Teacher Says Students are Dumber Every Year

[Krista G]

I just had a meeting with my accountant.  I asked him how his wife is doing - recalling that she is a school teacher.  He casually mentioned that she is retiring this year.  He said - and I quote - "My wife is not a moron.  She has been teacher of the year before, but she has had enough.  The kids are getting dumber every year and she cannot even control the students in her Christian school.  They enter fourth grade not only unable to multiply, but also unable to read, so she has decided to retire.  She has been doing this for a long time and she feels she is done."

Wow, does this bother you?  I have to say that the state of the educational system in this country is failing badly.  Parents, wake up!  If you do not prepare your child before they enter school you are playing Russian Roulette with their futures.  If they enter school unprepared, they will strugg le, and students that struggle rarely catch up.  They feel dumb, drop out of school, and have low self-esteems.  Is this what we want for our precious children?  Do we not want them to have every success in their lives?  Do we not want them to surpass our accomplishments?  How do we prepare our children for a successful future?  It all begins at home.  We are their first teachers.  We cannot expect to do nothing with our children for the first 5 years of their life and then expect school to turn them into smart and wonderful citizens.  It is our duty to give them the tools they need to learn.  We need to talk to our children, read to our children, discipline our children, and teach our children.

Teaching children is not tiresome and tedious.  It is done throughout the day through conversations and interactions.  Colors can be taught as the y are being dressed.  Shapes can be pointed out with toys and objects around the house.  Language is learned through simply talking to the child and reading to the child.  Responsibility is taught when they are allowed to work alongside their parents.  Sharing is taught through family interactions.

I ignorantly thought that not all parents were aware of their babies ability to learn a vast amount of skills before they turn 5 - such as reading, multiple languages and math skills.  I thought that every parent would be excited at the possibilities that exist for their child.  I soon realized that not all parents share this enthusiasm to teach their children and some outright oppose it.  How this saddens me!  What a wasted opportunity to set a firm foundation for all learning in our children's lives.

[Mandabplus3]

Yep it's disgusting that kids can get to grade 3,4,5 and still not be able to read ( yes there are kids in my girls class like that!) they struggle to add let alone multiply and we are still being told by these very same teachers not to teach our babies and toddlers because they will get bored in school!  These experts can't agree on anything!

[ProudDaddy]

WOW!! Just sad.

[Tanikit]

Yes, it is sad - what worries me though is why this woman is quitting - what grade is she teaching? Why is she not able to maintain control in her classroom and why are teachers not being taught how to maintain control. Behaviour is an important problem as you cannot teach however many students when one or two are disrupting the entire class and very often they say it is that child's right to be there and get an education only that child is infringing on everyone else's right to learn by distracting everyone. Whta type of discipline was allowed in this school?

And also if we are going to teach our children don't we feel that having put in that amount of effort if should not be wasted in schools? I do not want to teach my child and then set her free in a classroom where she will not be stimulated at all and where she is purely wasting hours of her day - then I would rather continue the work I have been doing at home and extend her knowledge even more.

As for being unable to read - that happens here quite frequently - many of the children who have PASSED grade 6 are actually functioning below a grade 2 level. The national average for a test given to grade 2s recently was 28% - I tried the same test with my 4 year old recently and she got more than 50% (she did struggle with some of the vocabulary questions and does not know how to convert sentences to past and future tense as she has never been taught this and this was not a multiple choice test else she probably would have done fine)

I also find that many chiuldren do have the basics from school but have not been taught how to put it together. My mother was supervising children who needed extra reading practice - they did know the phonetic sounds of the letters but no one had taught them that they could cover up a word and sound it out slowly so they were just guessing. Within only a few minutes they were taught how to improve their reading. But then my mother had them one on one... and often there are just too many children in a class and teachers have been encouraged to teach in groups too much without ever taking children individually (probably because the rest of the class cannot sit still or behave while the teacehr's attention is elsewhere.) I think discipline is probably the parents most important role before school - teaching their children to respect them first and then respect other adults - it needs to be done in a fair way, but very often small children are allowed to disrespect their parents without the parents stopping them from doing so and teaching them manners. And after that the teacher needs to earn the child's respect by providing challenging material for them and expecting them to do better than they are rather than giving them boring easy work that is at minimum standards - any child will misbehave then.

[Dr Miles R Jones]

Students are not dumber just less knowledgeable.  That is our fault as a society.  Public schools from the very beginning were as much about socialization, that is to say "indoctrination" as education.  Public Schooling has become a monster.  A return to market based education via vouchers will allow parents to choose schools that work and allow competition instead of uniform mediocrity.

Mainly, however, parents are waking up, at least the ones on this forum, and taking responsibility for their children's education and their future.  Good for you!  The establishment is fighting back, defending their territory by issuing dire warnings to leave education to the professionals or you will harm your child.  The teachers unions will stop at nothing to keep their monopoly on public monies.  I share your deep concern over the children whose potential is wasted by being feed into the mediocrity machine.  I have spent a lifetime researching education issues and I can tell you the methodology used in many, if not most, schools is toxic.  That goes for many private and religious schools as well because they follow the herd.

[Kimba15]

@Dr Miles R Jones Do you think the mediocrity machine is occuring in US schools only or do you think it is occuring all over the world??

[apapovich]

It's troubling when kids don't have motivation or desire to learn..

[sonya_post]

It has long been my contention that the education ship in America is too big to turn around. It will be the next bubble to burst. We spend way too much for primary education and secondary education without any evidence that it is doing any good. I have a very over-priced degree from a very good university and learned very little. I did not get an education until I started homeschooling 16 years ago.

