40% of 4th graders cannot read in 2026

[Anonymous]

It’s not that hard PP. Just order the first 5 books in a series from the library and pick them up when they come in. Don’t complicate things. If your daughter loses interest because she might have to wait for a book, I feel sorry for you. My kids didn’t know any other way and they survived. So will yours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents need to get off their phones and get their kids to the libraries and read to their kids. Like, every week. Takes out books and bring them home, and read every single night. Boom, kids will start reading.

Good luck with that. Libraries just don't have the books. My kid loves the popular series and the library will have book 2, book 5 and no others. It just killed her motivation to read and made the library inaccessible for us. I'm not interested in ebooks at her age because school already sticks her on a computer all day. This is super privileged, but the way we got my dd reading last year was that we budgeted $500 and just bought every book she wanted. All the Percy Jacksons, all the Harry Potters, all the who was/what is books, all the series of unfortunate events. We put her to bed at 8pm and said she could read until 8:30, but could do nothing else. At 8:30 she begged for 9pm which of course we granted. On non school nights she can stay up as late as she'd like reading. My dd is in 4th grade and I'm so grateful that she turned it around last year.

My dd could read, it was that she couldn't maintain the attention span to finish a book because she's been trained by schools to be on screens. She's definitely finishing at least 1 book a week now.

And I do like libraries, I play the library game with requesting books for myself, but it's a lot of work for an adult. Kids can't do that and would lose steam when they couldn't get book 2 as fast as they wanted.

Omg. Agree. Our public library is a huge PIA. Items I put on hold take several weeks to come in. The shortest turn around I’ve had was 2 weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think we can blame parents. It’s not fair to expect parents to spend an hour a day tutoring what should be taught in the 7 hours they’re in school daily.

I blame edtech. Get rid of the laptops and force reading from paper books and textbooks. It’s not the same to read on a screen.

Parents who rely totally on the school to teach everything are definitely to blame. But yes, there should be a return to books and textbooks.

I’m sorry but this is a horrible attitude. The schools should be responsible for teaching! That’s not a controversial opinion! It worked well for many decades. Kids learned to read, write, do math, they learned facts, and did science experiments, etc. We need only look at the education statistics in past censuses here: https://educationdata.org/education-attainment-statistics

1950 census: children in school were silent generation. Only 34% of adults had a HS diploma.
1960 census: children in school were baby boomers. 41% of adults had a HS diploma.
1970 census: children in school were the youngest baby boomers and oldest Gen X. 55% of adults had a HS diploma. (Baby boomers were driving a lot of the increase in HS graduation rates and they generally did not have school age children by 1970).
1980 census: children in school were Gen X. 68% of adults had a HS diploma.

The point is we don’t get to relatively high levels of educational attainment in the US until 1980! Do you really think non-HS graduate mom and dad were extensively working with their kids in 1950 to teach them to read? No, because that was the school’s job. The best you were going to get was parents reading simple picture books to their young kids and not every household even had that.

This is to say nothing of the pre-1950s years in educational attainment. Kids in public school often had illiterate parents or parents who could read at a basic level, or immigrant parents still learning English. But they still learned to read in school because the schools actually taught it.

All of those parents in previous generations who did not get advanced education darn well expected their kids to sit down and do homework, to bring home decent grades, to behave well in class and to use the library, even if they themselves did not provide tutoring to their kids.

Maybe immigrant parents. But the American middle class parents of to 70s-90s were not involved much. I was maybe read picture books as a preschooler. But no one was checking on my homework, helping me study for tests, or teaching me anything at all academic at home, ever. I came home to an empty house, let myself in, prepped dinner on occasion, and watched TV until parents got home. That was pretty much what everyone I knew did as well. We never went to the public library either. The only books I had were the ones I checked out from our school library- which was frequently, I feel like we went twice per week, whole class, and could ask to go in between with a pass. Most public schools don’t even have functional libraries where kids can check out books at least weekly. There was no Kumon and RSM centers. We all went on to college, some of us very good colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think we can blame parents. It’s not fair to expect parents to spend an hour a day tutoring what should be taught in the 7 hours they’re in school daily.

