30yrs ago, children could read better

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. Computers, social media and lack of printed newspapers and easy entertainment are to blame. Even I can't read the longer more intense novels I used to as a teen in the 90s.

It's not just kids. Adults are scoring lower in reading comprehension as well. It started, for kids and adults, in 2012/2013, although the pandemic exacerbated it. (In 2012, 4G LTE was rolling out nationwide and we went from slow 3G smartphones to fast 4G smartphones. And that was it.)

Yep. This is when the smartphone became ubiquitous and it became normal for little kids to carry ipads everywhere in the same way they used to carry a coloring book to a restaurant or the doctor. It's not rocket science.

I don't understand the confusion around this ... is it Covid? What else could it be? Etc. It's none of those things. Get rid of the computers and ipads in elementary schools for goodness sakes!! Ban phones in school ... not "keep it in your backpack" but the student should not be allowed to have it at all during the school day.

Can't you see the myon books and the ST math and the Lexia is all low-quality learning? Just take a look at them. At the least, it's not even close to reading real literature or references books, working through hard math problems on paper, and being taught how to read and write directly from a knowledgeable adult and then putting pencil to paper. It's not hard to figure out you guys, parents just need to be stronger and more vocal than the greedy tech companies.

I’ve never heard of myon books or ST math. What books are middle school students reading? Mine reads a lot of paper books in school but they seem on the easier side.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. Computers, social media and lack of printed newspapers and easy entertainment are to blame. Even I can't read the longer more intense novels I used to as a teen in the 90s.

It's not just kids. Adults are scoring lower in reading comprehension as well. It started, for kids and adults, in 2012/2013, although the pandemic exacerbated it. (In 2012, 4G LTE was rolling out nationwide and we went from slow 3G smartphones to fast 4G smartphones. And that was it.)

Yep. This is when the smartphone became ubiquitous and it became normal for little kids to carry ipads everywhere in the same way they used to carry a coloring book to a restaurant or the doctor. It's not rocket science.

I don't understand the confusion around this ... is it Covid? What else could it be? Etc. It's none of those things. Get rid of the computers and ipads in elementary schools for goodness sakes!! Ban phones in school ... not "keep it in your backpack" but the student should not be allowed to have it at all during the school day.

Can't you see the myon books and the ST math and the Lexia is all low-quality learning? Just take a look at them. At the least, it's not even close to reading real literature or references books, working through hard math problems on paper, and being taught how to read and write directly from a knowledgeable adult and then putting pencil to paper. It's not hard to figure out you guys, parents just need to be stronger and more vocal than the greedy tech companies.

I’ve never heard of myon books or ST math. What books are middle school students reading? Mine reads a lot of paper books in school but they seem on the easier side.

Not much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any idea how other countries are doing literacy wise and as readers? When I went to Seoul, Korea this year, phones were ubiquitous and even younger kids had them. Would like to know how East Asian countries and Western European kids are doing. Don’t they use screens in school?

no but asian societies never pushed reading/liberal arts etc... it was easier to compete on a global scale when you had distinctly measurable skills like hard sciene or math or business. Its pathetic how english teachers pander to kids now. My 9th grader has read 2 books - teh importance of being earnest and Things fall apart this whole school year! they've been reading things fall apart since October... its such a short book!

Lol what the heck does this mean. Have you ever been inside an asian school - do you think most are uneducated in their native language?
Or are you simply judging based on the fact that many asian immigrants major in STEM (pls google the reason for this, it's not because asian societies undervalue language proficiency/verbal aptitude)

I’d be willing to get that the typical Korean or Chinese student would score higher on an English grammar exam than an American kid.

They do. Asian kids massively out score other demographic groups.

That’s because they leave school and go straight to math classes and then home to hours of homework. They have very little social life. Some Americans don’t choose that kind of childhood for their kids Your kids can be successful adult without such a rigid joyless childhood.

Yep. Plus, they spend all day Saturday in classes, like Sunshine Academy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Schools should be required to be screen free the entire day. EdTech is a disaster for learning. It's not like back in the day when tech was something you had to learn to use. These days, even Gorillas and chipanzees can use Ipads! https://www.wired.com/2012/05/orangutans-use-the-ipad/

If there was one thing I could fire into the sun, it would be EdTech.

+ a million

On top of how it rots our kids' brain, it is an incredible waste of school system money that could be better spent on aides and the actual human beings that teach our children

Amen.

And I feel like every time scores go down, they introduce yet ANOTHER app or system. It's the worst.

[Anonymous]

Dang, 11:04, good post!

[Anonymous]

Not sure why this surprising to you

[Anonymous]

30 years ago, kids had homework. My DS didn't get more than 10 minutes of HW until HS and only then in an AP class. Now kids are doing activities after school instead of HW.

[Anonymous]

Only one factor that isn't being discussed is that kids get so many tests. There's no real incentive to do well on a state test or naep test.

[Anonymous]

Only one factor that isn't being discussed is that kids get so many tests. There's no real incentive to do well on a state test or naep test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Frightening article in the NYT today -

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/29/us/reading-skills-naep.html#commentsContainer

It’s all because of immigration. Import the third world, become the third world.

But the immigrants are doing very well in education. All the Asian-Americans are just exceptional students who have better English scores in all the standardized tests than...White and Black Americans who have lived here for more than 2 generations. Why is that?