@ Dr. Miles, education is more about indoctrination than anything else.  I hope that parents are not just fighting back, but taking responsibility for what was their job all along. We are responsible for our children's education not the state. I hope this trend is as much about resuming a role we have abdicated as it is about rebelling against a broken system. And because some of us did not get a good education to begin with, it is a lot to figure out!

[Krista G]

Well said, Sonya-post.  I think too many parents figure it is the job of school to educate their children.  Regardless of where you child is schooled, home, public or private, it is our responsibility to be involved in their education and supplement it as necessary.  As Dr. Jones stated, they are not dumber, just less knowledgeable.  That is certainly true.  It is shameful that this precious period from birth to 6 is so often wasted.

[FlashMom11]

That bothers me, and it saddens me. The school where my kid goes is a decent/good school in our community, yet it fails on educating at a competitive level in my opinion. My child started there already knowing how to read and math above grade, and almost 2 years later now, according to the teacher, he is falling behind .
I work with my son at home almost every day so he can stay motivated, but his motivation has gone down the drain. Kids at school are like 'zombies', they just don't know why they are doing what they do, and some teachers are like that too .

What frustrate me the most is that we have to stay up until late every day trying to do the work that he is supposed to do at school at home. After we are all tired, and needless to say that my patience is worn out after a long day of work and chores at home.

I feel that the school system has failed my son and our family, we started above level, and the they have not been able to keep him up. I talk to other families whose kids go to private schools and they are in a different level, not sure why. I guess we have to pay big bucks in order to get the quality of education our kids need.

[Mandabplus3]

Flashmum, mine go to private school and we have the same problem...so don't assume all the private schools will cater for it. We discovered a world of difference in each individual teacher. Some will extend and make allowances while some think we are pushy parents with ordinary kids who don't need extention work. Last year was a nightmare this year is looking great!
I would caution you against trying anything with your kids while they are tired after school, often it is better to squeeze in 10 minutes of effective learning before school than work through the drama after school.

[PokerDad]

The populace also seems more and more ignorant each year, IMO.

What's sad about this is that we're at a point in human history unlike any other in terms of availability of knowledge.

Look at the bright side, all the kids in class can tell you who's the best on X-Factor, the Voice, or American Idol... and that has to be worth something, right?

[Kerileanne99]

Students are not dumber just less knowledgeable. 

I am not so sure about this...I think from the endless hours of television that most people watch, they are training their brains to focus only on surface, or working memory...if you watch a mindless, 30-60 min television program, most of what you watched will be dumped soon after...it is only that which personally appealed to you, or connected to a specific pathway already in your brain, that you will remember...hence, mindless television.
So when students enter a university classroom, they have trained, for years, their brains to focus only on the superficial, and are physically and neurologically incapable of concentrating or retaining anything on a deeper level. This combined with poor revising/studying skills further renders them unable to later move those items in their working memory to more long term memory...is this not 'dumber'. The knowledge is there for the taking...yet they cannot absorb it or understand it.
I teach a review course in biology and chemistry at the university for students hoping to apply to medical school, preparing to take the MCAT.  The level of understanding I see makes me reluctant to trust a doctor...even those carrying wonderful Grade Point Averages do not actually understand what they are doing..they have simply refined the ability to absorb a great deal of material, regurgitate it for a test, then promptly dump it.  They have gotten exceptional grades throughout their college careers, in the very same subjects I am 'reviewing/teaching', and remember not a single thing nor even having learned it...

My husband gave a freshman chemistry exam a couple of weeks ago, and the students did very poorly indeed...after almost 30 emails protesting that his exams did not 'follow the material he gave in class', he became exasperated...he went to class and instead of giving them the prepared lecture, handed back their exams. He then proceeded to show them that he had taken 75% of their test questions, word for word, number for number, from their class notes...(this class is for chem majors and pre-med majors)..he then left the room to dead silence...
We MUST teach our children, traditional schooled, home schooled, after schooled, whatever, HOW to learn and to find joy in the process. It is our job, duty, and labor of love to show them that there is supreme satisfaction to be gained in the pursuit, not just the outcome...do I want my child to be successful? Indeed. But on her terms, whatever that may be...Equipping her with the tools to do so is the reason I am here!
I apologize for the long post!

[Kerileanne99]

Apologize, in the above post, it is only the quote that "students are not dumber every year, just less knowledgeable" that should be attributed to Dr. Jones!

[lois1]

It's not just watching TV... I think technology is the new addiction... Don't get me wrong, I have a mobile phone (although I can't/ wont text) & love skype & email for staying in touch, but it has its place. I have teenage twin sisters who are doing very well at secondary school.... they nor the majority of their friends are interested in alcohol, smoking or drugs.. but oh how they beg to have facebook or the latest ipod/phone whatever. They are addicted to receiving "information" in short bursts & the said information is generally spelt incorrectly.

We're in Panama & it's far worse here, security guards, policemen on duty, teachers (in class) without fail are on their phones. And don't get me started on the so called school system; 15 year olds cutting old magazines & sticking them to make a poster. One class for their geog final exam were told that if they cleaned the school they would automatically get an A, this was preparing them for university. This country is only as "advanced" as it is because of foreigners but I digress.....

The art of conversation is dying & with it the ability to absorb more than bite size chunks of anything. My husband & I met a family who had been brought up as Amish about 2 yrs ago at a young people's get together... those 6 kids knew what was going on in the world, could talk about farming, politics, you name it & we had a great time with them. Where were the other 35 teens? On their phones or watching a film.

I'm on my soap box but it all starts with the parents, so I'm taking notes!!

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