I’m sorry, you’re dumb
The Nation's Report Card has come out, and unsurprisingly, America's school-aged children are still struggling to read and apply mathematics principles at grade-level requirements. While fourth graders slightly improved in mathematics, eighth graders stayed stagnant from the last scorecard. More alarming (as if that was possible) both fourth and eighth graders had a significant decrease in reading proficiency.
I think it can be easy for this information to fall on deaf ears. It has because COVID isn't the sole culprit for the decline in math and reading proficiency. Scores have been steadily plummeting for over ten years now; it's just suddenly cool and hip to care about it, thanks to Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin and some very organized, highly polished moms in Florida. The truth is, for at least a decade, more Americans (including parents) have cared little about their children's education. But more on that in a bit.
To fully comprehend the latest scores, let's break it down a bit more. Less than a third of American fourth and eighth graders can read and consistently interpret and understand a text. That means fiction, nonfiction, instructions, fantasy, and all written text. You might be thinking to yourself, big deal. Maybe you don't fancy yourself a big reader. Not a huge fan of Barnes and Noble. Perhaps you would prefer to watch the adapted movies and TV shows instead of ingest the written word. Let me ask you this, though: How often in your day-to-day life do you have to read something, understand it, and act on what you've read? You do it daily, and I'd argue most of the day. Reading a recipe, instructions on operating something, reading road signs, reading work correspondence, Hell...reading my blog. If you have a fourth or eighth grader in your home, dollars to donuts, they don't understand most of what they read.
On the math side, a quarter of America's fourth graders can't identify odd numbers. Meanwhile, 40% of America's eighth graders can't use similarity to find the length of a side of a triangle. I know what you're thinking, when was the last time you had to figure out the length of a side of a triangle. Understanding concepts like those in eighth grade allows students to understand higher-level mathematics like algebra, calculus, trigonometry, and statistics. But who needs those anyway? Only some of the most lucrative career fields in the world and in the future including data scientists, engineers, physicists, and chemists use that stuff. But maybe you are alright with your kid shutting those doors to their future. After all, math is hard, and wouldn't it be easier to be mediocre at best and below average like the rest?
It's time to wake the fuck up America and admit the truth. Our kids are stupid, and likely, so are most of us. Both public and private schools have turned more into a type of daycare for parents who are all too willing to abdicate their God-granted responsibility to tend to the upbringing and education of their children. Our country's blind faith in the government's education system has led to an assembly line of disconnected educators, dumbed-down curriculum, and passive parenting.
So how do we fix it?
From a federal perspective, I would encourage the Trump administration to provide more significant tax benefits for parents so that they can homeschool easier if that is their choice and if they can place their child in a high-performing (educationally) school, be it private, public, charter, or magnet use the money as they see fit.
States should follow suit by making it easier for families to choose the type of schooling best suited for their children, providing benefits to homeschoolers, and offering scholarships for high-performing children in at-risk communities.
Educators have a role to play as well. Teachers at all levels should speak out against nonsense curricula, demand excellence from their students, and order in the classroom. School administrators should likewise support their educators in this endeavor and work to reward high-performing educators and transition those not committed to educating their students appropriately out of their schools.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, parents need to get their shit together.
If you don't know what your child is learning in school daily, in every class they take, you are not doing your job.
If you aren't ensuring that your child is acting appropriately in school, meaning paying attention and being respectful, you are not doing your job.
If you let your child play video games, zone out to a tablet or phone, watch TV, or do anything other than their homework when they get home, you are not doing your job.
On the other hand, if you do your child's homework for them, you are also not doing your job.
Parents are complicit in the dumbing down of America.
It hurts to hear it, I'm sure, but more than likely, if you are a parent in America, your kids are probably stupid, and likely so are you; even worse, you are complicit in their stupidity.
But it doesn't have to be this way. You can right the ship. Get involved in your kid's life. That doesn't just mean driving them to their overly crowded extracurricular schedules or being their best friend. It means being the guide, educator, and mentor that you are supposed to be to them. You are meant to be their front line in those regards. It's hard work, I get it. You're tired after working all day and keeping the house up to snuff; you are, well...tired. But that's what being an adult is like, particularly when it comes to having kids. It's supposed to be tiring; that's why it's a labor of love.
Don't be stupid. Don't let your kids be stupid. Because if your kids are dumb which likely they are, they will grow up to be dumb adults who procreate with another dumb adult and then have more dumb kids who grow up to be…you guessed it…dumb adults.
Be smart. Have smart kids.
