Reading is so last century (apparently)

In my school, 4% of students read at grade level. (We have grades 6-8). 40+% read at grade 3-5. That means 50+% red at a kindergarten to 2nd grade level. Over half of the kids age 11-13 read at the level of a five- to seven-year-old.

Think about that. Yes, it's only one school (one of the better schools in the region, alarmingly enough), but it is a glimpse.

Fun fact, these are NOT the COVID kids. Apparently, the district decided to not teach phonics for a few years. And now, the Dep't of Ed is under fire, including halting a billion-dollar service that targets quality of education for poor schools.

We are so fucked.

Post a day twofer: Snakes and Optimism

Feb 1: Serpent Day: How do you feel about snakes? Would you ever keep a snake as a pet?
Feb 2: Optimist Day: Do you consider yourself to be an optimist or a pessimist?

Snakes - I love them, actually. I don't have snake motifs all over the place or anything, but I think snakes are awesome creatures. I also know that the presence of snakes is a very positive sign of the eco-health of a place. When I had a house out on 10 acres, I had a contractor who screamed like a 6-year-old girl on seeing a little rat snake. I never let him live it down, and absolutely refused to let him kill the snakes. He nearly quit!

I would not mind having a snake, but if I'm being honest, I don't need the extra work. Four cats are enough, thanks! And even if that were not an issue, I could not stand feeding living creatures to a snake. I respect the predator/prey dynamic in nature, but I don't want to be the one dropping some helpless, struggling creature into certain doom. (There are reasons I'm a vegetarian, and that's one of them!) Feeding live crickets to a handful of anoles back when my son was little and just HAD to adopt the class pet was more than enough of that!

Optimism: Ouch. Not a good time for that one. Overall, I think I generally assume the best of humanity as a whole, but rarely like people in reality. I'm sort of a misanthrope, but these days, can you blame me? I think I am more of a realist if I'm anything on that scale. My grandmother always said 'expect the worst, hope for the best, and work with what you get.' I guess that Northern European practicality runs in the blood, to something. Though, these days, it's getting really damned hard to even hope for the best, especially when you realize the worst you can even think to expect is probably not as bad as what you will get.