CBS: COVID's education crisis: A lost generation?

[Renew Deal]

I dispute the idea that this generation is "lost"" because of the way education was handled during COVID. People are resilient and smart. Lower standards of education for 1-2 years will not change that.

[CountAllVotes]

1. Four kids

All being home schooled and they cannot spell the name of the town I live in. I mean seriously,

I hope they get the education they deserve to make a go of it in this world.

If you cannot read and write, you are rather screwed.

Ignorance is not bliss.

[cab67]

2. I'm seeing this among first- and second-year college students.

It's not the lack of basic knowledge that concerns us. It's the lack of preparedness for higher education. Basic skills like taking notes are way less developed, and there are greater expectations of accommodations - relaxed deadlines, study guides, and so on.

I'm not the only one who's had to choose between moving the content down a couple of pegs and watching his students sink.

[ALBliberal]

4. My daughter taught high school chemistry during

Covid she feels there was an advance in technology and the necessity to learn remote ways of learning that will help college students. Maybe that will offset some of the downside of not being in the classroom.

[mopinko]

6. they learned stuff.

kids cant help it. they learned stuff they dont teach in school.
someday we’ll figure out what.

[ALBliberal]

11. Yes kids like all "animals" are survivalists. We hope and pray they will be ok:

[cab67]

13. they absolutely did, BUT....

...little of it has prepared current first- and second-year students to work alongside other people. Interpersonal skills have visibly declined.

I can also tell you, straight out, that few (if any) such students learned how to glean useful information online. The inaccurate bullshit students were finding before the pandemic has only grown, and students still aren't learning how to distinguish useful information from malarkey.

[cab67]

12. It didn't work as much as we'd all have liked.

I think I speak for the majority of college instructors. There's been a uniform drop in class performance in the classes starting in 2021 and 2022. It's not anyone's fault and a reflection of circumstances alone.

Again - the issue isn't content. Students always come in with mixed levels of content absorption. It's with student expectations and preparedness.

I do not, and never would, point the finger at high school teachers. Every high school teacher I know worked their ass off during the pandemic to prepare their students for whatever they'd face after graduation. The problem is that however much our educational technology has advanced, it simply isn't up to par with actual classroom instruction. It's very hard to translate learning strategies geared for online instruction to an in-person classroom setting.

[Hope22]

3. I agree with you!

We went through a planet wide crisis. Aside from the dead, there are millions with lingering long term Covid. People are still carrying Covid to packed gatherings. To me now is not the time to holler about kids falling behind. Hell everyone is falling behind. Careers of course and higher education uncertainties have been derailed. Maybe it’s time to think outside the box. Get the kids reading again or reading at all. Then add more reading. Reading about science, math and history. A giant scoop of music/ art/ physical activity and then as they wake up jumpstart the technical math and science. Just an idea.

[Marcus IM]

5. The parents who don't know math, science, language, literature, art, etc, are the lost generation.

When the kids had to be home, they learned that these ignorant and poorly educated parents don't know about these things and can't teach them. What an embarrassment. Especially in red states where people are victimized by ed standards that are so low.

I believe that some of the anger at red state school boards over the at home schooling mandates was that they were exposed as the ignorants they are to their own kids.

[CountAllVotes]

10. Being schooled at home offers a limited perspective

Besides the fact that children aren't being exposed to others that exist in society.

It is a way to isolate children from the real world and also education per se.

Its ok to a point but once you hit about the 4th grade or so, most home schooling seems to tank, even if the home schooling teacher has a credential of some sort.

I'll be glad when the day comes where schools can be schools again.

I hope this happens sooner rather than later. You are so right, what an embarrassment.

[highplainsdem]

7. I do think the pandemic's effect on education, while bad, will be temporary. I'm

more concerned about

1) teachers pushed away from teaching by RW attacks on education, and

2) ChatGPT and similar AI being used for cheating, with its use becoming so widespread so fast that educational systems and individual teachers don't have time to adapt. I'd like to give OpenAI CEO Sam Altman an F for every student learning less because he released ChatGPT for free last fall.

[GPV]

8. It's a ripple effect. Kids are moving on to grades they aren't ready for academically.

[MichMan]

9. So many STEM classes are cumulative

Students were only able to learn 70% of Algebra 1 and were promoted to the next grade regardless. Instead of being prepared to move right into Algebra II, they spent a good portion of the next year learning what they should have already been taught.

Not only is it going to be very difficult to get caught back up, there is a likelihood they will need to take remedial courses in college.