As one of the first generators to grow up with social media as a fact of life from the moment they were born, Gen Alpha have recently come under some scrutiny over some reports that they don’t engage with text or algebra the way previous generations did. But is there any truth to this?
Someone asked “Teachers, Is the “Gen Alpha can't read (write, or do math, etc)" crisis real? If so, how bad is it?” and they weighed in with their experiences. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote the most interesting responses and be sure to add your own thoughts and observations to the comments down below.
#1
I work at a library. The good news: I see many families there from varying socioeconomic backgrounds. The common thread is their parents are making the effort and leading by example.
Now onto what I see anecdotally. Many older kids and teens have a gap between the mechanics of reading and the actual real world component. If you ask them to fill out a form, they don’t understand how to format a street address (or what their own address even is — crazy), they fill out the wrong lines with the wrong information, too. Partly it’s because they don’t know what phrases like “zip code” mean, partly because they just zone out at the first sight of a challenge. It’s like they stopped learning/progressing beyond a certain point.
They do not have the mental endurance to read instructions and follow them when it comes to novel experiences. For example, they go to website with a list of instructions…they exclaim it’s all too confusing and ask how to do the thing. Only for me, who also has never seen this page to glance at the same instruction and figure it out in a couple of minutes. It’s actually very similar to dealing with the boomer population.
This is the issue with literacy. It’s not just being able to identify a bunch of words, it’s being able to utilize them, decipher context clues, etc. So many adults are walking around who can read words, but cannot comprehend or take action on documents that will affect their lives.
ETA: my goal was not to send people into an existential crisis. As I said I see kids here everyday who devour books and are brilliant.
I was simply answering the question with some of my personal experiences of what seems to be sticking out as unusual. For example, teenagers not knowing their home address. And yes, the literacy issue is far beyond kids. It’s something we have been grappling with in the US for quite a while.
Now onto what I see anecdotally. Many older kids and teens have a gap between the mechanics of reading and the actual real world component. If you ask them to fill out a form, they don’t understand how to format a street address (or what their own address even is — crazy), they fill out the wrong lines with the wrong information, too. Partly it’s because they don’t know what phrases like “zip code” mean, partly because they just zone out at the first sight of a challenge. It’s like they stopped learning/progressing beyond a certain point.
They do not have the mental endurance to read instructions and follow them when it comes to novel experiences. For example, they go to website with a list of instructions…they exclaim it’s all too confusing and ask how to do the thing. Only for me, who also has never seen this page to glance at the same instruction and figure it out in a couple of minutes. It’s actually very similar to dealing with the boomer population.
This is the issue with literacy. It’s not just being able to identify a bunch of words, it’s being able to utilize them, decipher context clues, etc. So many adults are walking around who can read words, but cannot comprehend or take action on documents that will affect their lives.
ETA: my goal was not to send people into an existential crisis. As I said I see kids here everyday who devour books and are brilliant.
I was simply answering the question with some of my personal experiences of what seems to be sticking out as unusual. For example, teenagers not knowing their home address. And yes, the literacy issue is far beyond kids. It’s something we have been grappling with in the US for quite a while.
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4points
#2
It’s pretty freaking bad. I always go back to the instance where a junior in my class was giving a presentation and couldn’t read the word “thought”.
4points
#3
Teacher in Sweden and it's pretty freaking bad here too. Parents have failed their kids by not having them read more at a young age, instead they gave them phones and social media. We the teachers can see that the kids that aren't always on their phones perform, in general, WAY better.
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4points
#4
I’m a high school teacher. Specifically AP and regular level physics. Been at it for 15 years now.
I’m not teaching alpha yet, but I’m starting to wrap up the last parts of Z.
My perspective is interesting because I’m still interacting with the top kids of each group, but also each “level” of kids all the way down to the bottom.
The very top kids are about the same as they ever were, and potentially even more impressive than before. More access to technology and resources have done wonders. My biggest worry for this group is that college admissions are now completely broken and they don’t always get into great colleges.
