Middle School Teacher Backs Up High School Teacher Who Broke Down In Tears After Realizing None Of His Senior Students Can Read Or Write

A high school teacher was brought to tears on the second day of teaching this year's seniors when he discovered that his students, despite being less than a year away from graduation, could not read and write.

They were unable to read basic instructions, and when he asked them to write down four words, most of them were unable to do it.

He admitted that he burst into tears, right then and there in the classroom, when he realized how the education system had failed his students and all of the work that would need to be done to correct it.

You can watch that video here:

That video went viral across social media, though especially X, with people divided over who to blame: the students for being lazy, parents for not being mindful advocates of their students' education, and of course, teachers for not doing their jobs and teaching their students vital skills.

Here's a sampling of responses:

But a fellow teacher, one who teaches middle school English, pointed out that this is becoming an issue everywhere, and it isn't that the teachers don't want to teach; it's that they're being prevented from using age-appropriate materials that would improve these skills and foster critical thinking skills at the students' level.

She used the example that seventh and eighth grade students are having their reading skills tested with reading materials that are appropriate for third and fourth grade, allowing most of the student body to appear as if they have the skills. If they were tested with age-appropriate materials, it would be much more obvious how much of the student population needed further assistance.

You can watch that video here:

It's easy to try to place blame elsewhere to avoid having to accept the blame ourselves, but the truth is that this is likely an issue because of a wide variety of reasons, all combined into one.

Parents may not be providing enough reading material at home, and they may be spread too thin with work or multiple jobs to encourage reading and going to the library.

Teachers only have so many funds to work with before the rest has to come out of their pocket, and even what can be afforded may not be approved, which could jeopardize their job.

As for students, if an interest in the material isn't fostered by the adults around them, what's to prompt most students to seek out the interest themselves?