My TikTok feed is full of American teachers complaining about how their kids can’t read or write. Like high schoolers who can’t write a short paragraph or can’t comprehend simple directions.

I was talking about this with a friend of mine who teaches at the literacy program for a local college and they had two comments:

  1. Those TikTok teachers almost universally blame the students for their deficits rather than seeing the trend and blaming the systems. Specifically, my friend blames the curriculum being written by textbook corporations and the decision to make the kids stop learning to read in 3rd grade.
  2. My friend is seeing similar, though less drastic similarities in their college students. Mind you, they mainly teach graduate courses, so they are teaching people who are usually already in the field teaching.

And I’m just left thinking… at what point do the illiterate students become illiterate teachers?

  • RedSturgeon [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
    11·
    19 days ago

    Yeah they have been gutting schools and education in my country also.

    Now they’re talking about disastrous literacy levels, while deporting 80 yo people for not being able to “integrate”.

    But Neolibs can’t address the issue, the only thing they can do is change the curriculum (lower the standards of passing) or become reactionaries and blame DEI etc.