Are the Kids Alright? A Nation Failing Its Future
In short: America’s kids are not alright.
America's youth and our future are in crisis. Yet, each day we move further and further away from help.
As we witness the systematic dismantling of support systems meant to protect our most vulnerable, we must confront an uncomfortable truth: we are sacrificing an ENTIRE generation at the altar of political ideology and fiscal austerity.
Just look at the headlines from the past few months.
I’m the daughter of a retired educator who is still in the classroom and a former U.S. Marine Corps drill instructor. On my mom’s side of the family, 90% of the women – by blood and by marriage – work in education, elder care, or service-based work. I’ve been surrounded by education and service to others my entire life. The crumble of fundamental systems and programs I’ve seen my family work so hard to uphold –not for shits and giggles for themselves but for the good and advancement of my community – keeps me up every night.
To add insult to injury, I’m also a mother to a school-aged child. I’ve seen tuition skyrocket while food quality, educator pay, and classroom resources remain stagnant.
A Nation in Educational Free Fall
The latest data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) – our "Nation's Report Card" – confirms what educators and parents have braced for: American students' academic performance has plummeted to historic lows. The 2024 NAEP results paint a grim picture of a generation in academic crisis:
Reading scores for fourth and eighth graders have dropped two points since 2022 and a staggering five points since 2019.
The percentage of eighth graders with reading comprehension below the "basic" level is the highest in the assessment's history.
Fourth graders' reading skills have fallen to their lowest point in 20 years.
Math scores remain significantly below pre-pandemic levels, with eighth graders showing an eight-point drop since 2019.
The achievement gap between high and low-performing students has widened dramatically, with disadvantaged students falling even further behind.
As the Department of Education itself stated, "Not only did most students not recover from pandemic-related learning loss, but those students who were the most behind and needed the most support have fallen even further behind.”
What makes these findings even more alarming is the timing. They come precisely when the Trump administration is slashing education funding, eliminating social programs, and diverting resources away from our most vulnerable students.
These aren’t just numbers in some report. These statistics represent millions of children who rely on us to equip them for the future. With every swipe of a pen and slash of a budget, we’re compromising those futures in real-time. Our children deserve more, and they deserve better. Because never, in any curriculum that I’ve ever been introduced to, is it suggested that a combination of less and worse improves education.
The path forward isn’t just turning back on a little funding here or reinstalling a program there – it’s going to take a lot more. We, as a country, need to completely recalibrate our priorities:
Invest in social programs.
Offer competitive teacher pay.
Prioritize the physical, mental, and social safety of students and faculty
Fund educational infrastructure, especially in disadvantaged communities.
Make higher education more accessible rather than condemning young people to decades of debt servitude.
Expand early childhood education and care systems that support working families while providing quality developmental foundations.
Create youth employment and CTE training programs that create meaningful pathways beyond traditional tracks.
The Racial Reality of Educational Decline
For too long, we've let our education system rot, fester, and wither, giving this administration leeway to "take out the trash." But let's be clear about who bears the brunt of these educational failings: Black and Brown students.
According to a report from the Education Trust, Black and Latino students are systematically excluded from advanced learning opportunities. Black students make up 15% of high schoolers nationwide, but only 9% of students enrolled in at least one AP course. Nearly 25% of students are Latino but account for only 21% of AP courses.
The funding disparities are equally stark. EdBuild's research shows predominantly white school districts receive $23 billion more in funding than districts serving primarily students of color – averaging $2,226 more per student, despite serving the same number of students nationwide.
And yes, that funding gap matters. What can an extra $2,000 per student do for a school? Let’s take a look at what just $800 can do.
Source: Education Trust
The NAEP results reflect these inequities. Before the pandemic, Black fourth graders scored an average of 26 points lower than their white peers in reading; for Hispanic students, that gap was 21 points. The latest scores show these gaps have widened even further, with disadvantaged students falling disproportionately behind during pandemic disruptions.
The 2024 Adequacy and Fairness Of State School Finance Systems Report cited a study in the American Educational Research Journal that found there were school districts with predominantly Black and Hispanic populations that were 10 times more likely to implement significant budget cuts during economic downturns. As we look straight into the eyes of a looming recession, we can see how these things will continue to trickle down on schools.
And this is all happening simultaneously with the active attempts to erase Black and Brown history from the classroom .
What do we do now?
If we want to make a change, our next big test is coming up – and it’s called the MIDTERM elections. There’s no “in-between” this time. The future of public education is on the ballot. And just like the students we claim to support, we’re being graded on a pass/fail system.