Two-Thirds Of U.S. 4th Graders Are Not Proficient In Reading

[Captain Obvious]

The fortune we spend on education for this, for decades american kids sucked at math now its reading too.

Lets all just blame trump and get it over with

What says Betsy?

[jimmyz]

What says Betsy?

She says, "where's my event rental money for the show at the Amway arena last night?".

[Captain Obvious]

She says, "where's my event rental money for the show at the Amway arena last night?".

Pretty much.

Education, infrastructure aren't focuses in this "democracy".

[Dr. Who]

I think lazy parents are a factor, Dr. Who, I don't know how anyone can deny that. I think you're right on target with some of this, I have a few observations.

As a self-identified "liberal", does the fact that we have nationalized our education system play any role? In other words, lack of competition, there aren't any other 'curriculums' or alternatives offered parents. Many teachers are very motivated. Have much ambition, have great interest in educating our children. There are great kids today, I just attended a slew of graduations and the ambition in many of these kids faces have such a great effect on me.

In a world and specifically nations that ponder universal or nationalized health care. Why propose and promote welfare program over Obamacare after Medicare for All after free tuition, free schools, free education, free child care, free abortions...….would any of those industries or services...in your opinion Dr. Who.....suffer a setback in quality given the government alone is running it?

Cause....as a self-identified Conservative, Dr. Who, I'm going to submit to you that it does. That liberalism plays a yuge role in these disappointing numbers. Numbers like...…..shocking numbers like 2/3 of our students cannot read, close to 70% of 8th graders cannot do math......by the 8th f'n grade you cannot do math.........we have a real crisis here. A big yuge issue! Our next generation, the one we will rely on when we age and become dependent. And they cannot read? They're not proficient in mathematics, I mean what in the fck? That is a recipe for what you liberals are always screeching about, Dr. Who, income inequality. Well of course you ain't gonna do as well as your neighbor who is moving out of the slums...…..you cannot read or add and subtract for God's sake. Doesn't this smack of liberalism? The take over of the education system by our state and local and federal governments.....and the product on average...….ain't f'n cutting it. If a private school system was putting out these numbers, the government would threaten them with their doors being closed.

Health care, we have the VA as a government run example. Hello. The government is running the medicare, Medicaid, and social security programs and they are adrift in debt and mandated liability and horribly managed. So I'm asking.....given examples of government run anything, how in the world can you take a liberal standpoint? Like on health care or education?

Nationalization of education per se should not be an issue. For most western nations, education has been nationalized for the better part of 100 years. Now pandering to every so called "child psychology" expert who has chosen to choose education as their "area of expertise", is a problem. These people have agendas and have never spent one minute in a classroom teaching children and dealing with the fall-out of wonderful psychological theories like never saying no to your child.

There is a great deal of BS contaminating the educational system. All manner of experts want their pet theories to prevail and unfortunately governments are persuaded that these people really have some special insight. They don't. We have been raising children for thousands of years. While it is unnecessary and undesirable for schools to administer any form of corporal punishment, that doesn't mean that children should be allowed to run wild in school. It's not really the role of the public school system to raise our children and if parents are unwilling or incapable of undertaking that role, then we need to separate the discipline problems from the rest and teach them self-control in a different setting that may be residential. The alternative is expelling them from school and leaving it to their parents to try to educate them. I suspect that a great many of such children would end up illiterate and a burden on the system.

Ultimately, this isn't political. There are plenty of self-identified liberals who impart discipline to their children and plenty of self-identified conservatives who do not. That's because the labels, liberal and conservative or Democrat and Republican do not describe things like civility and self-discipline or parental blindness to the transgressions of their children. They also don't describe how important the notion of education is to the person holding those political views.

I will admit that liberalism has influenced the lack of consequences for discipline problems. For the sake of future generations, this needs to stop. Freedom does not mean the right to be an A-hole without consequence.

[The Xl]

Are they struggling or are have standards been dropped and the curriculum simplified to accommodate non-whites? Sorry, to suggest that recent demographic changes have not had a deleterious impact on our educational system isn't plausible. Are there other factors involved? I suspect that there are but this is one factor no one wants to talk about and for obvious reasons.

If Blacks and Hispanics were at their current numbers and whites were at, let's say, 20%, then I think you'd have a point. But the fact that whites aren't doing too hot either suggests, at least in part, that their may be more to the issue.

[Mister D]

If Blacks and Hispanics were at their current numbers and whites were at, let's say, 20%, then I think you'd have a point. But the fact that whites aren't doing too hot either suggests, at least in part, that their may be more to the issue.

My point is that while America's educational system has declined and our global rank has dropped over the course of your life time America's whites are doing just fine. When the white population is isolated our PISA scores rank with Europe's. It's not the libruls, or the anti-science fundamentalists or the lazy teachers. It's a student population whose human capital has declined for whatever reason. I'm not saying it's genetic. The cause or causes are irrelevant for our purposes but the performance of blacks and Hispanics has in fact dragged the US down.