The data on education call for attention:<\/p>\n
– 33% of eighth graders are reading at a level that is \u201cbelow basic\u201d\u2014meaning that they struggle to follow the order of events in a passage or to even summarize its main idea.<\/p>\n
– 40% of fourth graders are below basic in reading, the highest share since 2000.<\/p>\n
– In 2024, the average score on the ACT, a popular college-admissions standardized test that is graded on a scale of 1 to 36, was 19.4\u2014the worst average performance since the test was redesigned in 1990.<\/p>\n
The article speculates on several causal links to explain the declining trend in the metrics, ranging from the effects of COVID to the influence of smartphones and social media.<\/p>\n
The point that truly resonates with me as an educator, though, is this: a pervasive refusal to hold children to high standards. Standards are about values, not technology or tools. No tool causes the fading emphasis on rigor.<\/p>\n
The article discusses other important aspects, such as the disparity between school districts, the heterogeneity in outcomes based on affluence, and the potential role of AI as a democratizer, but keeps returning to the same line: declining standards and low expectations. And that’s for a good reason:<\/p>\n
“Roughly 40 percent of middle-school teachers work in schools where there are no late penalties for coursework, no zeroes for missing coursework, and unlimited redos of tests.”<\/p>\n
This is potentially the most important problem facing our society today, and it warrants far more attention.<\/p>\n