I blame edtech. Get rid of the laptops and force reading from paper books and textbooks. It’s not the same to read on a screen.

Parents who rely totally on the school to teach everything are definitely to blame. But yes, there should be a return to books and textbooks.

I’m sorry but this is a horrible attitude. The schools should be responsible for teaching! That’s not a controversial opinion! It worked well for many decades. Kids learned to read, write, do math, they learned facts, and did science experiments, etc. We need only look at the education statistics in past censuses here: https://educationdata.org/education-attainment-statistics

1950 census: children in school were silent generation. Only 34% of adults had a HS diploma.
1960 census: children in school were baby boomers. 41% of adults had a HS diploma.
1970 census: children in school were the youngest baby boomers and oldest Gen X. 55% of adults had a HS diploma. (Baby boomers were driving a lot of the increase in HS graduation rates and they generally did not have school age children by 1970).
1980 census: children in school were Gen X. 68% of adults had a HS diploma.

The point is we don’t get to relatively high levels of educational attainment in the US until 1980! Do you really think non-HS graduate mom and dad were extensively working with their kids in 1950 to teach them to read? No, because that was the school’s job. The best you were going to get was parents reading simple picture books to their young kids and not every household even had that.

This is to say nothing of the pre-1950s years in educational attainment. Kids in public school often had illiterate parents or parents who could read at a basic level, or immigrant parents still learning English. But they still learned to read in school because the schools actually taught it.

All of those parents in previous generations who did not get advanced education darn well expected their kids to sit down and do homework, to bring home decent grades, to behave well in class and to use the library, even if they themselves did not provide tutoring to their kids.

Maybe immigrant parents. But the American middle class parents of to 70s-90s were not involved much. I was maybe read picture books as a preschooler. But no one was checking on my homework, helping me study for tests, or teaching me anything at all academic at home, ever. I came home to an empty house, let myself in, prepped dinner on occasion, and watched TV until parents got home. That was pretty much what everyone I knew did as well. We never went to the public library either. The only books I had were the ones I checked out from our school library- which was frequently, I feel like we went twice per week, whole class, and could ask to go in between with a pass. Most public schools don’t even have functional libraries where kids can check out books at least weekly. There was no Kumon and RSM centers. We all went on to college, some of us very good colleges.

Exactly. Parents were never that involved. And the kids turned out fine. Families were bigger, parents were working, and the public schools did their job with very little parental oversight. What changed? Why are parents required to pick up all the slack because schools aren’t getting it done? I send my kids to private school because it’s the only thing that resembles what a public school education used to look like decades ago. It’s not that the parents are different, something else is going on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think we can blame parents. It’s not fair to expect parents to spend an hour a day tutoring what should be taught in the 7 hours they’re in school daily.

I blame edtech. Get rid of the laptops and force reading from paper books and textbooks. It’s not the same to read on a screen.

It's not fair to ask parents to... parent? Please.

If you can't spend an hour a day reading to or with your kid, asking them what they're reading, reviewing with them what they learned that day in school, and talking to them about your day, you are failing as a parent.

You need to read to your children. Read a lot. It can be in English or in another language. Just read. An hour per day is not a lot to ask. It can be 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes at night if that's easier. But you, as a parent, should absolutely be spending at least an hour per day "tutoring" (including reading to) your children.

I think most parents do that. They read, play games, watch movies, all helpful. But school is where most of the work should be done.

Parents need to work with their kids at home.

When did this start? My parents never worked with me at home. When did this become a thing that the parents do all the work at home that used to happen in school?

It started with the push for the inclusive classrooms and when disciplinary actions loosened up significantly in the name of equity. Classrooms started having too many kids that were incapable of meeting grade level requirements and/or had significant behavioral problems. This made it impossible for teacher to teach entire class the material required at the pace required to complete. Then EdTech comes along and at least makes the kids not annoying the teachers all day to the same extent and takes the burden off the teacher of having to teach the material. But again- no one is learning much, but at least teachers are happier they have a little more classroom control and less work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think we can blame parents. It’s not fair to expect parents to spend an hour a day tutoring what should be taught in the 7 hours they’re in school daily.

I blame edtech. Get rid of the laptops and force reading from paper books and textbooks. It’s not the same to read on a screen.

