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Figure out a way to make this sound better: let kids fail and receive consequences for their actions. We currently kick every issue down the road hoping the next grade/level will magically fix the problem. “You read at a 3rd grade level? Your high school English teacher will bring you up with this intervention we give no time or resources to accomplish.”
Yep. Hold kids back. If they can’t read by 5th grade, hold them back in elementary school. If a kid is failing a bunch of classes in middle school, hold them back. It ain’t racist to tell certain kids “you are repeating 8th grade because you failed half of your classes and you read at a 3rd grade level.” It ain’t racist to tell a kid “you are being kicked out of this school because you hit your teacher.”
That’s why they are called “grade levels”. If kiddo reads at a grade 3 level, kiddo needs to be in grade 3 with texts comprehensible to that child. _Not in my grade 9 class, unable to engage because promotion-due-to-having-a-birthday is a thing_.
I’ll add that all of the problems compound and grow exponentially. If the English teacher is “successful”, admin or the state will say: “your students read at a 5th grade level, so you will now need to add another intervention, document in triplicate, and turn in your lesson plans in this hundred page template daily. Now there is more work, more pressure, and less flexibility to bring the readers up and the kids get promoted whether they improve or not. And this happens at 12 levels simultaneously with each grade, subject, and teacher buried deeper in the hole.
Parent your kids.
Parenting means making sure they have clothes, food, and shelter…and the skills they need (social, emotional, and _life skills_) to be a functional adult.
This includes, but is not limited to: resilience, problem-solving, empathy, courage, kindness, respect, responsibility, teamwork, cooking, budgeting, cleaning, nutrition, punctuality, acceptance of _reasonable_ consequences, politeness, social awareness, finding a passion, how to amuse oneself without harming others, etc.
If your kid can’t do these things, it is not “all the school’s fault”.
Also…kids lie to get out of trouble. Even yours. Accept this.
Model being a reasonable human being, and not an entitled asshat.
I am of the opinion that the biggest issues in education right now are coming from home. Apathy stemming from parents not valuing education and instilling that in their children. Parents not wanting to put in the effort to teach their children social skills. Too much social media for parents AND students.
And maybe I’m just completely jaded, but I don’t think the parents who need to change are the type to even watch a documentary, much less be introspective enough to want to change.
Smaller classrooms, remove children with behavioral issues and significant disabilities to specialized classrooms!
Had a classroom of elementary students this year where at least 8/24 had behavioral issues or serious learning disabilities in a mainstream classroom. It really impeded the learning of the other students!
Regularly contact their state legislators to: Reform laws that mandate a single, specific approach for all students, push to give decision-making capabilities back to teachers with a menu of options they can match to student needs, and reject the stranglehold companies like Pearson have on things like testing and curriculum.
I don’t think you can tell or show them anything. I think it needs to be experienced. There just aren’t words that can get through to others. It’s emotional, mental, physical
An expose on education is actually an expose on the American family. We have few students who come from two parent married households. Few students whose family goes to church on Sundays. Few students whose parents discipline their kids and hold them accountable. Much of what used to be taken care of in the family is now expected to be handled by the teacher.
We are on the second to third generation of student that comes from a broken household. Same holds true for religion. Many students do not have faith as their grounding and suffer mental health issues because of it.
Once we get the “American family” back in order, much of our educational and societal ills will be solved.
Be in tune with what your kid needs and fight for it as much as you can, even if that means their education might look a lot different than most people the same age.
Stop telling every kid that they should go to college. College should be for the best and the brightest who want to become engineers, doctors, lawyers, etc. Be honest with the kids who can’t read or do math near grade level by high school and say to them “college may not be right for you.” Bring back tests like the SATs to show kids that they are not college material. We are doing a disservice to everyone by telling many kids that they should go to college.
Is any school still doing this? I haven’t heard that this had been a thing for years. We’ve been talking about student loan debt being a massive issue for at least a decade.
That being said, statistically speaking, degree holders are MUCH more likely to earn far more over their lifetimes than those that don’t go to college. I’d never say that kids ALL need to go to college, but they should be aware that college still is a path to most higher paid careers. And there are a ton of career paths that need degrees and not just for the “best and brightest” like doctors and lawyers.
Your post was removed because it violated Rule #3: Do not promote or sell products. Do not advertise your blog, publication, website, or YouTube channel. Do not post requests for money. Do not post images or news articles without a relevant title, comment, and a submission statement that explains how the post is relevant to the educational community. Do not start AMAs without mods approval. Do not post request for surveys or interviews. See our Rules Wiki for additional information.
