Causes: Summarized

If you have found yourself on this page, the “Causes” section of this blog may have seemed too daunting or wordy. All is well! Here is a summarization of the information found in that section:

The Education System

• Teaching children to read using the method of “sight words” doesn’t work.

  • The teacher will read a story and cover up a certain word in the story. The kids will then have to guess the word based on context cues.

    • Teaches kids to guess.

    • No use of phonics involved.

    • Only works for some kids.

• Since it works for a few kids, a large gap is created between those who read well and those who don’t.

  • The rich get richer.

Covid-19 Pandemic

• The pandemic is an aggravator of the other causes of the literacy crisis, not a direct cause.

• Literacy scores began declining in 2017, before the pandemic.

• Students were forced to learn in an environment full of distractions.

• Made technology the primary mechanism of learning.

Technology & AI

• AI is everywhere, teachers and students are using it.

• Using AI for an assignment doesn’t allow the student’s brain to develop problem solving skills.

  • MIT study found that students who use AI hinder their brain development.

• Students using AI to help write essays or summarize texts are lessening their literacy skill.

• Short form social media content, such as TikTok is harmful to attention spans.

  • Short form content is addictive.

  • It offers a quick reward where writing or reading offers a reward that takes more time.