Staff ReportsIt’s that time again to sift through the wreckage of America’s education system, which is looking more like a disaster zone than the bastion of knowledge it once was. A recent report has revealed that despite a staggering $189 billion influx for our primary and secondary schools to help students recover from pandemic-related learning setbacks, test scores have tanked like a rock in a lake. This isn’t just a slight dip; we’re talking about scores that haven’t been this dismal in decades. Thanks, Biden administration—a real modern-day Santa delivering a sack full of failures instead of toys.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)—the “Nation’s Report Card” battered by confusion and chaos—shows that one-third of eighth-graders now possess reading skills that are below basic, marking a record low in 30 years. The real kicker? It doesn’t stop there, as 40 percent of fourth-graders are also struggling to grasp reading fundamentals. It appears that all that money went directly to the black hole of ineffective education. Who knew spending nearly 200 billion dollars could achieve such spectacularly poor results?
While it’s tempting to lay the blame solely at the feet of teachers, doing so would be unfair to those who are part of a system shackled to progressive ideologies. Education has become a battleground for woke agendas, with teaching methods more concerned about feelings than facts. Today’s students could be mistaken for a generation of future TikTok stars—unable to string two coherent thoughts together in writing, let alone tackle real-world challenges. Imagine the bewilderment of future employers trying to decode resumes written in a flurry of emojis!
Dr. Peggy Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, recently voiced concerns over this educational catastrophe, noting that “our lowest performing students are reading at historically low levels.” Focus and accountability, anyone? The challenge, however, seems to stem from a radical rethinking of what education is supposed to achieve. Take Louisiana, for instance, where fourth-graders have somehow managed to match or even exceed prepandemic reading levels. Their secret? A focus on “the science of reading,” which suspiciously seems to involve actual phonics—an approach thought to be as outdated as a flip phone in the age of smartphones.
If This New 'Report Card' on U.S. Schools Doesn't Make You Mad, Nothing Will https://t.co/LnW8hEM7oh
— JB (@JBRawhide) January 30, 2025
The bewildering decline in reading skills may be partially attributed to rising screen time and the ubiquitous presence of smartphones, but let’s not pretend that it’s the sole culprit. Even young children aren’t immune to the whims of curriculum debates that prioritize trendy ideologies over essential literacy skills. Ignoring the fundamental basis of reading and writing is where the education ecosystem has truly gone awry. One cannot depend on a fun app or a viral challenge to teach kids how to read or engage critically with the world around them.
It’s a hard truth: education reform will be a painstaking process, especially with the teacher unions likely resistant to change. While parents are busy pining for the world of traditional education, it seems the education establishment is more inclined to uphold the status quo that embraces mediocrity. Until a real shift away from the ideologically driven landscape governing public schools occurs, students will remain adrift, unable to navigate the complexities of life armed only with a smartphone and a fondness for social media.
