What were we doing right, education-wise, in the 80s and 90s?

[Anonymous]

We used a phonics-baed approach to teaching children how to read. This whole "whole word", teach sight words first, bullshit IS NOT WORKING. My kid is a grade level behind because of a shitty kindergarten teacher who didn't teach the kids letter sounds and just wanted them to guess the words based on the first letter and picture. Consequently, my kid HATES reading and doesn't want to learn the right way to read.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can’t believe so few of you have brought up the massive shift to standardized testing. I’m a millennial and children take way more standardized tests than I ever did, and I grew up in an affluent town with fantastic public schools.
That, coupled with GOP initiatives to cut school funding and teacher pay.

+1

"Teach to the test" is killing education.

[Anonymous]

Also, schools don't teach children grammar or how to spell anymore. Those things are FUNDAMENTAL and I don't know how they don't realize it. My husband teaches college students and says they are the worst writers he's ever encountered, and the laziest students (don't want to read their assignments). The young people that I work with are also very poor writers with poor research skills. It's an entire generation lost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, it really comes down to the fact that there were far fewer kids. GenX is way smaller than the boomers. Just an easier system and better outcomes when less kids to deal with.

And life was in general much cheaper, so maybe both parents worked, but the second job was like a teacher and the breadwinner was always home for dinner.

Probably the end of holding kids back and mainstreaming has made elementary harder, but kids are differentiated by middle and high school in most places so that isn't that different.

Born between 1978 and 1987 are pretty solidly Millennials. 1978-1981 is on the fence, maybe part of a micro-generation if you buy into that thinking, but we aren't talking about Gen-X here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. phonics, none of this looking at the words and guessing what it meant crap

2. no mobile devices = a lot more parents reading to kids

3. no kids with behavioral issues or severe learning disabilities in mainstream classes

4. number 3 means that teachers had genuine expectations for all kids in a class

5. parents did not make excuses for their kids, if there was an issue then they addressed it or kicked the kid's ass themselves

That's it, folks. It's not rocket science.

Nope, mobile devices weren't this prevalent 10-15 years ago. That's not what it's about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. phonics, none of this looking at the words and guessing what it meant crap

2. no mobile devices = a lot more parents reading to kids

3. no kids with behavioral issues or severe learning disabilities in mainstream classes

4. number 3 means that teachers had genuine expectations for all kids in a class

5. parents did not make excuses for their kids, if there was an issue then they addressed it or kicked the kid's ass themselves

That's it, folks. It's not rocket science.

Yes! I graduated from high school in 1992.

I have no memory of parents complaining.

I have no memory whatsoever of our teachers begging us to get work in. If we didn’t have the assignment finished on the day it was due, they just entered a zero and went on with their day. No rant about it. No pleading. No mention of it at all. A deadline was a deadline. Bummer. That just doesn’t happen today.

So, you graduated HS in 1992 and were born between 1978 and 1987? Does not compute.

[Anonymous]

Teacher and 80s baby here.

I think teachers lost their authority in a lot of ways. We're expected to act in ways that are similar to a customer service representative where the parent or external body is always right. We also shifted to a homogeneous approach where "every child is gifted." We say "we're meeting every child where they're at," but we're really appealing to the lowest common denominator. We also treat education like a right and not a privilege, and we continue to devalue it every time we allow someone to remain in the classroom if they refuse to do any work, become completely disruptive, or assault a teacher. To cap it all off, the entire system has shifted to quantifying success in the form of test scores instead of tracking how our graduates fair in life 2, 4, 6 years after graduation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teacher and 80s baby here.

I think teachers lost their authority in a lot of ways. We're expected to act in ways that are similar to a customer service representative where the parent or external body is always right. We also shifted to a homogeneous approach where "every child is gifted." We say "we're meeting every child where they're at," but we're really appealing to the lowest common denominator. We also treat education like a right and not a privilege, and we continue to devalue it every time we allow someone to remain in the classroom if they refuse to do any work, become completely disruptive, or assault a teacher. To cap it all off, the entire system has shifted to quantifying success in the form of test scores instead of tracking how our graduates fair in life 2, 4, 6 years after graduation.

+1

So many troubled and troublesome kids aren't getting what (intangibles) they need at home, and the class pays for it. Not to mention, the parents who are just looking to point fingers, instead of getting their child the hope they need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:According to this article, born between 1978 and 1987 are more literate than people born before and after. What was going right during those times?
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/social-mobility-memos/2016/12/23/the-declining-productivity-of-education/

I think the interesting question is why are they more literate than people born before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, schools don't teach children grammar or how to spell anymore. Those things are FUNDAMENTAL and I don't know how they don't realize it. My husband teaches college students and says they are the worst writers he's ever encountered, and the laziest students (don't want to read their assignments). The young people that I work with are also very poor writers with poor research skills. It's an entire generation lost.

“It’s an entire generation lost”

+1000

How can we fix this? Who can we complain to? Who are the individuals or agencies that control education techniques and curriculums.

No one had mentioned the use of computers in class. It’s been devastating.

I would love guidance on how we can take back our classrooms, give more power to teachers, take away standardized tests, do away with bogus edu-speak and educrats, and focus on building knowledge and core skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, it really comes down to the fact that there were far fewer kids. GenX is way smaller than the boomers. Just an easier system and better outcomes when less kids to deal with.

And life was in general much cheaper, so maybe both parents worked, but the second job was like a teacher and the breadwinner was always home for dinner.

Probably the end of holding kids back and mainstreaming has made elementary harder, but kids are differentiated by middle and high school in most places so that isn't that different.

Most of the people born between 78-87 are Millenials. I really don’t see why they would be more literate than Xers or Boomers.

[Anonymous]

Harry Potter books

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teacher and 80s baby here.

I think teachers lost their authority in a lot of ways. We're expected to act in ways that are similar to a customer service representative where the parent or external body is always right. We also shifted to a homogeneous approach where "every child is gifted." We say "we're meeting every child where they're at," but we're really appealing to the lowest common denominator. We also treat education like a right and not a privilege, and we continue to devalue it every time we allow someone to remain in the classroom if they refuse to do any work, become completely disruptive, or assault a teacher. To cap it all off, the entire system has shifted to quantifying success in the form of test scores instead of tracking how our graduates fair in life 2, 4, 6 years after graduation.

You hit the nail on the head.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher and 80s baby here.

I think teachers lost their authority in a lot of ways. We're expected to act in ways that are similar to a customer service representative where the parent or external body is always right. We also shifted to a homogeneous approach where "every child is gifted." We say "we're meeting every child where they're at," but we're really appealing to the lowest common denominator. We also treat education like a right and not a privilege, and we continue to devalue it every time we allow someone to remain in the classroom if they refuse to do any work, become completely disruptive, or assault a teacher. To cap it all off, the entire system has shifted to quantifying success in the form of test scores instead of tracking how our graduates fair in life 2, 4, 6 years after graduation.

+1

So many troubled and troublesome kids aren't getting what (intangibles) they need at home, and the class pays for it. Not to mention, the parents who are just looking to point fingers, instead of getting their child the hope they need.

Another millennial teacher here. I’ll agree. Teachers are now expected to teach the kids what they’re not getting at home — manners, respect, getting along with others...we are now raising a lot of these children. Public schools have turned into public childcare...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:According to this article, born between 1978 and 1987 are more literate than people born before and after. What was going right during those times?
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/social-mobility-memos/2016/12/23/the-declining-productivity-of-education/

I think the interesting question is why are they more literate than people born before.

Every generation was more literate than the generations before up to that point.