The run of the mill AP/honors kids have sort of gotten worse, but not by that much. COVID hit them in the fundamentals, cheating is more rampant because of easy it is, and culturally there’s less pride in “overachieving” so it doesn’t happen as often. These kids are perfectly content doing the bare minimum and seem to lack internal true motivation.
HOWEVER, the run of the mill non honors kids have gotten really bad. Very low tolerance for working hard, very short attention span, very short stamina for active listening. This is the brainrotted/fried dopamine group. Blame the screens, the social media, and the parenting for this group. It’s the group that is the most worrying because a decade ago, I’d estimate that maybe 10-20% of kids at a school are like this, and now it’s probably 40-50% of each graduating class. THIS IS NOT THE GROUP that viral TikTok’s are talking about with being illiterate and not able to do math, but it’s the group I’m most concerned with. When I hear about the Gen Z stare and the general inability for minimum wage workers to do their jobs, I immediately recognize that it’s the same kids in this category, just a few years older, and they still haven’t made any progress. They don’t care, they’re AFRAID to look like they care, they seem depressed as a cultural baseline, they’re super socially awkward, and they don’t seem to feel like they need to change any of this. They can do basic math, but they’re far below what kids in this category were able to do 10 years ago. They can read, but their comprehension and analysis of it is low. They can write, but their writing is filled with errors and their thoughts seem incoherent or simple.
Then there’s of course the bottom 10-20% kids (excluding the special ed/severe/moderate learning disability kids). This is what the viral videos are about and it’s not an exaggeration. They can’t read, write, or do very basic math like multiplication or division as a 17 year old. When they read, it’s obvious that they are just looking at some of the letters and then guessing, and it’s obvious that they aren’t processing it while they say the words out loud. They write like 1st graders at the age of 17. If they have to add even basic numbers together, they’re still using their fingers. They seem to actively think school is stupid and that they’re not the problem at all. These kids existed 10 years ago, but there weren’t that many kids. In a class of 40, maybe 1 or 2 were like this. Now it’s like 4-6 kids in each class.
Now, I’m at a “good” school. Top 10% type of school in an affluent state, serving a moderately affluent suburban community. I believe the teachers who are teaching the inner city/rural communities where their entire class can’t read/write/do math. I don’t think they are exaggerating. Those kids do exist and it seems that it’s been a consistent trend my entire career that it’s heading in this direction.
I’m not teaching alpha yet, but I’m starting to wrap up the last parts of Z.
My perspective is interesting because I’m still interacting with the top kids of each group, but also each “level” of kids all the way down to the bottom.
The very top kids are about the same as they ever were, and potentially even more impressive than before. More access to technology and resources have done wonders. My biggest worry for this group is that college admissions are now completely broken and they don’t always get into great colleges.
The run of the mill AP/honors kids have sort of gotten worse, but not by that much. COVID hit them in the fundamentals, cheating is more rampant because of easy it is, and culturally there’s less pride in “overachieving” so it doesn’t happen as often. These kids are perfectly content doing the bare minimum and seem to lack internal true motivation.
HOWEVER, the run of the mill non honors kids have gotten really bad. Very low tolerance for working hard, very short attention span, very short stamina for active listening. This is the brainrotted/fried dopamine group. Blame the screens, the social media, and the parenting for this group. It’s the group that is the most worrying because a decade ago, I’d estimate that maybe 10-20% of kids at a school are like this, and now it’s probably 40-50% of each graduating class. THIS IS NOT THE GROUP that viral TikTok’s are talking about with being illiterate and not able to do math, but it’s the group I’m most concerned with. When I hear about the Gen Z stare and the general inability for minimum wage workers to do their jobs, I immediately recognize that it’s the same kids in this category, just a few years older, and they still haven’t made any progress. They don’t care, they’re AFRAID to look like they care, they seem depressed as a cultural baseline, they’re super socially awkward, and they don’t seem to feel like they need to change any of this. They can do basic math, but they’re far below what kids in this category were able to do 10 years ago. They can read, but their comprehension and analysis of it is low. They can write, but their writing is filled with errors and their thoughts seem incoherent or simple.
