Remember in school when the teacher would split the class into different reading groups? One was always, clearly, more advanced; while the other went at a slower pace. But the groups usually weren't labeled as such out loud.One teacher, at least, says maybe they should be.The results from 2024’s National Assessment of Educational Progress found that the slide in American students' reading abilities has only worsened. The percentage of 8th graders with “below basic” reading skills was 33%, the lowest in the exam’s three-decade history. The percentage of fourth graders “below basic” was the largest in 20 years, 40%.“Our lowest performing students are reading at historically low levels,” said Peggy Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, which gives the NAEP exam. “We need to stay focused in order to right this ship.”A big reason for the drop was the disruption in education caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but educators are looking to see if there are other causes behind the drop in competency. “This is a major concern — a concern that can’t be blamed solely on the pandemic,” Carr said. “Our nation is facing complex challenges in reading.” @amber.mariee44 Please give your feedback I can’t tell if this is a good idea or not #teacher #teachersbelike #teachertok #teacherlife #teachersoftiktok #highschool #literacy Alarmed by the drop in reading scores, a high school teacher named Amber, who goes by @Amber.Maree44 on TikTok, is considering telling her students the grade level in which they read in hopes that it will motivate them and give them a reality check on their performance.“I'm starting to think that we need to be more straightforward with students about their progress and where they're at academically,” Amber said. "I think they need to know what grade level they're performing at."Amber’s perspective may also be helpful to parents. A 2023 study revealed a significant gap between parents' perceptions of their child's performance and their actual standing compared to grade-level standards. Nearly nine out of ten parents thought their child was at grade level, while about half were below grade level nationally. A teacher talking to a student about grades.via Canva/Photos “I'm hesitant to do this because I know that we don't want students to feel bad about themselves, and I know that we don't know that we don't want to discourage students by showing them their deficits. So I think, for a lot of students, having a real reality check like that where it's like, 'Hey, you're in high school. But it looks like you're reading at a fifth-grade level,' I think some students need that in order to push themselves to actually try in school," she continued.Amber’s suggestion runs counter to some in education who believe that if children are told they are below grade level, it will discourage them from reading. Students may not challenge themselves by attempting to read above their level, or they may become discouraged.This may further deter their progress, and it is far from an imperfect process to determine where a child is with their reading skills."To the people saying 'oh but only tell the parents' no, the kid needs to know. The parents can't read for them, or do the work for them. also some parents don't care, or don't get it," Maria wrote in the comments. "I’m a teacher. I did this for years, and I would tell my students iif you aren’t at a level you’re proud of, I want you to know it’s NOT your fault. But if you choose not to fix it, it will be,'” McM added. Students reading on the rug.via Canva/PhotosAmber believes that a big reason why 54% of adults cannot read at a fifth-grade level is that no one told them, so they don’t know they need help improving their reading skills.To combat the literacy crisis, Amber was considering having her students take an online literacy test to determine their grade level; she doesn’t need to know the results because she already knows where they are from previous tests. Then, so no student feels singled out, she can have a dialogue with her students who have fallen behind about how they can improve their skills. This approach strikes a happy medium, allowing students to learn where they are without shame from their teacher, while also providing them with options to enhance their skills.This article originally appeared in March. It has been updated.

