re: A High Schooler Graduated with a 3.4 GPA. He Couldn’t Even Read.

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If he went to class, he was provided the education, he just didn't accept it.

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I have $50 that his school used some form of “balanced literacy” to teach reading.

Balanced literacy is a failed theory of teaching literacy. It’s never worked. It never will work. It’s one of the main reasons that we have so many functionally illiterate students.

That’s not the students’ fault and it’s not the parents’ fault. It is the fault of the supposed experts in the scenario. The educators.

As a teacher let me say that the difficulty in failing students is real. I have to justify with documentation why every student fails. If they have an IEP, plan on at least an inch of paperwork. If you can't prove that you met every aspect of the IEP every single day you are personally liable. They don't have to prove I didn't, I have to prove that I did. Nearly all IEP lawsuits win, normally to the tune of 10-50K.

I've had multiple students tell me this year alone that they have an IEP so they can't fail. Fix the system and teachers will be more than happy to uphold standards. But when our bosses tell us verbatim that no students should ever fail, regardless of ability or work ethic, this is what you get.

And people scoff at Mississippi. This kid would have never made it past 4th grade.

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A High Schooler Graduated with a 3.4 GPA. He Couldn’t Even Read.

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This is a big problem everywhere. Outside of AP classes, a 3.4 at Rummel or Jesuit is looked at the same by universities as a 3.4 from McDonogh 42 Charter (continually one of the worst schools in New Orleans). In fact, the 3.4 at McDonogh 42 might even be looked at as better because they are "underprivileged."

The difference will normally show up on testing scores. But if you use testing scores, you are racist.

shite, baltimore and chicago, you are on the clock.

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William, whose last name is listed only as A. in the suit,

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Did they do that to help him try to read his own suit?

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Because when William was at home with his schoolwork, he relied on AI programs like ChatGPT and Grammarly to complete his assignments for him, according to the judge who ruled on his suit last week. As a result, William continued to achieve high marks on his classwork throughout his entire four years of high school, even though teachers knew he was illiterate.

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My sympathy diminishes. Plenty of blame to go around.

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The suit also claims the school’s practice of “inflating grades and the graduation track artificially” served to boost the district’s “graduation statistics with the state,” at the expense of students like William.

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Eh. That’s not the school’s fault, believe it or not.

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Around 20 percent of the population—or one in five people—struggle with dyslexia in the U.S.,

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No. About 20% are diagnosed with dyslexia because we don’t teach phonemic awareness.

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So morals nor caring about teaching children and they learning matters as long as you get a paycheck huh

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Their learning, that one is free.

For what its worth I've won tons of awards from the state for my test scores while teaching at one of the poorest schools in my region. I fail as many students as the rest of the school combined because I hold students to high standards.

But I have 20 years of experience, 2 graduate degrees and am certified to teach every high school science from 7th life to physics. I also keep immaculate records. That means I could lose my job and have a new one lined up and not have to move my family. A 1st year teacher doesn't have that luxury.

Bitch at teachers all you want but in the last 2 years I've fought with my principal because I was forced to allow a retake after I gave a student a zero for plagiarism. They claimed sophomores didn't understand that copy and pasting multiple pages was plagiarism and it was my fault for not doing a better job. When I showed them the material I used to cover plagiarism, it was suddenly my fault they didn't listen.

The next year it was an IEP student who had missed 37 days that semester, including 7 of the 10 leading up to semester test. When I wouldn't tell her how to do the equations on the final she grabbed her test, fled the room and gave the principal a sob story about how I refused to help. I was called on the carpet and only saved my arse because I literally had over a hundred pages of documentation of her refusing to do work, absence reports and every assignment she had turned in, as well as logs of when I contacted her sped caseworker letting her know of the problems. They still eventually allowed her to take the test with the help of the counselor, a former science teacher, where she somehow beat the class average by 17 points. She still failed due to her needing a 105 on the final to bring her grade to passing.

It's anecdotal for sure but this is what teachers are dealing with daily. Just today, I was working with students on covalent bonding. I'm able to get the self contained student placed in my class for socialization to be comprehend and say this is easy. But the "normal ed" girl who needed four opportunities to get 8-5=? as a fricking freshman, yeah I'm going to struggle with that one.

Teachers hate the current system way more than you do. But if you think you care so much more about the kids and their education than i do....quit your damn job, become a teacher and by all means show me how it's done.