Disclaimer: the topic of this piece excludes school systems in smaller towns and more rural communities. The research and opinion is based on national statistics and commentary on online platforms.
As a former English teacher in both middle and high school, I frequently find myself missing the 15 years I spent in the classroom, starting in the dark ages of the 1960s.
A lot of things have changed since then, but according to what I see and hear now, teaching in public schools is still the most valuable (and also one of the most underpaid) professions in existence.
In my own school days, I was a fair to middling student, but as a teacher I had to learn more and read more than I ever did as a student. The year I was moved to 11th grade and the “research paper” was part of the curriculum, I really had to buckle down on the reading part, because the list of approved books was huge, three pages of more than a hundred classic books.
I whittled the list down to 30 titles for my classes to pick from, but even so, I had to read a bunch of books I’d never read before so I could help students structure a paper around their topic. Fortunately, I’m a fast reader when I have to be.
Even today, I prefer to hold an actual book and turn a paper page, but I grudgingly admit I’m glad to find a Kindle version of a book I want to read. I’m guessing most of us have gravitated to reading what we see on smartphones, laptops and iPads. It’s literally a different world now; most general reading (outside of this newspaper, haha) comes from scrolling around online platforms.
Regardless of method of delivery, a shockingly common theme on headlines and thumbnails from podcasters is that a specific group of school age kids, Generation “A” (born from 2010 to recent years) can’t read.
“Can’t read” is all over the place, not something you have to look for in a footnote. “Can’t read” and of course “can’t write” are everywhere, common enough to be annoying and frightening at the same time. After I first noticed it, I began to listen more closely, read through the transcripts when I’m too impatient to watch and listen, and cross-reference to other channels on this subject.
“Can’t read and can’t write” explained online by teachers (and increasingly by “resigning teachers”) can mean something as simple as having trouble with similar sounding words, needing extra time. Students underperforming at statistical grade level isn’t new, but what so many are describing now equates to whole new levels of “Below Basic” reading comprehension and general literacy, backed by numerous data-gathering groups such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
Attention spans—fewer than 15 seconds for secondary students and under four seconds for younger grades—are a big part of the research. Studies now indicate children and teens are able to comprehend information only shown in short, cartoonish hits and flashing memes, and don’t understand themes contained in words, sentences or paragraphs.
Upcoming students seem to have lost the ability to learn with continuity of the printed word. Large groups tested at fourth grade showed 40% reading at grade level; the same groups followed to eighth grade had decreased their reading comprehension to just one-third.
Outside of statistics, online videos of teachers giving examples of what they see in class were startling to me. Geographical locations were seldom mentioned but the years of teaching spans from relatively new teachers to those who had been teaching for decades. What was interesting about the older teachers was that they had seen the point that reading ability began to decline. Not surprisingly the turning point coincided with the introduction of computers, and especially with cell phones, available to the general public.
And teachers are quitting, some deciding to leave after just a few years and some defeated enough to resign or retire early after a sizably lengthy career, the older teachers marking observations of a downward slide beginning with a plateau in the 1990s.
To be fair, part of the decisions to leave the profession did coincide with student behaviors, inability to interact socially with others in a polite manner, refusal to follow any degree of scheduling or instructions, but by far the most impactful disappointments were from not being able to help kids improve.
What can help? Not a simple thing to explore, but obviously no one is going to put away their tech devices. Our local community library is offering everything available with a full calendar of popular activities for all ages, but especially for kids.
A consensus of all experts is “Reading Aloud” to the youngest kids, and at Collinsville Community Library every Friday at 11 a.m. “Story Time” is always full.