Then there’s of course the bottom 10-20% kids (excluding the special ed/severe/moderate learning disability kids). This is what the viral videos are about and it’s not an exaggeration. They can’t read, write, or do very basic math like multiplication or division as a 17 year old. When they read, it’s obvious that they are just looking at some of the letters and then guessing, and it’s obvious that they aren’t processing it while they say the words out loud. They write like 1st graders at the age of 17. If they have to add even basic numbers together, they’re still using their fingers. They seem to actively think school is stupid and that they’re not the problem at all. These kids existed 10 years ago, but there weren’t that many kids. In a class of 40, maybe 1 or 2 were like this. Now it’s like 4-6 kids in each class.
Now, I’m at a “good” school. Top 10% type of school in an affluent state, serving a moderately affluent suburban community. I believe the teachers who are teaching the inner city/rural communities where their entire class can’t read/write/do math. I don’t think they are exaggerating. Those kids do exist and it seems that it’s been a consistent trend my entire career that it’s heading in this direction.
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4points
#5
Its not even that. They have the virtual library of Alexandria on the palm of their hands and when i told them to google it, they asked me, how?
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4points
#6
I've been teaching high school English for nearly a decade. It's bad. I go home and cry on nearly a weekly basis. Granted, I work in the toughest, poorest high school in 100 miles, but it shouldn't be like it is.
This is the first year the MAJORITY of my class cheated on their first essays. I had to go back to timed, paper and pencil essays for the rest of the year. It STILL took most of them 5 full class periods to write 5 paragraphs, ON AN ARTICLE WE HAD ALREADY ANALYZED TOGETHER, *with* multiple scaffolds. (I gave them sentence frames for their thesis, and they were allowed to use a notebook we made together that shows how each paragraph should be structured, sentence by sentence) Even with those tools, it took MOST of my 10th graders 5 full days to write 5 paragraphs. I STILL had a kid crash out and tell me I didn't give them enough time. I STILL had 25% of the overall class not pass the final.
It was also the first year a kid yelled "We don't care about your books, Miss!" while I was in front of the class presenting books they might be interested in for their book reviews. Even the most capable and the most bright kids side-stepped my attempts to get them to read anything at all. Almost all of them cheated on the book review they had to write. It was a major grade and I just dropped it from the grade book.
I tried to get very honest with them about what this is all going to mean for their future but when I did, I was reported to my boss-for the first time ever-by a group of kids. I had to go in and explain that I had given them a quote about literacy for them to write about, and I had to bring all the receipts.
I got into teaching because while I was a big reader as a kid, I hated school. I wanted to help kids and be someone in the school system who empowers children, rather than enjoys having power over children-there are plenty of those kinds of folks in school, too. I wanted to be one of the good ones.
But right now my job is the most difficult part of my life. I don't know if I can do this until retirement. Our school has experienced waves of cuts. We don't have enough custodians, we don't have enough bus drivers, and we don't have enough security. I have to stand out in the halls and tell kids to put their phones away and get to class every day during my prep period, and every day I get cussed at multiple times. There are no consequences and there are no real expectations that kids have any academic discipline or stamina.
I think unless we get rid of ALL screens, the 1-to-1 Chromebooks, the phones, we are going to lose an entire generation of people who will live Wall-E style. Seriously, I can't stress enough how damaged these kids are, and they don't know it because they don't have anything to compare it to. No one but school staff sees it, because we're the ones dealing with the entire collective of young people day in and day out. They don't even bother to get to know their teachers' names. They are THAT buried into their phones all the time. They don't bother to get to know their classmates, 90% of the student body doesn't go to football games or dances or prom. The social aspects of school have been almost entirely gutted by online culture. Even at assemblies they mostly ignore what is going on in favor of staring at their screens.
