“I am tired of everyone blaming COVID.”

I don’t have kids.

I don’t work in a school.

Man with glasses in a jacket with a fur collar indoors, with art on the wall behind him

I don’t follow educational trends.

“, has earned 5.2 million views as of the time of writing, for instance.

They don’t know what state they live in.

Woman in glasses speaking and gesturing with her hands

They don’t know what region of the country they’re in.”

In response,u/bigbluewhalessaid, “10-year educator.

It’s so much worse than you think.

Woman holding glasses in front of her eyes, looking surprised

And we tested every three months.

Many of them can’t read most words and simply guess from context clues.

Give them a brand new word, and they can’t sound it out.”

Arthur from "Arthur" holding up his library card

It all sounded so extreme to me.

Here’s what they said:

“It isn’t great.

Maturity levels are at an all-time low.

Woman in a sweater and lanyard looking puzzled in a classroom setting

“So, yeah.

It’s a bit of a hot mess right now.”

“Our real concern is attention span.

Matilda, a character from Roald Dahl's story, shown smiling with a book and reading on the floor

We do all we can but constantly feel like its an increasingly uphill struggle.”

ruthruthruth

“Substitute teacher.

Yes, its true.

Cartoon characters Bart and Lisa Simpson in a classroom holding papers

Ive encountered this up to in 4th grade.

Started subbing last year.”

brennab443c3b68b

“Current high school teacher here.

Arthur and D.W. from "Arthur" looking at a paper with a grade of 40% and a note "See me after class."

On benchmarks, my incoming students (in 9th grade) average a 3rd or 4th grade reading level.

I have kids who miss 90+ days out of 180 school days per year.

Id say our average is probably 40-50 missed school days per year.”

Man in glasses concentrating on screen, hands on temples, showing effort or concern

quibbler

“I’m honestly torn.

I could go on and on.

They are just constantly bored and disengaged and it’s really frustrating.”

I see kids who can’t problem-solve social situations on their own and require adult intervention for everything.

“I see kids in younger grades enjoying crafts and making puppets and dolls.

Firstly, I am tired of everyone blaming COVID.

Thirdly, literacy is low, but lets be honest this is nothing new.”

You used to ‘teach to the middle,’ which meant teaching at the level of the B/C-average students.

But things have shifted so that most students are either in the A/B group, or D/F group.

There’s no longer the middle core like there used to be.”

“Do you agree with that?”

collapse

“I’m a former high school teacher.

There are numerous things I can speak to, but let’s talk about attention span.

Even the worst students at the time could pay attention to a TV.”

They’re used to getting their information through short-form videos.

I don’t want to blame the kids too much on that end.

degobrah

“Yes, it’s that bad.

What do I write?'

The writing issues stem from their terrible reading skills.

Its not just reading, its information literacy in general.

ah1758

Thanks to the teachers of theBuzzFeed Communitywho took the time to respond to the post!

Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.