, but generally."
"Here's my hot take on why reading is bad, so bad in America today. For one, electronics. Children are put on a tablet. They're put on a TV screen. They have phones at the right age of six and seven. They watch they they don't read anything. They don't watch regular TV. They don't see commercials. They are glued to a screen 24/7 with instant gratification. They don't know how to be bored. They don't know how to use their imagination. In return, they cannot hold a conversation, which plays a part in reading and writing. Whether you believe that or not, they cannot hold a steady conversation. They do not know how to be bored. They do not know how to use their imagination. They need something to constantly entertain them 24/7. So, when they get in a school building and they're sitting in these seats right here, because they are not constantly entertained and constantly shown something to grasp their attention that they like, they cannot pay attention. Next, number two, uninvolved parents. Okay, parents who do not read with their children at home, do not do their homework with them. Do not um work with your child outside, you know, have conversations with them. Take them places. Tell them what things are. Talk to them like they're, you know, older than what they are. Three, hate to say this, but parents who don't not who do not want to take accountability, okay? When their child gets home from school, it's going to take the extra mile for you to sit down and work with your child, for you to work to uh see what your child does not understand. Have them build their fluency because they cannot read, but you don't know that. Okay? Sitting down with your child every single night takes time away from the parent to do what they want to do and sit down and do what they need to do with their with their children. Four. Okay. The second the child starts yelling, it is no longer, 'Well, what can I do at home?' It is now become the problem, the teacher's problem. 'Well, you have them for eight hours a day, so it's your job to figure it out. And if my child fails, that's on you.' That is incorrect. I have them for 90 minutes a day, not eight hours. They have to go to lunch. They have to go to specials. They have to go to recess, which all of which the second that gets taken away, that's when parents start to care. Okay? So, the problem is is that we have uninvolved parents, constant screen time, okay, and children who do not know how to be bored. And in return, when we're not putting in the work at home, when we're shoved to screen, when we don't have conversations with our children, they come to school and they are behind. It takes work. It takes extra time. It is hard, but it is a must. And that is why we are seeing such a decline today in reading."
"I know some people will disagree with parts of that, but the screen time conversation is becoming impossible to ignore now. A lot of kids today are used to constant simulation 24/7 and then school feels slow compared to TikToks, YouTube shorts, games, and scrolling."
"So yesterday I came to the realization my students can't read. That is the tragic truth. Um, that's not good. Sorry. That is a tragic truth. And I struggle with being told that I have to focus on certain standards on grade level text when my kids are not reading grade level. And I just don't really know how to navigate that. Like I see they're struggling. They're not going to read because they don't understand what they're reading. You're going to give them a test with a text on it that they don't understand. So, they're not going to attempt it because then that makes them feel a specific type of way. Um, they don't want to struggle and I get that. I do. Um, but at the same time, they're not they're not going to get better either. So, it's like a catch-22. Do I do I push them and try to get them to understand grade level text or do I come kind of down to their level and try to show them the standards on a text they do understand? Like is that a possibility? Like I don't know. It's a really difficult decision um to make as a teacher because you're told that they need to be reading grade level texts but at the end of the day they don't understand the grade level text. So in reality like what are we doing?"
"I think a lot of teachers relate to this because there's always pressure to stay on grade level. But what do you do when students are years behind academically? That's one of the hardest parts of teaching right now."
"I did not realize how bad the iPad Kid epidemic was until yesterday. We've all heard of the issues with these kids that are being raised on iPads and the parents blaming teachers and not being hands-on in their academics. But when I tell you I was absolutely flabbergasted at the interaction that I had with a child yesterday, I just have no words for it. I'm a bartender at a resort and this family came up to the bar to order their food. One of the kids who's about 8 or 9 years old asked what flavor of Dip and Dots we had. So, I handed her a menu. This way she could read the flavors and I was going to continue helping the rest of the party. When I tell you that I handed her the menu and she looks at me dead in the eyes and goes, 'I can't read.' I was left absolutely speechless for a few seconds. You're going to tell me around second, third grade she can't read. I truthfully did not believe what I was hearing and that's just frightening."
"What's wild is we are hearing these stories outside schools now too. Teachers, parents, restaurant workers, coaches, church leaders. A lot of people are noticing the same thing independently."
"Elementary school kids are not reading. Kids are not reading. Kids cannot read. It doesn't matter if your child's at an A school or if your child's at a D school or if your child's at a charter school or a private school. I have seen kids at all areas, they all struggle. They all struggle because they don't have exposure and they don't have consistency with reading. We can blame the Department of Education. We can blame the literacy rates been at an all-time high. We can blame the schools, the teachers, but education teacher of four years. I specifically teach kids with learning disabilities how to read and to read accurately. We're not talking about teaching kids to read with special education disabilities. We're talking about teaching kids to read that have not had that exposure and that just cannot read and no environmental factors included. Exposure and consistency. These two things are most important when reading. And these kids are not exposed to reading at a young age and they do not have consistent reading. Whether that's at school, at home, they don't have enough exposure of reading in general. Perception of teaching kids to read is it is a teacher's job to teach their children to read. It is a school's job to teach their children to read. Have you been in a public education classroom recently? Teacher to student ratio makes it nearly impossible to differentiate all different reading levels consistently, and I'm talking every single day for targeted reading instruction. You can have the most experienced and most knowledgeable reading expert teaching your child. If you are not doing it consistently, and I mean at least four times a week, 15 to 20 minutes a session, it's not going to be effective. If you have elementary school kids that are reading at grade level or even below grade level, get them a tutor. Get them extra support to give them those skills to have them be successful with reading. Reading is not meant to be natural, but you need consistency, exposure, and somebody that is qualified and knows the science of reading for it to be successful for any child in a short amount of time."
