No Child Left Behind was signed in 2002 under the Bush Administration, and many teachers voiced their concerns about how this would impact education, not just for students who were pushed to the next grade level before they were ready, but for their surrounding teachers and peers.
These teachers' concerns were widely dismissed, with many people going so far as to scorn teachers and to accuse them of not wanting to work hard and teach their students. This set the initial tone of too much responsibility being placed on teachers under NCLB.
TikToker @thesashawhitney argued in a pointed TikTok that it was the shift from parents and teachers working together to teach children, to teachers being expected to provide a holistic education, that brought us to this point in 2026 where many high schoolers are barely able to read, follow basic instructions, or hold a pencil properly.
The TikToker largely focused on how little reading and basic literacy were being prioritized, while STEM was being monumentally pushed.
Even basic joys that were present in the 1990s and early 2000s that made reading fun, like earning special prizes and personalized pizzas and attending Scholastic Book Fairs, have become nonexistent.
The larger issue is that the students who are being moved forward are increasingly not prepared to learn, and teachers have to go far beyond their job description to try to meet these students' needs, while the students who are actually excelling are receiving very little attention.
You can watch the video here:
Fellow TikTokers agreed with @thesashawhitney's points wholeheartedly.
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Elder Millennials, who were in high school when NCLB was passed, recalled when reading was prioritized and fun.
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There's no way to go back in time and stop NCLB from being passed, or to confirm that the teachers' many concerns at the time were valid, but there are things that we can do now to help improve on today's education.
Learning and teaching do not belong solely in the classroom, and students also deserve third spaces for their learning, just as much as they deserve third spaces for hobbies and socializing, like libraries, museums, and other interactive environments.
While STEM is important, students need to know how to read just as much as they might need to know how to code.