There’s a fine line between a unique name and one that sets kids up for a lifetime of ridicule.On the one hand, maybe it shouldn’t matter what other people think, and parents should pick a name that suits their preferences, consequences be damned. On the other hand, their kid might not appreciate that kind of bravery after enduring years of bullying during childhood, followed constant confusion at Starbucks and truly unenviable work emails once they’re adults.And this chapter of parenting can be a little stressful—even more stressful if neither partner can agree on a name they both like. A stressed-out couple looks at a piece of paperCanvaThis was the case for a husband who absolutely hated a name his wife so eagerly wished to give their unborn son. But rather than follow the popular “one no, two yeses” rule of baby-naming, where both parents must agree on the name chosen for a child, the wife instead went full steam ahead with her idea.According to the husband’s account on Reddit, here’s what happened:“Me (25m) and my wife (23f) are having our first child together. She is currently 9 months pregnant and could give birth anytime in the next couple of weeks. The only major fight we have had throughout her pregnancy happened a couple days ago, and it was about what we were going to name our kid.” from AmItheAsshole “It all started when we found out the gender of the baby,” he continued. “After we found out we were having a boy we sat down together and made a list. Almost all of the names she suggested were normal, until the one that caused me to write this post. She suggested we name our son Mune.”Mune. Like…dune an “m?” Or like “mun?” “Moon?” “Money?” “Mew-nay?” So many questions.“She told me the name was from this movie she watched when she was younger and that it always stuck with her,” the husband explained, saying that when he told her it felt a “little out there” and was worried their son might get made fun of.After a little back and forth, the couple agreed to take the name Mune off the list. Or so the dad-to-be thought.“Later on in her pregnancy her mom decided to throw a baby shower as it was her first grandchild. It was fine for the most part until we started to open the gifts. Most of them were normal baby things like diapers and bottles, until we got to her mom’s gift. My wife opened the gift bag and pulled out a blue handmade blanket. It seemed normal enough at first until my wife unfolded it and low and behold there was the name Mune written on the blanket,” he wrote.The man had tried to keep cool until after the party was over. However, when he confronted his wife about it, all hell seemed to break loose.“She got defensive and told me that it was a good name and that I was overreacting about it,” he concluded. “I brought up the earlier points and told her it was a stupid name for a kid and if she wanted to name something Mune so bad she could use the name for a dog. She got upset and called her mom to come get her. After she left she called me and told me she wouldn’t be coming back for a while. Everyone I’ve talked to about this has said I’m not the asshole, but now that my wife has been gone and I've been thinking about it I feel like I could have handled the situation better.”Yikes. A husband arguing with his pregnant wife over the baby's nameCanvaWhile the husband might have regretted his actions, public opinion overwhelmingly sided with him.One mom wrote, “Naming a baby is a 2 yes or 1 no situation. You do not name a child something your partner does not agree with. You find a compromise. This is the start of many necessary compromises in life and it is a total AH move to unilaterally decide on a child's name despite your partner's misgivings…She is absolutely not mature enough for motherhood if she can not find a reasonable compromise on this.”Another added “this is a child, not a goldfish. There are consequences and repercussions to choosing a name that is very unusual to begin with.... To go behind the other parent's back and tell a grandparent what the name is going to be, that is unacceptable.”Others noted how the wife and her mom “pulled a power play,” which “in itself is an a**hole move.” In addition, many pointed out that running away from the conflict (leaving to go to mom’s house) might have not been the best way to handle the situation.Gif of Colin Ferrel saying "The kids call it ghosting" via Giphy “Leaving so she doesn’t have to face the argument is actually a form of abuse if it happens a lot,” one person commented. “She may just have baby brain and be overreacting due to hormones, but that is red flag behavior of it can’t be dismissed for reasons beyond her control.And if there’s any doubt as to just how damaging "weird" names can be, take it from this person:“My name has prevented me from doing anything that would have my name called out in a crowd of people. Never tried sports. Military was a no go. I don't even want to apply for higher positions at work because I don't want to have meetings in closed rooms where people might call my name.“…Being forced to grow up with a weird name discouraged me from a lot of things and I began resenting my parents for thinking they were being creative. I had to live with it through grade school and high school. The ridicule didn't end until the damage was already done.”Raising a kid together is full of making compromises, prioritizing healthy communication, and honoring commitments, none of which are easy 100 percent of the time. But if couples can’t learn how to navigate these issues, then disagreeing on names is the least of their problems. We can all agree that parenting as true partners means men often need to step up their games. But it takes two for parenting to truly flourish and that includes respect your partner and making choices that are good for the entire family. Together.This article originally appeared two years ago.

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The forgotten show only had one season.

MeTV, PBS, AMC and more present two full days of tributes to the armed services.

The forgotten show only had one season.