As a society, we need to regulate it and DEFINITELY regulate AI, or we may very seriously lose the country for good. We simply won't have informed voters who know how to stave off political or financial propaganda.
The more I write here, the more upset I feel. I need to unplug and go stand in my garden awhile. .
This is the first year the MAJORITY of my class cheated on their first essays. I had to go back to timed, paper and pencil essays for the rest of the year. It STILL took most of them 5 full class periods to write 5 paragraphs, ON AN ARTICLE WE HAD ALREADY ANALYZED TOGETHER, *with* multiple scaffolds. (I gave them sentence frames for their thesis, and they were allowed to use a notebook we made together that shows how each paragraph should be structured, sentence by sentence) Even with those tools, it took MOST of my 10th graders 5 full days to write 5 paragraphs. I STILL had a kid crash out and tell me I didn't give them enough time. I STILL had 25% of the overall class not pass the final.
It was also the first year a kid yelled "We don't care about your books, Miss!" while I was in front of the class presenting books they might be interested in for their book reviews. Even the most capable and the most bright kids side-stepped my attempts to get them to read anything at all. Almost all of them cheated on the book review they had to write. It was a major grade and I just dropped it from the grade book.
I tried to get very honest with them about what this is all going to mean for their future but when I did, I was reported to my boss-for the first time ever-by a group of kids. I had to go in and explain that I had given them a quote about literacy for them to write about, and I had to bring all the receipts.
I got into teaching because while I was a big reader as a kid, I hated school. I wanted to help kids and be someone in the school system who empowers children, rather than enjoys having power over children-there are plenty of those kinds of folks in school, too. I wanted to be one of the good ones.
But right now my job is the most difficult part of my life. I don't know if I can do this until retirement. Our school has experienced waves of cuts. We don't have enough custodians, we don't have enough bus drivers, and we don't have enough security. I have to stand out in the halls and tell kids to put their phones away and get to class every day during my prep period, and every day I get cussed at multiple times. There are no consequences and there are no real expectations that kids have any academic discipline or stamina.
I think unless we get rid of ALL screens, the 1-to-1 Chromebooks, the phones, we are going to lose an entire generation of people who will live Wall-E style. Seriously, I can't stress enough how damaged these kids are, and they don't know it because they don't have anything to compare it to. No one but school staff sees it, because we're the ones dealing with the entire collective of young people day in and day out. They don't even bother to get to know their teachers' names. They are THAT buried into their phones all the time. They don't bother to get to know their classmates, 90% of the student body doesn't go to football games or dances or prom. The social aspects of school have been almost entirely gutted by online culture. Even at assemblies they mostly ignore what is going on in favor of staring at their screens.
As a society, we need to regulate it and DEFINITELY regulate AI, or we may very seriously lose the country for good. We simply won't have informed voters who know how to stave off political or financial propaganda.
The more I write here, the more upset I feel. I need to unplug and go stand in my garden awhile. .
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4points
#7
Elementary principal here. It is bad.
Parts of the issues:
For the last five years, the only teachers I have been able to hire were those barely in a teaching program. It’s a challenging job even with the degree, but it’s near impossible without the education OR experience. They’ve been skipping their student teaching due to this. Bright side - this year was a high turnover year and all the teachers I have hired are fully licensed and with experience. I’m in a more rural area, but I have lived in various states across the US and hear similar issues in those states as well.
Parents. Parents. We are no longer professionals in their minds. I will call home, explain the investigation I’ve conducted and the conclusion. Nope, not my kid. He would never. Ma’am, I have him on video and with 3 witnesses. They will hold them out of school to avoid ISS, take them for ice cream, for “standing up to a bully.” They think every kid that looks at their kid wrong is a bully. Bullies are still in existence, and it’s challenging to deal with those situations as an administrator, but they aren’t all bullies, I promise. Sometimes it’s just a kid who is mean to everyone and I am trying my best to get a handle on it.
