Students: Are They Actually 'Students' Anymore? :-( in All Of The Above

I am having a tough time with my encounters of the students in the after-school care program I’m in.

What I learned - and how I was taught! - doesn’t match up with what the kids are learning these days.

Yesterday I was working with a third-grader on dividing fractions by a whole number. Ex.: “1/7 divided by 2 equals…” = ? “2/14ths” is the answer, but the student couldn’t come up with the right answer for “2 x 7”!

And there’s a lot more - the first grader that cannot add even the most basic of numbers; kids that confuse the mirror image “d” with a “b”, or a “q” with a “p”; kids that spell how they think a word sounds (and the heck with the consequences if they get it wrong!)…

I would like to talk with the teachers to see a) what their lesson plans are, b) who has approved such lesson plans, c) what standards should be met by both the teachers and the kids - especially regarding promotions, and d) what difference can I make?

It’s frustrating, but - the kids don’t deserve any less than our best!