Parents who rely totally on the school to teach everything are definitely to blame. But yes, there should be a return to books and textbooks.

I’m sorry but this is a horrible attitude. The schools should be responsible for teaching! That’s not a controversial opinion! It worked well for many decades. Kids learned to read, write, do math, they learned facts, and did science experiments, etc. We need only look at the education statistics in past censuses here: https://educationdata.org/education-attainment-statistics

1950 census: children in school were silent generation. Only 34% of adults had a HS diploma.
1960 census: children in school were baby boomers. 41% of adults had a HS diploma.
1970 census: children in school were the youngest baby boomers and oldest Gen X. 55% of adults had a HS diploma. (Baby boomers were driving a lot of the increase in HS graduation rates and they generally did not have school age children by 1970).
1980 census: children in school were Gen X. 68% of adults had a HS diploma.

The point is we don’t get to relatively high levels of educational attainment in the US until 1980! Do you really think non-HS graduate mom and dad were extensively working with their kids in 1950 to teach them to read? No, because that was the school’s job. The best you were going to get was parents reading simple picture books to their young kids and not every household even had that.

This is to say nothing of the pre-1950s years in educational attainment. Kids in public school often had illiterate parents or parents who could read at a basic level, or immigrant parents still learning English. But they still learned to read in school because the schools actually taught it.

All of those parents in previous generations who did not get advanced education darn well expected their kids to sit down and do homework, to bring home decent grades, to behave well in class and to use the library, even if they themselves did not provide tutoring to their kids.

Maybe immigrant parents. But the American middle class parents of to 70s-90s were not involved much. I was maybe read picture books as a preschooler. But no one was checking on my homework, helping me study for tests, or teaching me anything at all academic at home, ever. I came home to an empty house, let myself in, prepped dinner on occasion, and watched TV until parents got home. That was pretty much what everyone I knew did as well. We never went to the public library either. The only books I had were the ones I checked out from our school library- which was frequently, I feel like we went twice per week, whole class, and could ask to go in between with a pass. Most public schools don’t even have functional libraries where kids can check out books at least weekly. There was no Kumon and RSM centers. We all went on to college, some of us very good colleges.

Exactly. Parents were never that involved. And the kids turned out fine. Families were bigger, parents were working, and the public schools did their job with very little parental oversight. What changed? Why are parents required to pick up all the slack because schools aren’t getting it done? I send my kids to private school because it’s the only thing that resembles what a public school education used to look like decades ago. It’s not that the parents are different, something else is going on.

Do you really think kids turn out fine who cannot read and write and do basic math?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents need to get off their phones and get their kids to the libraries and read to their kids. Like, every week. Takes out books and bring them home, and read every single night. Boom, kids will start reading.

Good luck with that. Libraries just don't have the books. My kid loves the popular series and the library will have book 2, book 5 and no others. It just killed her motivation to read and made the library inaccessible for us. I'm not interested in ebooks at her age because school already sticks her on a computer all day. This is super privileged, but the way we got my dd reading last year was that we budgeted $500 and just bought every book she wanted. All the Percy Jacksons, all the Harry Potters, all the who was/what is books, all the series of unfortunate events. We put her to bed at 8pm and said she could read until 8:30, but could do nothing else. At 8:30 she begged for 9pm which of course we granted. On non school nights she can stay up as late as she'd like reading. My dd is in 4th grade and I'm so grateful that she turned it around last year.

My dd could read, it was that she couldn't maintain the attention span to finish a book because she's been trained by schools to be on screens. She's definitely finishing at least 1 book a week now.

And I do like libraries, I play the library game with requesting books for myself, but it's a lot of work for an adult. Kids can't do that and would lose steam when they couldn't get book 2 as fast as they wanted.

Omg. Agree. Our public library is a huge PIA. Items I put on hold take several weeks to come in. The shortest turn around I’ve had was 2 weeks.

Oh, and our local library is practically a homeless shelter now too. Bedbug outbreaks and all

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think we can blame parents. It’s not fair to expect parents to spend an hour a day tutoring what should be taught in the 7 hours they’re in school daily.