Why are people surprised? Zohran Mamdani is an inevitability. He’s the Democrats’ covert ideology being made overt and incarnate. He is what would happen if Chuck Schumer and Barack Obama had a baby: facile, good-looking, energetic, destructive, hateful, and malicious. Chuck Schumer (along with Barney Frank in the House) engineered the 2007 housing crisis and financial crash. His manipulations of Wall Street encouraged DEI mortgages to the “discriminated” against, and so the banks, bowing to political pressure, gave loans to anyone and everyone. Then, Wall Street firms bundled this bad debt, sold it to each other, and a death spiral ensued. And then, Schumer, who created this mess, helped the feds bail out bankers and corporations and screw individual responsible homeowners and small business people. This spawned the Tea Party, yes, but it also spawned Occupy Wall Street, the leftist wackadoos who raped each other in tents while spouting off about communism from their iPads. Zohran Mamdani is all of Schumer and Obama in one stupid, greedy, globalist, Muslim communist. Barack Obama sashayed into this mess — vacuous, shiny, good-looking, smooth-talking, and utterly skilled at making the intelligentsia feel orgulous, while simultaneously stoking racism and division, and being an unrepentant globalist Marxist in crony capitalism’s clothing. A nation hoping for racial and economic healing got bitterness and Obamacare, which deepened racial and economic woe. He made the cynical calculation: Healing does not equal power. (RELATED: Electing the Image: Mamdani and the Mimetic Turn in Democracy) Zohran Mamdani is all of Schumer and Obama in one stupid, greedy, globalist, Muslim communist. Mamdani is not some aberration. He IS the Democratic Party. AOC is the Democratic Party. The party elders’ problems with her stupidity wasn’t ideology. It was letting the cat out of the bag. It was her style, not her substance. Nancy Pelosi expected more grace and deference from the upstart. (RELATED: Comrade With a Condo: The Mamdani Myth Exposed) It’s a new day, and the Democrat Party is now overtly what it always was: a racist, communist, redistributionist, conglomeration of contradictory interest groups united by one thing: hatred of God, family, and country. Abortion is their sacrament. Worshipping the creation instead of the Creator is their claim to morality. Transhumanism is their goal. Universalism is their hope. Oppression, terrorism, technological control, and forced compliance are their tools for domination. There is no limit on their words or behavior because their cause is righteous. They are political zealots. Democrats are anti-Israel. Antisemitism did not harm Democrats, even in New York City, because the Dems did, in this cycle, identify the problem that Trump forgot: The American people are struggling and need solutions to their problems, and the Democrat solution of taking from the rich and giving to the poor sounds like a solution. Hint: This solution is worse than the problems, but stressed people have a way of hearing what they want to hear. And the 43 percent of New Yorkers who are first-generation Americans, many of them illegals, like the idea of handouts. What does this mean for Republicans? If I had to predict today, I would say that the midterms will be an utter bloodbath for Republicans. The Democrats have effectively stymied the president’s plans with lawsuits and sand in the gears. Even though the president ultimately prevails, precious time is wasted. Republicans, time is short. Maybe you guys want to live in a digital ID, tech-lord, jobless American hellscape, but Americans do not. President Trump sold out to tech giants, and they’re giving funds to White House renovations and Donald Trump himself, but none of their money and power has translated in downballot races or a commitment to the American Way. These are globalist transhumanists who think Earth is populated with too many people (a notable exception to this ideology is Elon Musk) and who want robots to take over. AI and robots are literally the only thing holding up the stock market. Stocks, like dollars, aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on. (RELATED: The Cold Civil War Is Now on Defrost, and the Right Still Isn’t Ready) The housing market is busting a bit, and still, Americans cannot buy, even with lower rates, because they’re poor. The dollar’s value is declining, and with inflation, how can one even get into a house? Illegal immigrants, criminal syndicates, and BlackRock are buying up homes and inflating prices. Houses are way overvalued, and even a house that appreciated cannot compete with a stock market that doubled. But the stock market, owned by 62 percent of Americans, still has wealth concentrated in the top 10 percent — they own 93 percent of stocks. (RELATED: What Does the Great Gold Spike Signify for the World Economy?) So. What will Republicans do with this mess? What’s the solution? One solution would be legislation ensuring fair elections by citizens only. At a minimum. Why is this a solution? Because nothing is real if elections aren’t real. Every illegal that votes disenfranchises a citizen voter. Faith must be restored in the system. It’s also important because citizens have an attachment to the well-being of America that illegal immigrants and even many first-generation legal immigrants simply do not have. Americans vote for American solutions that help Americans. Another solution would be more deportations. One of the beautiful things about the government benefits being cut off is that the illegals living on American largesse are suddenly in trouble. Time for you to go! This helps deflate housing further. There are some problems, though, that seem insurmountable. Thousands of jobs are being replaced by AI. Thousands more are being shipped overseas for cheap labor. This is all happening while President Trump is extolling business being brought to America. The government being shut down has revealed another level of inflationary grift: Most government jobs seem like a haven for the otherwise unemployable. In addition, companies like Walmart have offloaded their overhead to taxpayers by paying so little that employees must be on SNAP benefits to live. One-third of Walmart employees are on SNAP. Twenty-five percent of Walmart’s profits are from SNAP benefits. Wait, what? The whole of the system seems like a grift at the expense of the stupid dupes in the middle class — those dutiful, Christian, white people who keep the America boat afloat. Mamdani doesn’t have the solutions. His answers to what ails New York will create more problems. It’s axiomatic. (See also de Blasio, Bill.) Republicans, though, have to find their footing, if it’s even possible, and do something concrete for Americans that Americans can see, feel, and touch. No, Mamdani is not going to shock or take down the Democrat Party. No, he won’t realign Americans against socialism. These tropes ignore a couple generations of indoctrination and the utter cynicism that the younger people of America have about the lip service to the American dream. They feel that it’s impossible. Hopeless. They crave community without commitment. Morality without responsibility. Connection without risk. Real life feels beyond them. They want a savior who expects nothing. That’s communism. That’s heady stuff for an aggrieved people. This is a spiritual problem. It is nihilism. When one enters that state, satisfaction comes from instant gratification and dopamine hits. It comes from revenge at perceived slights. There’s no proactive joy in one’s life. There is only the comfort of seeing the enemy pay. Tuesday’s election revealed the different worldviews on the left and the right. Increasingly, people on the left are secular, globalist, transhumanist redistributionists, while people on the right are Christian, American, family-oriented businesspeople. The divide is widening. Mamdani represents the divide, and it’s not going away anytime soon. READ MORE: Mamdani: The Miracle Hair-Growth Salesman Who Claims to Have Found the Master Formula Halloween Came a Few Days Late for Republicans Electing the Image: Mamdani and the Mimetic Turn in Democracy