A seventh-grade teacher is sounding the alarm on a crisis in education that has only been exacerbated by the pandemic.
In a viral TikTok with over 1.2 million views, user QBSkiiii (@qbthedon) says students have fallen behind more than anyone is willing to admit, and it’s time to finally do something about it.
@qbthedon Lets chat!! #fyp #viral #teachertok ♬ original sound – QBSkiiii
“We all know that the world is behind, like you know globally, like because of the pandemic and stuff,” he begins. “But I don’t understand why they not stressing to y’all like how bad it is.”
He then drops a bombshell. Apparently, the students he teaches aren’t just underperforming, they are years behind.
“Imma just say this,” he says. “I teach seventh grade, they are still performing on a fourth-grade level.”
According to research, the pandemic had a significant impact on students’ educational attainment and many of the gaps in learning have yet to be closed. They have also been worsened by a persistent shortage of educators and high levels of student absenteeism.
TikToker and educator QBSkiiii adds that children are being moved up grade levels, whether or not they are actually capable of doing the work.
“Ain’t nobody talking about how they just keep passing them on,” he continues.
And while he recognizes this is an issue within the institution, he also wonders why parents are so unaware of the fact that their children are underperforming.
“Why don’t y’all know that your kids are not performing on their grade levels?” he asks.
Parents, students, and teachers flooded the comments section with their own opinions and insights. As of this writing, there were over 11,000 comments.
“Honestly, I’m in senior year and I can’t remember math that well,” one user revealed. “I only know how to add, subtract and divide, I hate it and wish I went back.”
“As a 4th grade teacher, I completely agree!!” someone else said. “ I am [a] new teacher and some of my 4th graders are on a 2nd grade level!”
“Reasons why I had to leave education,” a third user commented.
“Our district MAKES us print 50’s on progress and report cards even when they have 13’s and 20’s in the grade book,” another educator admitted.
The Daily Dot reached out to QBSkiiii by email for further comment.