I blame edtech. Get rid of the laptops and force reading from paper books and textbooks. It’s not the same to read on a screen.

Parents who rely totally on the school to teach everything are definitely to blame. But yes, there should be a return to books and textbooks.

I’m sorry but this is a horrible attitude. The schools should be responsible for teaching! That’s not a controversial opinion! It worked well for many decades. Kids learned to read, write, do math, they learned facts, and did science experiments, etc. We need only look at the education statistics in past censuses here: https://educationdata.org/education-attainment-statistics

1950 census: children in school were silent generation. Only 34% of adults had a HS diploma.
1960 census: children in school were baby boomers. 41% of adults had a HS diploma.
1970 census: children in school were the youngest baby boomers and oldest Gen X. 55% of adults had a HS diploma. (Baby boomers were driving a lot of the increase in HS graduation rates and they generally did not have school age children by 1970).
1980 census: children in school were Gen X. 68% of adults had a HS diploma.

The point is we don’t get to relatively high levels of educational attainment in the US until 1980! Do you really think non-HS graduate mom and dad were extensively working with their kids in 1950 to teach them to read? No, because that was the school’s job. The best you were going to get was parents reading simple picture books to their young kids and not every household even had that.

This is to say nothing of the pre-1950s years in educational attainment. Kids in public school often had illiterate parents or parents who could read at a basic level, or immigrant parents still learning English. But they still learned to read in school because the schools actually taught it.

Such a massive chunk of words to excuse yourself from being a garbage parent. Should’ve used precaution instead of impregnation. What a failure.

How old are you? What decaded did you go through school and how did your parents work with you every day after school?

35. Went to school in the late 90s early 00s. My parents both worked full-time. One of them 2+ jobs most of my childhood. They still sat down and made sure I didn’t come out another mediocre number. I speak 4 languages. I’m endorsed in 5 subject areas. I’m an immigrant. What’s your excuse?

[Anonymous]

The standards are significantly higher now than they used to be. Students are expected to know certain things at the beginning of kindergarten that I was never expected to know. We learned it AT school. Now kids are behind from the very beginning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think we can blame parents. It’s not fair to expect parents to spend an hour a day tutoring what should be taught in the 7 hours they’re in school daily.

I blame edtech. Get rid of the laptops and force reading from paper books and textbooks. It’s not the same to read on a screen.

Parents who rely totally on the school to teach everything are definitely to blame. But yes, there should be a return to books and textbooks.

I’m sorry but this is a horrible attitude. The schools should be responsible for teaching! That’s not a controversial opinion! It worked well for many decades. Kids learned to read, write, do math, they learned facts, and did science experiments, etc. We need only look at the education statistics in past censuses here: https://educationdata.org/education-attainment-statistics

1950 census: children in school were silent generation. Only 34% of adults had a HS diploma.
1960 census: children in school were baby boomers. 41% of adults had a HS diploma.
1970 census: children in school were the youngest baby boomers and oldest Gen X. 55% of adults had a HS diploma. (Baby boomers were driving a lot of the increase in HS graduation rates and they generally did not have school age children by 1970).
1980 census: children in school were Gen X. 68% of adults had a HS diploma.

The point is we don’t get to relatively high levels of educational attainment in the US until 1980! Do you really think non-HS graduate mom and dad were extensively working with their kids in 1950 to teach them to read? No, because that was the school’s job. The best you were going to get was parents reading simple picture books to their young kids and not every household even had that.

This is to say nothing of the pre-1950s years in educational attainment. Kids in public school often had illiterate parents or parents who could read at a basic level, or immigrant parents still learning English. But they still learned to read in school because the schools actually taught it.

All of those parents in previous generations who did not get advanced education darn well expected their kids to sit down and do homework, to bring home decent grades, to behave well in class and to use the library, even if they themselves did not provide tutoring to their kids.

Maybe immigrant parents. But the American middle class parents of to 70s-90s were not involved much. I was maybe read picture books as a preschooler. But no one was checking on my homework, helping me study for tests, or teaching me anything at all academic at home, ever. I came home to an empty house, let myself in, prepped dinner on occasion, and watched TV until parents got home. That was pretty much what everyone I knew did as well. We never went to the public library either. The only books I had were the ones I checked out from our school library- which was frequently, I feel like we went twice per week, whole class, and could ask to go in between with a pass. Most public schools don’t even have functional libraries where kids can check out books at least weekly. There was no Kumon and RSM centers. We all went on to college, some of us very good colleges.

