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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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/

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.