Laws. In special education, there are so many laws our hands are tied in most, if not all, cases. Sometimes kids hit, bite, kick, and sometimes that is toward adults. We have to put hands on kids to keep us and others safe. Yes, I get it. They are children. And some of those children kick, spit, threaten, pull hair, climb walls, turn over furniture. If I mess it up, I’m suddenly an educator with a case on my record. Who wants a career ending risk like that hanging over them? And also, there are a ton of crazy teachers out there who should NEVER put hands on kids. So I also get it.
Society. School is no longer school. It’s the only way some of our parents can work. It’s become daycare. We really need more universal supports like pre-k for all, which would help prepare students for school as well as help parents not have to afford an entire mortgage payment for daycare.
I’d share more but it’s summer break and my cortisol levels have been high for 220 days so I am going to zone out a bit longer.
Parts of the issues:
For the last five years, the only teachers I have been able to hire were those barely in a teaching program. It’s a challenging job even with the degree, but it’s near impossible without the education OR experience. They’ve been skipping their student teaching due to this. Bright side - this year was a high turnover year and all the teachers I have hired are fully licensed and with experience. I’m in a more rural area, but I have lived in various states across the US and hear similar issues in those states as well.
Parents. Parents. We are no longer professionals in their minds. I will call home, explain the investigation I’ve conducted and the conclusion. Nope, not my kid. He would never. Ma’am, I have him on video and with 3 witnesses. They will hold them out of school to avoid ISS, take them for ice cream, for “standing up to a bully.” They think every kid that looks at their kid wrong is a bully. Bullies are still in existence, and it’s challenging to deal with those situations as an administrator, but they aren’t all bullies, I promise. Sometimes it’s just a kid who is mean to everyone and I am trying my best to get a handle on it.
Laws. In special education, there are so many laws our hands are tied in most, if not all, cases. Sometimes kids hit, bite, kick, and sometimes that is toward adults. We have to put hands on kids to keep us and others safe. Yes, I get it. They are children. And some of those children kick, spit, threaten, pull hair, climb walls, turn over furniture. If I mess it up, I’m suddenly an educator with a case on my record. Who wants a career ending risk like that hanging over them? And also, there are a ton of crazy teachers out there who should NEVER put hands on kids. So I also get it.
Society. School is no longer school. It’s the only way some of our parents can work. It’s become daycare. We really need more universal supports like pre-k for all, which would help prepare students for school as well as help parents not have to afford an entire mortgage payment for daycare.
I’d share more but it’s summer break and my cortisol levels have been high for 220 days so I am going to zone out a bit longer.
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3points
#8
Eh, depends on where you teach. I went from a low income school, where most students were 2-3 grade levels behind, to a private school last year. My students are all reading and writing at a high school level in 6th grade.
The difference (in my opinion) is education level of the parents, which is also tied into socioeconomic factors. Parents have more time (flexible jobs, paid time off) to spend with their children. As well as access to extracurricular activities.
It’s an unacceptable (to me) inequality in 2026- the parents of the students at my old school don’t love their kids any less, the cards are stacked against them.
The difference (in my opinion) is education level of the parents, which is also tied into socioeconomic factors. Parents have more time (flexible jobs, paid time off) to spend with their children. As well as access to extracurricular activities.
It’s an unacceptable (to me) inequality in 2026- the parents of the students at my old school don’t love their kids any less, the cards are stacked against them.
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3points
#9
As a teacher of 13 years in middle school reading/language arts, short answer is yes.
A LOT of things have gone into this not just covid. Kids aren't forced to read to alleviate boredom or learn like previous generations. Smart phones and tablets from a young age have eroded attention spans and boredom tolerance. I can't compete w tiktok or YouTube and shouldn't be expected to.
Parents can't or don't want to be involved in their kids education, don't value it bc they got picked on/weren't smart but turned out ok/teachers are indoctrination kids.