"That part about exposure and consistency really stood out to me. I think sometimes people want one thing to blame, schools, phones, teachers, parents, curriculum. But reading is one of those things that needs constant practice. And honestly, a teacher with 30 kids in a classroom can only do so much alone."
"Everybody wants to bash on Gen Z, but did you guys know that Gen Alpha can't read? I was talking to one of our church kids and he like very boldly told me, 'Yeah, I don't know how to read and neither does anybody in my class.' Mind you, this kid is starting fifth grade in August. Okay? And I thought he was playing, so I told him, you know, kids will do anything for money. So, I was like I was like, 'I'll give you $10 if you could tell me what this bag says.' It said chips in giant letters. And I said, 'You could sound it out. You could try spelling it or whatever to help you read it.' Cuz I thought he was lying. So, this dude goes C H I P S. And I go, 'What does that say?' And he goes, 'Potatoes.' Y'all, we're cooked as a society."
"This story is actually scary, if true. And I think that's why these videos are blowing up online right now. People are starting to realize this isn't just kids being lazy. Something deeper is happening."
"The kids can't read. The kids can't write. The kids can't do this. Neither can the adults. The kids can't have critical conversations. They're not critical thinkers. Neither are the adults. So if we really, really want to talk about it, we're expecting children to be able to do things that adults can't do. We're expecting for children to have deductive reasoning. We're expecting children to have basic levels of respect. We're expecting children to be able to operate and engage within the system and the way that it works and the way that it doesn't work. When we have millions and millions and millions of adults as proof that it doesn't work and then you have people like myself who come onto the internet and say, 'Yeah, no, education is political. Access to education is political. Access to the type of education that you receive depending on your socioeconomic status which heavily aligns with race unfortunately in this country still today because that is how the system operates and that is how our society is structured. We come on the internet and we say hey yeah maybe we should reimagine this. Hey yeah maybe we should think about the social and emotional development of the child so that they have the wherewithal and the capacity to do the things that we want them to do. But then we recognize that the people who are in the positions of power don't have the skills that we want the children to get. And they also don't benefit from the skills that we want children to get. So we let them make money off of standardized exams that don't assess students on the things that are actually going to help them be successful. And then we yell at the children for not benefiting from a system that doesn't work for them and hasn't worked for them continuously because we can see that through the literacy problem that we have not only with the children but also with the adults in this country. Yeah, it's fascinating. Mhm. Yeah."
"I actually think this perspective is important too because sometimes online discussions turn into kids are bad, parents are bad, teachers are bad. But realistically, there are probably multiple things happening at the same time."
"Everybody's talking about how kids can't read. Like I see it everywhere. Kids can't read. Literacy rates all-time high. I just saw an article about how college professors are now reporting that their kids can't read. We could talk about the education system. We could talk about, you know, teaching reading the curriculum. Don't get me started. I wrote a 29-page paper about choosing complex reading materials to teach reading. We could talk about it if you want. Let me know. But I have a question for grown-ups. Um, and I mean this nicely. Just have you ever thought about how maybe kids aren't reading 'cause they never see anyone else reading? Are you reading? Like do you actually like when you get home and you're sitting and spending time with your family, do you guys like sit down and read? I don't know. Maybe kids just don't have enough modeled behavior. Maybe we should start reading. I haven't read in a really long time, so drop it in the comments. What are you reading right now?"
"That's honestly a fair question. Kids copy what they see. If nobody around them reads, it probably starts feeling like reading is just school work instead of something normal people actually do. The New York Times published an article this week that was talking about how kids in school rarely read whole books anymore. Apparently, in a lot of school systems, teachers are being told to specifically teach excerpts, not entire texts. Even in my high school AP English classes, we used excerpts, but it was only in very specific scenarios. And now, high schoolers are graduating high school having never fully read an entire book. And they're going into these college spaces, having to take freshman, sophomore level English courses. And professors are noticing that they are not able to digest whole texts. This scares me for two reasons. One, we are entering a time where a lot of children are being raised by parents who have never read a book. The amount of adults that I speak to and interact with, not only on TikTok, but also like in real life, that don't read on a regular basis, that don't give a about reading, and they are raising children. Number two, if school systems continue to prioritize teaching excerpts and not whole books, we are going to enter a literacy crisis that has never before been seen. And to think that not even in schools, children are not being forced, for lack of a better word, to interact with a text from the first page to the last is terrifying."
"This part is crazy to think about. There are students graduating who mainly read excerpts, slides, summaries, short form content. But sitting with one long book from beginning to end is becoming less common. Honestly, I don't think this conversation is about blaming one group, not just parents or teachers or the kids. I think a lot of people are just noticing that something has changed. Maybe it's the screens, maybe it's motivation, the school system, attention spans, maybe it's all of it combined. But I do think this is one of the biggest conversations happening in education right now. So, I'm curious what you think. If you're a teacher, what are you seeing in your classroom? If you're a parent, have you noticed changes in attention spans or reading habits? And if you're a student, honestly, what does the school feel like for you right now? Let me know in the comments down below. Like and subscribe for more teacher content."