Exactly. Parents were never that involved. And the kids turned out fine. Families were bigger, parents were working, and the public schools did their job with very little parental oversight. What changed? Why are parents required to pick up all the slack because schools aren’t getting it done? I send my kids to private school because it’s the only thing that resembles what a public school education used to look like decades ago. It’s not that the parents are different, something else is going on.

Do you really think kids turn out fine who cannot read and write and do basic math?

They can’t do these things NOW because the schools aren’t teaching them and don’t do assignments like giving the class the same whole chapter book as assigned reading. They COULD do those things in the Boomer-Gen X- most of the Millennial era. Even with minimal parental involvement. The difference is the lower quality of the schools these days and they want parents to pick up all the slack.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The standards are significantly higher now than they used to be. Students are expected to know certain things at the beginning of kindergarten that I was never expected to know. We learned it AT school. Now kids are behind from the very beginning.

Might be true someplace.

Not true compared with the different place and time where and when I grew up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think we can blame parents. It’s not fair to expect parents to spend an hour a day tutoring what should be taught in the 7 hours they’re in school daily.

I blame edtech. Get rid of the laptops and force reading from paper books and textbooks. It’s not the same to read on a screen.

Parents who rely totally on the school to teach everything are definitely to blame. But yes, there should be a return to books and textbooks.

I’m sorry but this is a horrible attitude. The schools should be responsible for teaching! That’s not a controversial opinion! It worked well for many decades. Kids learned to read, write, do math, they learned facts, and did science experiments, etc. We need only look at the education statistics in past censuses here: https://educationdata.org/education-attainment-statistics

1950 census: children in school were silent generation. Only 34% of adults had a HS diploma.
1960 census: children in school were baby boomers. 41% of adults had a HS diploma.
1970 census: children in school were the youngest baby boomers and oldest Gen X. 55% of adults had a HS diploma. (Baby boomers were driving a lot of the increase in HS graduation rates and they generally did not have school age children by 1970).
1980 census: children in school were Gen X. 68% of adults had a HS diploma.

The point is we don’t get to relatively high levels of educational attainment in the US until 1980! Do you really think non-HS graduate mom and dad were extensively working with their kids in 1950 to teach them to read? No, because that was the school’s job. The best you were going to get was parents reading simple picture books to their young kids and not every household even had that.

This is to say nothing of the pre-1950s years in educational attainment. Kids in public school often had illiterate parents or parents who could read at a basic level, or immigrant parents still learning English. But they still learned to read in school because the schools actually taught it.

All of those parents in previous generations who did not get advanced education darn well expected their kids to sit down and do homework, to bring home decent grades, to behave well in class and to use the library, even if they themselves did not provide tutoring to their kids.

Maybe immigrant parents. But the American middle class parents of to 70s-90s were not involved much. I was maybe read picture books as a preschooler. But no one was checking on my homework, helping me study for tests, or teaching me anything at all academic at home, ever. I came home to an empty house, let myself in, prepped dinner on occasion, and watched TV until parents got home. That was pretty much what everyone I knew did as well. We never went to the public library either. The only books I had were the ones I checked out from our school library- which was frequently, I feel like we went twice per week, whole class, and could ask to go in between with a pass. Most public schools don’t even have functional libraries where kids can check out books at least weekly. There was no Kumon and RSM centers. We all went on to college, some of us very good colleges.

Exactly. Parents were never that involved. And the kids turned out fine. Families were bigger, parents were working, and the public schools did their job with very little parental oversight. What changed? Why are parents required to pick up all the slack because schools aren’t getting it done? I send my kids to private school because it’s the only thing that resembles what a public school education used to look like decades ago. It’s not that the parents are different, something else is going on.