All of the standards/skills that used to be in 2nd grade have been pushed into K. K is no longer socialization and fine motor skills w phonics exposure, it's expecting them to be full reading by mid year which isn't developmentally appropriate. Until a few years ago elementary wasnt teaching phonics so kids dont have tools to decode unfamiliar words and they definitely dont care enough to look it up. Things we did regularly like weekly vocab, themed units have gone away entirely.
If you took a middle/high level reading test you might not pass; the reading snippets sometimes require background knowledge students might not have, I don't always agree w the answers and I have a masters. Curriculum is usually written by one of the major publishers, is absolutely trash that everyone hates, but has to be followed due to state mandates for "high quality materials of instruction". Novels are usually only used in advanced classes in favor of articles and snippets.
It used to be we'd have several sections of honors/advanced classes; now we're lucky to fill 2 sections in a grade level. We have kids in high school working on phonics and they just get passed along through middle school bc of metrics and some old study in the name of equity.
I'm sure there's more but it's summer and this post is eating my pool time.
A LOT of things have gone into this not just covid. Kids aren't forced to read to alleviate boredom or learn like previous generations. Smart phones and tablets from a young age have eroded attention spans and boredom tolerance. I can't compete w tiktok or YouTube and shouldn't be expected to.
Parents can't or don't want to be involved in their kids education, don't value it bc they got picked on/weren't smart but turned out ok/teachers are indoctrination kids.
All of the standards/skills that used to be in 2nd grade have been pushed into K. K is no longer socialization and fine motor skills w phonics exposure, it's expecting them to be full reading by mid year which isn't developmentally appropriate. Until a few years ago elementary wasnt teaching phonics so kids dont have tools to decode unfamiliar words and they definitely dont care enough to look it up. Things we did regularly like weekly vocab, themed units have gone away entirely.
If you took a middle/high level reading test you might not pass; the reading snippets sometimes require background knowledge students might not have, I don't always agree w the answers and I have a masters. Curriculum is usually written by one of the major publishers, is absolutely trash that everyone hates, but has to be followed due to state mandates for "high quality materials of instruction". Novels are usually only used in advanced classes in favor of articles and snippets.
It used to be we'd have several sections of honors/advanced classes; now we're lucky to fill 2 sections in a grade level. We have kids in high school working on phonics and they just get passed along through middle school bc of metrics and some old study in the name of equity.
I'm sure there's more but it's summer and this post is eating my pool time.
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3points
#10
I worked in a library for a few years. The highschoolers would come in with the “my teacher said I can use any book for the project” and just stare at me. I’d ask them what they like to read they say they don’t. I ask if they like any show or movie and they’d name one. Here would be the conversation:
Ok so you’ve watched fantasy show through like 20 times. Do you like fantasy?
What’s fantasy.
Like magic? Elves? Creatures?
What does that have to do with show?
Literally the entire show? Like the main character does magic constantly? And is friends with magical creature?
Oh I didn’t know that.
What do you know about it?
Uhhh.
I thought you watched it??
Yeah I’ve watched it on streaming like 20 times.
Ok how about I just get you a book similar to it.
Why?
So you enjoy it because you like the story?
I do?
You’ve watched it 20 times!!!!
Ok so you’ve watched fantasy show through like 20 times. Do you like fantasy?
What’s fantasy.
Like magic? Elves? Creatures?
What does that have to do with show?
Literally the entire show? Like the main character does magic constantly? And is friends with magical creature?
Oh I didn’t know that.
What do you know about it?
Uhhh.
I thought you watched it??
Yeah I’ve watched it on streaming like 20 times.
Ok how about I just get you a book similar to it.
Why?
So you enjoy it because you like the story?
I do?
You’ve watched it 20 times!!!!
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3points
#11
Yesterday I bought something with cash, and not only could the cashier not calculate the change, she had to ask her older coworker which coins were which.
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3points
#12
Not a teacher, but I find it odd my middle school kid's reading class listens to the audiobook, rather than, you know, reading.
