one of the first problems is that we were taught to a test that we had to take every 9 weeks so we stopped doing book reading and the only essays we practiced were in test prep bookets. teachers also openly would threaten us to say these test scores would be part of our grades
so no consistency in curriculum+ threats. no help. but culturally we also have to talk about the wild uptick in classroom racism post 9/11. white lady teachers went wild with the new "0 tolerance" policies, openly forcing patriotism was fine and terrorist panic made all the POC kids enemies.
so more of us got suspended than previous generations. White teachers dominated k-12 positions (still do). And nobody was reading full books anymore. also everyone started building the prison box style of schools, then cut all art or outside time to focus on testing
so we got testing, fear mongered, crammed into classrooms of 30+ students, and no time to get rid of our energy, which lead to disproportionate punishment. so by the time i got to college and started to teach writing skills i noticed some strange things 1. districts with good tests had -
no ability to read or write for themselves. 2. previously incarcerated students at my second job could read + comprehend better. but lacked writing, typing skills, and hard science research skills. 3. Non Traditional students studied better overall the workshops i taught we a mix of all kinds
The only solution I've found is to start from basics and actually explain technical steps. you cannot tell someone "a paragraph is a full and complete idea" if they dont know wtf that means and haven't read any long texts themselves. you gotta set up series of questions to guide people
The same problem exists for learning science, including chemistry and math. The teachers want to teach to those who already "get it" from privilege and denigrate those who could easily learn it if taught for understanding rather than memorization by the "test takers."
It's really easy to blame teachers, but the reality of education is that parents are far more important than teachers. If parents teach their kids to not respect teachers, you'll get kids who don't learn very much while the parents blame the teachers.
tbh i writing tutored for like five years, edit k-12 materials and just started a local Writing & Research tutoring program, so i feel alot about this and have just too much to say.
the only real solution is writing tutoring programs offered in non-academic spaces. i know if people were coming to me in higher ed with comprehension struggles, people outside the institutions were too. this has been confirmed by becoming a library worker.
i think tutoring can also be done in formats that aren't see as linear programming. we've got a writer's club and 2 book clubs at my library - those things help up comprehension and practice too. i think zine making is another under utilized teaching tool. craft classes with print out instructions -
*seen. LMAO
anither good way to engage people in reading + comp practice without it being story based. really works with tactile and neurodivergent people. cooking classes w/ recipes, also help in the same way Part of the solution to this struggle is we have really narrowed out ideas of what reading needs to be
*another. typing while getting dressed. my bad
+ how we get there. some people will never be story or academic essay people. that's totally cool, let find what you need to know and start there. a mechanics manual is an absolute relay race of terms + parts + instructions. great comprehensive practice even for people who read a ton
I would love to talk with you about this someday; your perspective makes so much sense to me here, and it touches on a lot of things I've been thinking about regarding what kids aren't getting (and the bad replacements they're getting instead).
really i need to figure out how to write this all down without it being social media based. skeets suit my adhd but not long form explanations