The huge change was social promotion for everyone, and NCLB shifting the focus from the entire classroom to the bottom kids. The two together ruined public schools for everyone. In the past, if a kid fell much below grade level, the kid had to repeat the grade. Kids who didn't want to be held back tried harder to pass. Parents who didn't want their kid to fail the grade actually sent the kid to school, so truancy wasn't nearly as bad. Teachers didn't have such a span of abilities in the same classroom, so it was easier for them to differentiate for everyone.

Nowadays, social promotion means that many kids have little incentive to learn or even show up to school. The kids who are above average and eager to learn get little time with the teacher, since teachers have to focus on the kids who are struggling. NCLB doesn't incentivize schools to spend any time with kids who would easily pass the state tests, so they're ignored.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think we can blame parents. It’s not fair to expect parents to spend an hour a day tutoring what should be taught in the 7 hours they’re in school daily.

I blame edtech. Get rid of the laptops and force reading from paper books and textbooks. It’s not the same to read on a screen.

Parents who rely totally on the school to teach everything are definitely to blame. But yes, there should be a return to books and textbooks.

I’m sorry but this is a horrible attitude. The schools should be responsible for teaching! That’s not a controversial opinion! It worked well for many decades. Kids learned to read, write, do math, they learned facts, and did science experiments, etc. We need only look at the education statistics in past censuses here: https://educationdata.org/education-attainment-statistics

1950 census: children in school were silent generation. Only 34% of adults had a HS diploma.
1960 census: children in school were baby boomers. 41% of adults had a HS diploma.
1970 census: children in school were the youngest baby boomers and oldest Gen X. 55% of adults had a HS diploma. (Baby boomers were driving a lot of the increase in HS graduation rates and they generally did not have school age children by 1970).
1980 census: children in school were Gen X. 68% of adults had a HS diploma.

The point is we don’t get to relatively high levels of educational attainment in the US until 1980! Do you really think non-HS graduate mom and dad were extensively working with their kids in 1950 to teach them to read? No, because that was the school’s job. The best you were going to get was parents reading simple picture books to their young kids and not every household even had that.

This is to say nothing of the pre-1950s years in educational attainment. Kids in public school often had illiterate parents or parents who could read at a basic level, or immigrant parents still learning English. But they still learned to read in school because the schools actually taught it.

Such a massive chunk of words to excuse yourself from being a garbage parent. Should’ve used precaution instead of impregnation. What a failure.

How old are you? What decaded did you go through school and how did your parents work with you every day after school?

35. Went to school in the late 90s early 00s. My parents both worked full-time. One of them 2+ jobs most of my childhood. They still sat down and made sure I didn’t come out another mediocre number. I speak 4 languages. I’m endorsed in 5 subject areas. I’m an immigrant. What’s your excuse?

Lol. That explains it. My excuse for what? I went to public schools back when they were decent and I send my kids to private because public schools can’t educate kids anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think we can blame parents. It’s not fair to expect parents to spend an hour a day tutoring what should be taught in the 7 hours they’re in school daily.

I blame edtech. Get rid of the laptops and force reading from paper books and textbooks. It’s not the same to read on a screen.

Parents who rely totally on the school to teach everything are definitely to blame. But yes, there should be a return to books and textbooks.

I’m sorry but this is a horrible attitude. The schools should be responsible for teaching! That’s not a controversial opinion! It worked well for many decades. Kids learned to read, write, do math, they learned facts, and did science experiments, etc. We need only look at the education statistics in past censuses here: https://educationdata.org/education-attainment-statistics

1950 census: children in school were silent generation. Only 34% of adults had a HS diploma.
1960 census: children in school were baby boomers. 41% of adults had a HS diploma.
1970 census: children in school were the youngest baby boomers and oldest Gen X. 55% of adults had a HS diploma. (Baby boomers were driving a lot of the increase in HS graduation rates and they generally did not have school age children by 1970).
1980 census: children in school were Gen X. 68% of adults had a HS diploma.

The point is we don’t get to relatively high levels of educational attainment in the US until 1980! Do you really think non-HS graduate mom and dad were extensively working with their kids in 1950 to teach them to read? No, because that was the school’s job. The best you were going to get was parents reading simple picture books to their young kids and not every household even had that.

This is to say nothing of the pre-1950s years in educational attainment. Kids in public school often had illiterate parents or parents who could read at a basic level, or immigrant parents still learning English. But they still learned to read in school because the schools actually taught it.

