I’m really sorry to hear that. I think a lot of parents are in the same boat, and we’re going to see the effects of it for years.

I thought the second one might be (unfamiliar with it, it was just in the search results), but NYT is definitely not right wing, and the NAEP and Wikipedia are fairly neutral.

It really should be more standardized, or else schools are just going to find reasons to cook their books.

Remember last year when San Francisco schools were going to adjust their grading scales so much that they could pass students with a D if they scored as low as a 21? Pure insanity. (They fortunately received a lot of backlash and reverted the change)

https://www.newsweek.com/san-francisco-public-schools-equity-homework-2078003

I thought about that too, but I would imagine a LOT of students would’ve had to be held back to make this kind of impact on the state average. I would bet that the pressure it applied to students, schools, and parents did most of the heavy lifting.

There were a bunch of articles when the data came out from the NAEP report card. Most I saw were mentioning phonics as the biggest factor.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/11/us/mississippi-schools-transformation

https://www.nationalreview.com/2025/09/mississippi-not-california-is-the-education-future/

It’s often being referred to as the “Mississippi Miracle” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_Miracle

Yes! MS went from 49th to 9th in like 10 years. Most people are crediting it to phonics and their willingness to hold students back if they don’t learn the material.

I didn’t grow up quite that rural, but close enough that this comment is making me nostalgic.

I heard about this too, and it’s so insane.

I saw an article recently about Mississippi (and/or Alabama?) 4th graders beating out California and New York on reading, and many were crediting that the state mandated phonics over this “take a guess” nonsense.

Damn, congrats!

Just casually breaking the meta

Lol, maybe if it was 1980.

Yeah, 20-somethings do NOT need to despair, although I would also add: make it a priority if love is something you truly want to find.

I see lots of people talk like this while not taking any active steps, as if the love of their life is going to knock on their door and tell them to stop scrolling and marry them.

This looks cool!

I don’t have anything to add, but I want to say that I found this comment super interesting.

You know, I bet I would still watch that.

I choose to believe that it’s usually like that, and we’re just seeing the days where something interesting happens.

I think Lemmy has contracted the beans virus a few times.

I had the same question. Every photo I could find of the event had this guy censored. Or it’s just a photo error that looks like censorship?

Edit: wait, I think I found the answer. It looks like there was a guy walking in front of him, and someone tried to edit that out in some versions of this photo.

Ever since I learned of this, I think of it frequently:

https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/

It speaks to a larger cultural ignorance or poor literacy to even consider it, in my opinion. I’ve seen similar reactions to talking about “plantation-style” home architecture. It’s as if many people have only ever heard these words in connection with slavery from their lessons in school.