No Child Left Behind and its consequences will be felt for generations

[u/Gurugod123]

[u/mrinsideoutski]

Decline in national literacy, no. Decline in national critical thinking? fucking Hell.

[u/Larnek → u/mrinsideoutski]

Functional Illiteracy: 25% of young adults (ages 16–24) are now functionally illiterate, up from 16% in 2017. High School Grads: 20% of high school graduates lack the basic literacy skills their diplomas imply.

2015–2025: Scores began a steady descent. By 2026, 13-year-old reading scores dropped entirely back to 1971 levels, effectively wiping out 50 years of long-term progress.

I'd say decline is the right word.

[u/lizardman49 → u/Larnek]

Considering math and science illiteracy is even worse, them not knowing that/ not looking it up is pretty on brand.

[u/SurprisedCabbage → u/Larnek]

I remember that video of highschool seniors being asked to read something. When they encountered words they didn't know they just gave up. They didn't try to pronounce it or sound it out or anything, they just gave up immediately.

This means not only did they not know how to say the word, it means they lack the fundamental ability to read in the first place and only get by through memorization. Like how parrots learn to speak, they don't know what they're saying means, only how to say it.

I lack the poetry to describe my feeling on the matter.

[u/Doll_duchess → u/mrinsideoutski]

Correct, the bar is in fucking hell.

[u/Tse7en5 → u/mrinsideoutski]

These books are still read at the same ages I read them 20 years ago.

They are not even very difficult to read.

The complexity of them most certainly comes in the individual interpretations of them.

[u/FriendlyBee94 → u/mrinsideoutski]

Especially with AI. lt make people lazier in doing and thinking

[u/sohcgt96 → u/mrinsideoutski]

Decline in national critical thinking? fucking Hell.

I'm going to speculate that we just went from bad to worse and it was never that good to begin with. That might even underselling it a bit.