They have parents who care and prioritize their education and enrichment. The secret sauce in Asian-American academic success is their culture and family. They are hard workers and believe in improving themselves. What other explanation is there for children of non-native English speakers, excelling in English comprehension and creative writing? They have educated themselves. In fact, most of these kids also excel in elocution. You see them excel in debate, poetry slams, speech etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Frightening article in the NYT today -

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/29/us/reading-skills-naep.html#commentsContainer

It’s all because of immigration. Import the third world, become the third world.

But the immigrants are doing very well in education. All the Asian-Americans are just exceptional students who have better English scores in all the standardized tests than...White and Black Americans who have lived here for more than 2 generations. Why is that?

They have parents who care and prioritize their education and enrichment. The secret sauce in Asian-American academic success is their culture and family. They are hard workers and believe in improving themselves. What other explanation is there for children of non-native English speakers, excelling in English comprehension and creative writing? They have educated themselves. In fact, most of these kids also excel in elocution. You see them excel in debate, poetry slams, speech etc.

The immigrants who decide to try and find a better life are not going to waste it. The cities usually have top students who come from countries all over the world. They aren’t wasting their time on activities six days a week. They are 100% focus on school academics. Americans whose families have been here for decades aren’t as motivated for the most part. Not all of course but there is a difference between immigrants and American born.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only one factor that isn't being discussed is that kids get so many tests. There's no real incentive to do well on a state test or naep test.

Not true at our school. Might be true at some other school, I suppose, but in any case it doesn't really explain the widespread downward changes over the past 30 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Frightening article in the NYT today -

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/29/us/reading-skills-naep.html#commentsContainer

It’s all because of immigration. Import the third world, become the third world.

But the immigrants are doing very well in education. All the Asian-Americans are just exceptional students who have better English scores in all the standardized tests than...White and Black Americans who have lived here for more than 2 generations. Why is that?

They have parents who care and prioritize their education and enrichment. The secret sauce in Asian-American academic success is their culture and family. They are hard workers and believe in improving themselves. What other explanation is there for children of non-native English speakers, excelling in English comprehension and creative writing? They have educated themselves. In fact, most of these kids also excel in elocution. You see them excel in debate, poetry slams, speech etc.

The immigrants who decide to try and find a better life are not going to waste it. The cities usually have top students who come from countries all over the world. They aren’t wasting their time on activities six days a week. They are 100% focus on school academics. Americans whose families have been here for decades aren’t as motivated for the most part. Not all of course but there is a difference between immigrants and American born.

It’s not true that immigrants don’t do extracurriculars. Lots of immigrants’ children are doing music, math, chess, and sports now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Frightening article in the NYT today -

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/29/us/reading-skills-naep.html#commentsContainer

It’s all because of immigration. Import the third world, become the third world.

But the immigrants are doing very well in education. All the Asian-Americans are just exceptional students who have better English scores in all the standardized tests than...White and Black Americans who have lived here for more than 2 generations. Why is that?

They have parents who care and prioritize their education and enrichment. The secret sauce in Asian-American academic success is their culture and family. They are hard workers and believe in improving themselves. What other explanation is there for children of non-native English speakers, excelling in English comprehension and creative writing? They have educated themselves. In fact, most of these kids also excel in elocution. You see them excel in debate, poetry slams, speech etc.

The immigrants who decide to try and find a better life are not going to waste it. The cities usually have top students who come from countries all over the world. They aren’t wasting their time on activities six days a week. They are 100% focus on school academics. Americans whose families have been here for decades aren’t as motivated for the most part. Not all of course but there is a difference between immigrants and American born.

It’s not true that immigrants don’t do extracurriculars. Lots of immigrants’ children are doing music, math, chess, and sports now.

Music, math and chess are academic. Immigrants are not all the same but the importance of doing well after all the sacrifices to get to another country is very important. It makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. Computers, social media and lack of printed newspapers and easy entertainment are to blame. Even I can't read the longer more intense novels I used to as a teen in the 90s.

It's not just kids. Adults are scoring lower in reading comprehension as well. It started, for kids and adults, in 2012/2013, although the pandemic exacerbated it. (In 2012, 4G LTE was rolling out nationwide and we went from slow 3G smartphones to fast 4G smartphones. And that was it.)

Yep. This is when the smartphone became ubiquitous and it became normal for little kids to carry ipads everywhere in the same way they used to carry a coloring book to a restaurant or the doctor. It's not rocket science.

I don't understand the confusion around this ... is it Covid? What else could it be? Etc. It's none of those things. Get rid of the computers and ipads in elementary schools for goodness sakes!! Ban phones in school ... not "keep it in your backpack" but the student should not be allowed to have it at all during the school day.

Can't you see the myon books and the ST math and the Lexia is all low-quality learning? Just take a look at them. At the least, it's not even close to reading real literature or references books, working through hard math problems on paper, and being taught how to read and write directly from a knowledgeable adult and then putting pencil to paper. It's not hard to figure out you guys, parents just need to be stronger and more vocal than the greedy tech companies.

I’ve never heard of myon books or ST math. What books are middle school students reading? Mine reads a lot of paper books in school but they seem on the easier side.

The books are so easy. It's pathetic.

I read Shakespeare in 8th grade. Do kids who are not in advanced classes even read Shakespeare in HS?