Posted on 09/26/2025 5:25:44 AM PDT by MtnClimber
Much of America’s youth is in free fall, with the only question being why. On every metric, our kids lag behind the world, are abysmally unhappy and unprepared for a life that’s less kind and forgiving than it was fifty years ago. It didn’t happen by accident, and the divided nature of our country means we are unprepared to make necessary changes. Our society tolerates confrontation and excuses, always finding superficial reasons why Johnny can’t read, and why everyone’s so angry. It’s certainly not about money; we spend more per pupil than anyone else.
SNIP
During COVID, roughly 31% of students were chronically absent (missing ≥10% of school days). In 2022-2023, the rate dipped slightly to 28%, but that’s still 75% higher than pre-pandemic levels. In the 2023-2024 academic year, long after COVID’s lockdowns ended, approximately 27.4% of students were still absent.
But that’s just the start of the problem; if Johnny isn’t in school, he can’t learn. But what about when he’s physically in school? What are the underlying dynamics that prevent our young from having a fighting chance to obtain essential skills that are a requirement for living a good life?
It takes three things to take a young person and grow him into a scholar. A scholar must learn to think critically, read, write, and be both emotionally and logically prepared to live in the real world. That young person must eventually (with the help of loving parents) decide which direction to strike out into, whether it be a specific trade or higher skills requiring college or university. Treading water jobs that used to be transitional are now becoming permanent, stymying growth for millions because their schools failed them, and too often, their distracted parents as well.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Of course I speak from experience. I'm an experienced grok user:
Yes, the pronoun "them" in the sentence "They can't stand it when their kids are smarter than them" can grammatically refer to "parents."Here’s why: In the sentence, "parents" is the subject of the clause "They can't stand it." The pronoun "them" is the object of the preposition "than" in the comparative phrase "smarter than them."
In English grammar, a pronoun can refer to the subject of a previous clause or noun if the context and structure make the reference clear. Here, "them" logically and grammatically refers to "parents," as it is the closest preceding noun that fits the plural form of the pronoun.
The sentence implies a comparison between the intelligence of the kids and the parents, with "them" indicating the parents who are less smart in this context. The structure is clear, and there’s no ambiguity in the reference, as "parents" is the only plural noun that "them" could sensibly refer to in this sentence.
So, grammatically, "them" correctly refers to "parents."
This reminds me of Latin, where the pronouns are hard to match. So, yes clarity helps and that's why we have editors. QC. Thanks for waking me up. I'm sometimes slothful on what seems to be the less important things. Shall we take issue with grok? I do that all the time. Make the bot grovel it struggles to confess.
Longer than 30 years. In 1968, when Bobby Kennedy was murdered by a Palestinian Immigrant one of many things blamed was “masculinity in boys” so it was decided to make them less masculine by giving them drugs to make them more “feminine.”
Also history books were rewritten to blame the USA on all the problems in the world.
That used to be the case. My late wife had a degree in History and a minor in English Lit and took four education course her senior year to become a licensed teacher. I had a degree in Environmental Biology and a minor in chemistry but took some education courses because she wanted me to be a teacher. I quickly found out I wasn’t cut out to teach kids but enjoyed doing EPA/OSHA training as part of my working in the environmental field.
I believe it was in the late 80’s when they started giving out degrees made up of biology for educators’ type classes.
Yes I believe you are correct about the biology (other subjects too) for education majors and the timing (if not sooner).
For the coin toss, I use a Kennedy half dollar. Kennedy for heads, Independence Hall for tails. I always ask the captains where Independence Hall is. So far this year, I've done coin flips with approximately 50 different captains with ages ranging from 7th to 11th grade.
So far this year, not a single player has been able name where Independence Hall is. Over the past years, it is similar, with maybe only 1 or 2 kids a year knowing that.
I realize this is anecdotal, and knowing where Independence Hall is, isn't the most important thing to know, but it is a key location in our nation's founding, and it is sad that nobody out of 50+ kids know that factoid.
In the 1990’s “charter schools” and other wonder schools were created. Parents and teachers all proclaimed the kids would be learning so much more. They declared genius level educations of all kids.
Today, they still dumb down the SAT/ACT and colleges and the military and corporations see dumber and dumber retards leaving schools.
It’s been happening since the 1990s.
Where it all started.
Intentional or not, it happened and is still happening.
We became top country after WWII. We developed mass affluence and youth culture and invented all manner of devices for diversion. Intentional dumbing down takes its place next to the dumbing down that occurred naturally as a result of that.
“All by design, Comrades. All. By. Design.”
Exactly. Why would you stop using proven methods like phonics which worked for over 50 years, for something that never worked.
Yes and have been for some time.
Back in fifth grade, I qualified for the spelling bee. I was asked to spell "weren't" and I lost the round when I said: w-e-r-e-n-comma-t."
Is that a rhetorical question?
Pedantic much? 🤣
Yes. And if parents start taking advantage of programs out there now, they can disconnect from the stupid education system. AI can teach A LOT of technical classes with students able to process, and reprocess the info...without a “teacher” trying to control a class of 20+.
K12 education is being purposely dumbed down so there’s minimal differences in the test scores\”measured outcomes” of the ethnic groups.
What you’re seeing is the natural progression of any institution that is funded by taxpayers and has little or no competition. The end result is a regression to mediocrity and bureaucratic inefficiencies.
The generation of teachers was intentionally dumbed down and this is the natural result of that.
States reduced qualification tests for teachers, they lowered the education requirements to be a teacher, and the universities lowered the acceptance criteria and grading schemes for the college students studying education in college.
-PJ
If the teacher in that picture would sand aside, you would see that what is written on the blackboard is “Junior Get High School”.
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