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3points
#13
My son is in kindergarten and was having issues sounding out words. The issue was that he couldn't sound out words at all. Show him a word, and he would guess a different word that didn't even start with the same letter.
Turned out, they weren't teaching the kids phonics, they were just doing sight words. So the kids only knew the words on their lists. They called in some high paid expert who said "yeah kids need phonics" and they changed it, but the school has been open for three years, I feel bad for the kids who had that foundation for 1-3 years already. My son went from being below level to above level in reading.
Turned out, they weren't teaching the kids phonics, they were just doing sight words. So the kids only knew the words on their lists. They called in some high paid expert who said "yeah kids need phonics" and they changed it, but the school has been open for three years, I feel bad for the kids who had that foundation for 1-3 years already. My son went from being below level to above level in reading.
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3points
#14
I had a university student who didn't understand that 50% was the same as 1/2.
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3points
#15
I teach Pre-K (4.5-5yo getting ready for kindergarten) and I am genuinely worried for my current group of kids. To give an example, the other day we were doing an open ended craft where they had to make trees out of materials. One boy looked at me and asked how to do the craft I told him to use his imagination! He then looks me in the eyes and goes "how do I do that?". I've also realized that a lot of these kids don't know how to handle boredom or how to play by themselves. So it's not just an academic thing, its a social-emotional thing as well.
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3points
#16
In first year college chemistry we gave students the same exam in 2023 that we gave in 2015. The average went from 73% to 35%.
When I was teaching these classes I notice kids put up their hands and ask for help before they have even bothered to read their worksheets. .
When I was teaching these classes I notice kids put up their hands and ask for help before they have even bothered to read their worksheets. .
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3points
#17
I am not a teacher, but I do have a job in government working with a lot young kids.
It’s bad. Exceptionally bad.
I have had a 12 year old kids come to swim that walk up to the desk with a phone and just hand the phone to me, because they don’t understand how to pay for admission and assume the phone will just… do it for them. I have had a 16 year old dump eight $1 bills on my desk because he couldn’t count to three to pay for a $3 admission. I’ve had a 14 year old that injured his ankle need to sign an incident report ask me how to “draw the letter a” because they forgot how to spell “Matt”, his own name. I have witnessed numerous teens not be able to read the “Pool is closed on X/Y” with the date, and they didn’t understand how to interpret the numbers let alone know a 4 would represent April.
It’s crazy bad.
It’s bad. Exceptionally bad.
I have had a 12 year old kids come to swim that walk up to the desk with a phone and just hand the phone to me, because they don’t understand how to pay for admission and assume the phone will just… do it for them. I have had a 16 year old dump eight $1 bills on my desk because he couldn’t count to three to pay for a $3 admission. I’ve had a 14 year old that injured his ankle need to sign an incident report ask me how to “draw the letter a” because they forgot how to spell “Matt”, his own name. I have witnessed numerous teens not be able to read the “Pool is closed on X/Y” with the date, and they didn’t understand how to interpret the numbers let alone know a 4 would represent April.
It’s crazy bad.
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3points
#18
As a Gen Z (I'm 26), we had to spend a whole class period in high school learning how to tell time on a clock and doing elementary worksheets because most students in the class didn't know how... I can only assume it's gotten worse since then, unfortunately 😬.
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2points
#19
I personally know many parents who are not teaching their grade school kids and lower how to read or do anything.
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2points
#20
I’m a Kindergarten and 1st Grade teacher. I constantly tell parents that the best thing they can do for early literacy is to read to/with their kids every night, and to have real conversations with their child, where they ask them questions, and get them to think about their world and how things work.
Then I’ll have parents clearly blow that off and ask me if I can just print them some worksheets for their kid to do.
So, you just want your kid occupied and out of your hair? Got it. I won’t be doing that. Read with your kid and talk to your kid.
Then I’ll have parents clearly blow that off and ask me if I can just print them some worksheets for their kid to do.
So, you just want your kid occupied and out of your hair? Got it. I won’t be doing that. Read with your kid and talk to your kid.
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2points