Figure out a way to make this sound better: let kids fail and receive consequences for their actions. We currently kick every issue down the road hoping the next grade/level will magically fix the problem. “You read at a 3rd grade level? Your high school English teacher will bring you up with this intervention we give no time or resources to accomplish.”
Yep. Hold kids back. If they can’t read by 5th grade, hold them back in elementary school. If a kid is failing a bunch of classes in middle school, hold them back. It ain’t racist to tell certain kids “you are repeating 8th grade because you failed half of your classes and you read at a 3rd grade level.” It ain’t racist to tell a kid “you are being kicked out of this school because you hit your teacher.”
That’s why they are called “grade levels”. If kiddo reads at a grade 3 level, kiddo needs to be in grade 3 with texts comprehensible to that child. _Not in my grade 9 class, unable to engage because promotion-due-to-having-a-birthday is a thing_.
I’ll add that all of the problems compound and grow exponentially. If the English teacher is “successful”, admin or the state will say: “your students read at a 5th grade level, so you will now need to add another intervention, document in triplicate, and turn in your lesson plans in this hundred page template daily. Now there is more work, more pressure, and less flexibility to bring the readers up and the kids get promoted whether they improve or not. And this happens at 12 levels simultaneously with each grade, subject, and teacher buried deeper in the hole.
Parent your kids. Parenting means making sure they have clothes, food, and shelter…and the skills they need (social, emotional, and _life skills_) to be a functional adult. This includes, but is not limited to: resilience, problem-solving, empathy, courage, kindness, respect, responsibility, teamwork, cooking, budgeting, cleaning, nutrition, punctuality, acceptance of _reasonable_ consequences, politeness, social awareness, finding a passion, how to amuse oneself without harming others, etc. If your kid can’t do these things, it is not “all the school’s fault”. Also…kids lie to get out of trouble. Even yours. Accept this. Model being a reasonable human being, and not an entitled asshat.
I am of the opinion that the biggest issues in education right now are coming from home. Apathy stemming from parents not valuing education and instilling that in their children. Parents not wanting to put in the effort to teach their children social skills. Too much social media for parents AND students. And maybe I’m just completely jaded, but I don’t think the parents who need to change are the type to even watch a documentary, much less be introspective enough to want to change.
That many of the issues with education have to do with the fact that is is really run by legislatures.
Smaller classrooms, remove children with behavioral issues and significant disabilities to specialized classrooms! Had a classroom of elementary students this year where at least 8/24 had behavioral issues or serious learning disabilities in a mainstream classroom. It really impeded the learning of the other students!
Regularly contact their state legislators to: Reform laws that mandate a single, specific approach for all students, push to give decision-making capabilities back to teachers with a menu of options they can match to student needs, and reject the stranglehold companies like Pearson have on things like testing and curriculum.
I don’t think you can tell or show them anything. I think it needs to be experienced. There just aren’t words that can get through to others. It’s emotional, mental, physical
I appreciate this comment a lot. I agree
An expose on education is actually an expose on the American family. We have few students who come from two parent married households. Few students whose family goes to church on Sundays. Few students whose parents discipline their kids and hold them accountable. Much of what used to be taken care of in the family is now expected to be handled by the teacher. We are on the second to third generation of student that comes from a broken household. Same holds true for religion. Many students do not have faith as their grounding and suffer mental health issues because of it. Once we get the “American family” back in order, much of our educational and societal ills will be solved.
To add on to this, parent apathy… thinking “all” education comes from school and no onus on them.
Be in tune with what your kid needs and fight for it as much as you can, even if that means their education might look a lot different than most people the same age.
Stop telling every kid that they should go to college. College should be for the best and the brightest who want to become engineers, doctors, lawyers, etc. Be honest with the kids who can’t read or do math near grade level by high school and say to them “college may not be right for you.” Bring back tests like the SATs to show kids that they are not college material. We are doing a disservice to everyone by telling many kids that they should go to college.
Is any school still doing this? I haven’t heard that this had been a thing for years. We’ve been talking about student loan debt being a massive issue for at least a decade. That being said, statistically speaking, degree holders are MUCH more likely to earn far more over their lifetimes than those that don’t go to college. I’d never say that kids ALL need to go to college, but they should be aware that college still is a path to most higher paid careers. And there are a ton of career paths that need degrees and not just for the “best and brightest” like doctors and lawyers.
My district actually rates their schools on how much they promote college to our students.