All of those parents in previous generations who did not get advanced education darn well expected their kids to sit down and do homework, to bring home decent grades, to behave well in class and to use the library, even if they themselves did not provide tutoring to their kids.

Maybe immigrant parents. But the American middle class parents of to 70s-90s were not involved much. I was maybe read picture books as a preschooler. But no one was checking on my homework, helping me study for tests, or teaching me anything at all academic at home, ever. I came home to an empty house, let myself in, prepped dinner on occasion, and watched TV until parents got home. That was pretty much what everyone I knew did as well. We never went to the public library either. The only books I had were the ones I checked out from our school library- which was frequently, I feel like we went twice per week, whole class, and could ask to go in between with a pass. Most public schools don’t even have functional libraries where kids can check out books at least weekly. There was no Kumon and RSM centers. . . .

I asked Google AI what percentage of 4th graders have a smartphone and the answer shocked me: Pew research found 30% have a phone, while another study indicates 42% of American kids have a phone by age 10.


10 year old students are not reading in the USA; rather: they are becoming addicted to the dopamine hit of social media by age 10.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think we can blame parents. It’s not fair to expect parents to spend an hour a day tutoring what should be taught in the 7 hours they’re in school daily.

I blame edtech. Get rid of the laptops and force reading from paper books and textbooks. It’s not the same to read on a screen.

Parents who rely totally on the school to teach everything are definitely to blame. But yes, there should be a return to books and textbooks.

I’m sorry but this is a horrible attitude. The schools should be responsible for teaching! That’s not a controversial opinion! It worked well for many decades. Kids learned to read, write, do math, they learned facts, and did science experiments, etc. We need only look at the education statistics in past censuses here: https://educationdata.org/education-attainment-statistics

1950 census: children in school were silent generation. Only 34% of adults had a HS diploma.
1960 census: children in school were baby boomers. 41% of adults had a HS diploma.
1970 census: children in school were the youngest baby boomers and oldest Gen X. 55% of adults had a HS diploma. (Baby boomers were driving a lot of the increase in HS graduation rates and they generally did not have school age children by 1970).
1980 census: children in school were Gen X. 68% of adults had a HS diploma.

The point is we don’t get to relatively high levels of educational attainment in the US until 1980! Do you really think non-HS graduate mom and dad were extensively working with their kids in 1950 to teach them to read? No, because that was the school’s job. The best you were going to get was parents reading simple picture books to their young kids and not every household even had that.

This is to say nothing of the pre-1950s years in educational attainment. Kids in public school often had illiterate parents or parents who could read at a basic level, or immigrant parents still learning English. But they still learned to read in school because the schools actually taught it.

All of those parents in previous generations who did not get advanced education darn well expected their kids to sit down and do homework, to bring home decent grades, to behave well in class and to use the library, even if they themselves did not provide tutoring to their kids.

Maybe immigrant parents. But the American middle class parents of to 70s-90s were not involved much. I was maybe read picture books as a preschooler. But no one was checking on my homework, helping me study for tests, or teaching me anything at all academic at home, ever. I came home to an empty house, let myself in, prepped dinner on occasion, and watched TV until parents got home. That was pretty much what everyone I knew did as well. We never went to the public library either. The only books I had were the ones I checked out from our school library- which was frequently, I feel like we went twice per week, whole class, and could ask to go in between with a pass. Most public schools don’t even have functional libraries where kids can check out books at least weekly. There was no Kumon and RSM centers. . . .

I asked Google AI what percentage of 4th graders have a smartphone and the answer shocked me: Pew research found 30% have a phone, while another study indicates 42% of American kids have a phone by age 10.


10 year old students are not reading in the USA; rather: they are becoming addicted to the dopamine hit of social media by age 10.

So the kids come home from school, having not learned much, and parents are supposed to spend the next few hours teaching their kids, but phones are to blame? A lot of public schools don't assign much or any homework. In the 70s and 80s we came home and watched hours and hours of TV. We weren't doing workbooks, tutoring, or sitting with our parents at the kitchen table reading outloud together. Something else has changed. It's not just the presence of phones.