40% of 4th graders cannot read in 2026

[Anonymous]

My kid is in 4th and all of their classmates can read. I chaperone their field trips and have seen them all read signs, activity sheets, etc.

[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.

+1

[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. . . .

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.

+1

That’s such a lazy answer. Taking phones away after school isn’t going to make the school day more productive.

[Anonymous]

I don’t get all the teacher blame. Kids are coming to K not toilet trained, with poor motor skills, poor attention spans, limited self regulation and self-care skills; parents back up their snowflake children whereas they used to back up the teacher; administrators don’t step in to discipline disruptive children. In wealthy districts, the parents demand ever more bespoke educations for their children.

My youngest has disabilities and is floundering in public school, so it’s not like I think schools are magic places that can teach all children with non-neglectful parents - but I don’t imagine he’d be faring much better under the old system either. I think vouchers for kids with IEPs could be a good place to start, or separate financial streams for sped services to ensure adequate staffing.

[Anonymous]

^ kids also don’t attend school as much anymore. Parents treat it as more of an optional thing. If kids are chronically absent, there is nothing a teacher can do

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in 4th and all of their classmates can read. I chaperone their field trips and have seen them all read signs, activity sheets, etc.

That doesn’t mean they can read and analyze text on grade level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ kids also don’t attend school as much anymore. Parents treat it as more of an optional thing. If kids are chronically absent, there is nothing a teacher can do

To be fair, schools see themselves as optional and prefer to spend weeks, months and years closed for any reason big or small.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in 4th and all of their classmates can read. I chaperone their field trips and have seen them all read signs, activity sheets, etc.

That doesn’t mean they can read and analyze text on grade level.

Are the schools putting books in the hands of kids to read together or are they handing them devices and making them play stupid ed tech games to replace traditional reading?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in 4th and all of their classmates can read. I chaperone their field trips and have seen them all read signs, activity sheets, etc.

That doesn’t mean they can read and analyze text on grade level.

Are the schools putting books in the hands of kids to read together or are they handing them devices and making them play stupid ed tech games to replace traditional reading?

The

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ kids also don’t attend school as much anymore. Parents treat it as more of an optional thing. If kids are chronically absent, there is nothing a teacher can do

To be fair, schools see themselves as optional and prefer to spend weeks, months and years closed for any reason big or small.

And I celebrate any chance they close so I can play video games and make additional income on parlays while sippin hot cocoa. Tough luck bud

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ kids also don’t attend school as much anymore. Parents treat it as more of an optional thing. If kids are chronically absent, there is nothing a teacher can do

To be fair, schools see themselves as optional and prefer to spend weeks, months and years closed for any reason big or small.

And I celebrate any chance they close so I can play video games and make additional income on parlays while sippin hot cocoa. Tough luck bud

You probably spent your time better that way than listening to your teacher whine about how hard she has it, kiddo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ kids also don’t attend school as much anymore. Parents treat it as more of an optional thing. If kids are chronically absent, there is nothing a teacher can do

To be fair, schools see themselves as optional and prefer to spend weeks, months and years closed for any reason big or small.

And I celebrate any chance they close so I can play video games and make additional income on parlays while sippin hot cocoa. Tough luck bud

You probably spent your time better that way than listening to your teacher whine about how hard she has it, kiddo.

Oh LoL I’m the teacher. Not a kiddo. I despise the current generation of spoiled phone-addicted children

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in 4th and all of their classmates can read. I chaperone their field trips and have seen them all read signs, activity sheets, etc.

That’s a nice anecdote about your privileged little circle.

This forum’s acronym begins with “D.C.,” as in District of Columbia. Were you aware that as recently as 2009, among D.C. residents:

- 36% of adults were functionally illiterate?

Gentrification has “cured” that problem somewhat; or at least relocated the problem outside D.C.’s boundaries.

If the reality of our failing public educational system in the USA is too much for you to handle, maybe you should retreat to your privileged little bubble instead of spouting statistically meaningless (and contrary) anecdotes on DCUM?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in 4th and all of their classmates can read. I chaperone their field trips and have seen them all read signs, activity sheets, etc.

That’s a nice anecdote about your privileged little circle.

This forum’s acronym begins with “D.C.,” as in District of Columbia. Were you aware that as recently as 2009, among D.C. residents:

- 36% of adults were functionally illiterate?

Gentrification has “cured” that problem somewhat; or at least relocated the problem outside D.C.’s boundaries.

If the reality of our failing public educational system in the USA is too much for you to handle, maybe you should retreat to your privileged little bubble instead of spouting statistically meaningless (and contrary) anecdotes on DCUM?

Dis a convo u dont wanna have lowkey. Or better yet, Dey won’t let u have it. Cause feelings > facts

Hence why 13% of population nationwide commits a disproportionate number of crimes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in 4th and all of their classmates can read. I chaperone their field trips and have seen them all read signs, activity sheets, etc.

That’s a nice anecdote about your privileged little circle.

This forum’s acronym begins with “D.C.,” as in District of Columbia. Were you aware that as recently as 2009, among D.C. residents:

- 36% of adults were functionally illiterate?

Gentrification has “cured” that problem somewhat; or at least relocated the problem outside D.C.’s boundaries.

If the reality of our failing public educational system in the USA is too much for you to handle, maybe you should retreat to your privileged little bubble instead of spouting statistically meaningless (and contrary) anecdotes on DCUM?

I’m sure this was the case for a similar number of adults around the turn of the 1900s, but kids in school then still learned to read despite no help from their own parents. And yet, they still want and expect people who were pushed through the education system over the past few years/decades to spend an hour plus a day teaching their own kids at home because the school system isn’t doing it. 🤔