What is it with kids these days? Amirite? You know what I'm talking about. In this particular case, I'm talking about how kids in elementary and middle school have, sure, okay, improved their standardized test scores in math over the past two decades—but in reading, there's been only "modest improvement." Kids these days! From the NYT:

Children learn most of their math in school, and even though math instruction in the United States in general lags behind that in some high-performing countries, the experts said, it has improved over the past two decades. Reading achievement, in contrast, reflects not only the quality of reading instruction in school classrooms, they said, but also factors like whether parents read to children and how much time students read on their own outside school.

No wonder our schools are being forced to suspend kindergarteners these days. Why can't kids these days read any better than the functionally illiterate kids of our generation?

  • Because of the internet.
  • Because of the parents.
  • Because of teachers.
  • Because of the politicians.
  • Because of Hollywood.
  • Because of the media.
  • Because of the garbage they pass off as "music" these days.
  • "It takes a village to raise a child." Do you live in a village? I didn't think so.
  • Because of you.

Just pick whichever one sounds rightest.

[Photo via Steve Cornelius/Flickr]