Teachers issue dire warning about children's shocking performance at school – as they claim parents are 'taking a back seat' and ignoring alarming problems
It seems that some people are not convinced that children are our future.
Teachers have taken to social media to warn that children are falling behind in their basic reading and writing skills – claiming parents are completely ignorant of the alarming situation.
In a TikTok videowhich has been viewed more than five million times to date, seventh grade teacher @qbthedon asked parents: “Why don't you know that your children are not performing at their level?”
“I teach seventh grade, they are still performing at fourth grade level,” he complained.
Seventh grade teacher @qbthedon (photo) asked parents: 'Why don't you know that your children are not performing at their level?'
Former teachers warn on social media that children are falling behind in their basic reading and writing skills, including former teacher Odion (photo)
“We all know the world is lagging behind globally,” he acknowledged. 'Bbecause of the pandemic and all. But I don't understand why they don't emphasize to you how bad it is.'
The teacher from Atlanta, Georgia, claimed that he can “put as many zeros in this class” as he wants, but the kids will still move on to the next grade.
“Nobody's talking about that,” he said in disbelief.
“These (are) our future leaders, our future doctors, our future nurses – our future,” he said desperately. 'Please!'
The teacher's video caught the attention of former teacher Odion, under the username @bodacious_bobo, who taught toddlers and preschoolers about 10 years ago.
She responded to the original video in her own clip, captioning it, “If these kids are our future, we should all be terrified,” suggesting that many parents' failure to understand their children's educational progress goes back before the s of the pandemic.
'They can't even blame it on the pandemic' Odion started in the clipwhich has been viewed more than 2.1 million times.
Odion recalled her time as a teacher, saying she would hold parent-teacher nights at school and “a lot of people wouldn't come,” before launching into a story about one student in particular she called Tia.
Odion suggested that parents did not understand that their children's educational progress dates back to the pandemic years
She said that a preschooler should be able to read a sentence made up of simple words (like the one in the photo)
She recalled a story in which a child in her class was reading at a kindergarten level in fifth grade, and another story in which a kindergartener did not know any letters.
According to Odion, the little girl, who was in kindergarten, had difficulty learning letters.
“At least in kindergarten you have to know, I think it was 80 percent of the 52 letters, both uppercase and lowercase, and you have to be able to identify randomly,” she explained.
“So I tell the father she barely knows ten letters. And he denies it. “No, you know, she knows her letters,” she recalled.
Odion then pretended to show flashcards to someone.
'I literally said, “What letter is this?” She said something that wasn't it,” she recalled. 'Put another one down. “What letter is this?” She doesn't know.”
'Now the father looks at her like: “Tia, do you know this!” and I look at him like, “No, she doesn't!” the former teacher continued.
“And then he tells me, 'Oh, because you know, her brother would teach her,'” she said in disbelief.
The former teacher then shared another example of a fifth grade student she taught, saying they were reading at a kindergarten level.
Normally, she explained, preschoolers can understand a sentence made up of small words, such as “I see you” and “I love you.”
'A student in group 5 can only read these kinds of words. It literally blew my mind,” she said.
Odion added that the “optics” of holding a child back often prevented parents from doing what was best from an educational perspective.
“If you suggest holding the child back, the parents will fight tooth and nail because they are more concerned about the optics of a child being held back than actually taking care of the child's needs,” she said.
The former teacher said the decline in learning was not due to the teacher's lack of effort.
“I've sent notes home, I've sent emails, I've literally made a note and pinned it on a kid's shirt saying, 'Don't take this off until your mom takes it,' and I get nothing. back,” she said.
Thousands of people commented on the TikTok, many sharing their own experiences
She implored parents and guardians not to take the backseat when it comes to their child's learning.
'You have to help strengthen it at home. “If you put a kid in front of that phone or iPad when he or she gets home, it better be on YouTube, and they better be learning about letters and sight words,” she urged.
“You can't tell me you can't read to the child,” she said bluntly. 'It takes ten minutes to read to the child. Nobody's that busy.'
“At the end of the day, the people who are suffering are your children,” she noted.
According to federal data Released in early 2023, public school leaders estimated that nearly half (49 percent) of students were behind grade level in at least one academic subject in the 2022-2023 year.
Thousands of people commented on the TikTok, many sharing their own experiences.
'Some parents expect their children to go to school and learn everything there, without any help from home!' one user commented.
“It boggles my mind that parents don't teach their children anything at home,” another chimed in. “My parents taught me to read before I went to kindergarten.”
Another said, “My husband teaches middle school and every year he has at least one child reading around second grade. It's ROUGH.'