{"id":6686,"date":"2026-08-16T11:34:34","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T11:34:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=6686"},"modified":"2026-08-16T11:34:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T11:34:34","slug":"we-should-all-join-ex-teacher-darius-williams-in-crying-at-the-failures-of-americas-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=6686","title":{"rendered":"We should all join ex-teacher Darius Williams in crying at the failures of America’s schools"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Texas public-school teacher Darius Williams is right to weep for his English students: Few things could be more tragic than a roomful of 17- and 18-year-olds left illiterate by the schools they and their parents trusted \u2014 or paint an uglier picture of our stifled, stunted future.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more California AG\u2019s block of Paramount-Warner Bros. merger could chase away key source of funds for Dems<\/a><\/p>\n

Williams went viral last week for his heartfelt Instagram plea over America\u2019s dysfunctional public-education system: He found that the kids he had come in to teach couldn\u2019t competently read and interpret two paragraphs \u2014 not even answer a basic question he had \u201cbasically completed\u201d for them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The video is hard but necessary watching; he can hardly get his words out for his tears.<\/p>\n

Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress more than justify Williams\u2019 tears of frustration: Houston, where he teaches, sees some 44% of students reading at a \u201cbelow basic\u201d level in 8th grade (only 20% rate \u201cproficient\u201d); 51% below basic in math.<\/p>\n

In Baltimore, less than half of 8th graders make the \u201cbasic\u201d level in reading, less than a third in math.<\/p>\n

In Chicago, 37% of 8th graders fall below basic in reading and more than half in math; in Philly, it\u2019s 50% and 62%.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is the result of concentrated<\/em> indifference from systems that have known for years that students can\u2019t read or do math, yet keep moving them along anyway.<\/p>\n

Read more Glenn Youngkin: Dem governors across the country get a failing grade for standing in the way of education freedom<\/a><\/p>\n

Black and Latino kids drive a disproportionate amount of the low scoring, indicating where schools are failing the most \u00a0\u2014 a fact Williams specifically laments.<\/p>\n

Yet the disaster isn\u2019t only in inner-city schools; it\u2019s everywhere <\/em>\u2014 and the damning results are now showing up at the college level.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Per an end-of-2025 report out of UC-San Diego, an elite public university, \u201cBetween 2020 and 2025, the number of students whose math skills fall below high school level increased nearly thirtyfold.\u201d<\/p>\n

Berkeley, possibly the world\u2019s best public university, has students that can\u2019t manage to read more than five pages per day per course.<\/p>\n

At elite private colleges \u2014 Columbia, Georgetown, Princeton and beyond \u2014 professors find their students not merely unable to understand and debate complex texts, but unable to read them in full at all<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We\u2019re bankrupting our future; all too soon, Darius Williams won\u2019t be the only one weeping.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Super Squad! Radical House group could double in size \u2014 and influence \u2014 come November<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The disaster isn’t only in inner-city schools; it\u2019s everywhere \u2014 and the damning results are now showing up at the college level.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nWe should all join ex-teacher Darius Williams in crying at the failures of America's schools - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=6686\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"We should all join ex-teacher Darius Williams in crying at the failures of America's schools - 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