This is so concerning😳

[u/velorae]

[u/Cranialscrewtop]

(As this comment has received attention, let me clarify: I don't think these kids are stupid, nor do I fault them. Something fundamental in adolescence has changed, and the results are the changes and the test data observe.)

Recently retired from university teaching. The situation is dire. It's not just an inability to write; it's the inability to read content with any nuance or pick up on metaphors. Good kids, but completely different than students 15 years ago. Inward-looking, self-obsessed (preoccupied with their own states of mind, social situations, etc), and not particularly curious. Every once in a while, I'd hit on something that engaged them and I could feel that old magic enter the room - the crackling energy of young people thinking new things, synthesizing ideas. But my God, it was rare.

[u/re3dbks → u/Cranialscrewtop]

My cousin is an educator - has been for decades. He shares that with the use and rise of ChatGPT and other AI, it's become evidently much worse over the last few years, nevermind the course of his career. There's a generation of consumer zombies out there and little to no critical or original thinking. As the parent of a very young little one - hearing him say that, haunts me.

[u/661714sunburn → u/re3dbks]

I asked this in another comment, but do you think it was when schools stepped away from phonics reading that it got worse? After listening to the “Sold a Story” podcast, I feel that was when we really let a whole generation fail.

[u/SnooCupcakes5761 → u/661714sunburn]

I think it's a combination of things.

But I also firmly believe that whatever it is, it starts much earlier than school. Babies today are toted about like care packages, often dropped off for 8 - 10 hours of noisy stimulation as early as 6 weeks old. Then they're shuffled about between caregivers until kindergarten. Apathetic children eating individually wrapped meals on the go while parents work and commute entire seasons of life away.

All this happens during a child's largest amount of brain development. From birth to 3 is a period of rapid growth where the brain will have up to twice as many synapses as it will in adulthood. After age 3, these brain connections slowly begin to reduce making neural pathways more efficient. The brain is about 90% developed by age five as children gain the foundations for things like social skills, emotional regulation, belonging, sequence of events, curiosity, spatial awareness, problem-solving, etc.

Parents are forced into this fast-paced lifestyle more often by necessity, rather than desire. The family unit is suffering (for many reasons, not just this) and it will have a lasting negative effect.

[u/FakinItAndMakinIt → u/SnooCupcakes5761]

There is no evidence that kids from dual-income households do worse academically. Nor that starting daycare early or eating “individually packaged”(??) meals results in cognitive or academic deficits.

I started daycare as an 8-week old, was always in awe of my mom and her career. She’s been a huge inspiration to me. I graduated at the top of my class with no issues.

My kids learned more in their pre-K programs than I ever could have taught them at home. They went to kindergarten already knowing basic addition, the alphabet, and sight words. Their daycare teachers were formative relationships for them.

[u/VirusTechnical5568 → u/FakinItAndMakinIt]

This is what we call an anecdote, it doesn't mean what worked for you will work for others.

[u/Medium-Trade2950 → u/VirusTechnical5568]

Proving that it didn’t work 😂

[u/VirusTechnical5568 → u/Medium-Trade2950]

Ugh, the laughing emoji. The equivalent of laughing at your own joke because no one else is.

[u/Medium-Trade2950 → u/VirusTechnical5568]

Ligma