5 Comments
User's avatar
David Maurer's avatar

Yes, covid lockdowns and woke teaching are big contributors, but no more so than what language the student's parents speak at home., i.e., i recent immigrants from 3rd world countries. Have them do the survey again, this time asking if their parents were born in America, and I think you will see where a lot of the problem lies.

Expand full comment
Roscoe Kurdli's avatar

Do you have data to support that assertion? I suspect that children of immigrants from India and China will do far better than many inner city children whose grandparents were born here.

Expand full comment
David Maurer's avatar

reply above

Expand full comment
David Maurer's avatar

Of course. Pew Research has tabulated the largest immigrant populations by state as of 2022. Indian immigrants are the largest group in 6 states (some big, like Michigan, some small like New Hampshire). Mexican immigrants are the largest in 29 states (including a huge number in California)--add to that states dominated by Guatemalans, Hondurans, Jamaicans, Dominicans, Ethiopians and Filipinos. In total, immigrant populations in 40 out of our 50 states are dominated by those born in some of the poorest, least educated countries. One need look no further to implicitly understand that well educated immigrants are a tiny percentage of the total. BTW, the average IQ of Mexicans is 88, but as Trump says, 'Do you think they are sending us their best?' LOL

https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/07/SR_24.07.22_immigration-country_1.png?resize=830,1024

Expand full comment
Linda S Fox's avatar

Covid unmasked a lot of deficiencies, but putting unsupervised kids online to handle school was, for most kids, a huge mistake.

That's not to say that they are lazy or stupid.

What they needed, CRAVED was human interaction. Preferably with other kids.

What they got was depression, loneliness, and having their overuse of tech lead to learned inattention, mindless consumption of videos, secret addiction to social media and - yes - porn.

All of which made re-engaging with real-life experiences and learning VERY challenging.

They need to learn/re-learn good study habits, how to profit from reading, listening, and visual modes of learning, and - I know this seems overly simple - what "paying attention" looks like. The KIPP schools learned long ago that this skill needed to be repeated, often, until they internalized the message:

Feet on the floor

Butts in the seat

Mouth closed

Hands on the table (can't hide the phone)

and, Eyes on the teacher

With those explicit instructions, most kids learn.

Expand full comment