Gen Alpha Kids Can't Read

Submission 7,918

Part of a series on Discourse (Slang). [View Related Entries]

About

Gen Alpha Kids Can't Read refers to online discourse and memes about Generation Alpha kids, meaning those born between the early 2010s and mid-2020s, being unable to read, having insufficient literary skills and not performing at their grade level in general. The discourse was popularised in late 2023 on apps including TikTok after several teachers posted videos on the topic, inspiring users to hypothesize on why this perceived drop in literacy is happening, with some hypothesizing that kids using iPads and growing up with technology purportedly harms their attention spans, that the COVID-19 pandemic causing school closures had drastic effects on the education of children and that teachers are being incentivised to pass students at insufficient skill levels.

Origin

Discourse about Gen Alpha being unable to read at an expected level became increasingly popular on TikTok starting around August and September 2023, when educators began posting videos about the topic more frequently. For example, on August 24th, 2023, teacher and TikToker^[1] @abbyramosstanutz posted a video about a student expressing a desire to learn how to properly read to her, in which she says this is more and more common, garnering over 26,000 views in four months (shown below, left).

On September 19th, teacher and TikToker^[2] @qbthedon posted a video on the issue of students not performing at their grade level in general, garnering over 4 million views in three months (shown below, right). In his videos, he suggests that children may be behind in education partially because of the COVID-19 pandemic, mentioning how kids keep getting "passed along" to the next grade despite not performing sufficiently in school. He claims he can count on one hand how many of his students are performing at their level.

On September 20th, TikToker^[3] and teacher @finallydrschoorens posted a response to @qbthedon's video corroborating the claims that students aren't performing at their proper grade level, specifically mentioning the number of students who can't read.

She explains how she used to teach 5th-grade students with significant language-based learning disabilities and says those 5th-graders with significant language-based learning disabilities could write better than current non-disabled 7th-graders, saying, "They can't write a sentence." The video gained over 3 million views in three months. She acknowledges it's her job to teach these kids to read, but she's talking about students in general, then says the students are unable to even watch a three-minute video and summarize it. She then talks about the pandemic's effect on students. She then suggests parents need to step in and help their kids.

According to AECF^[4] reports, 65% of fourth graders in 2017 were no reading at their grade level.

Spread

On October 24th, 2023, TikToker^[5] @reignzsupreme503 posted a video compiling several videos of teachers, including those who posted videos in September, corroborating claims that kids can't read at their proper grade level, garnering over 1.7 million views in two months (shown below).

On November 27th, TikToker^[6] @snow.nman posted a meme about Gen Alpha kids being unable to read, garnering over 4.7 million views in two weeks (shown below, left). On the same day, TikToker^[7] @biggglizzie posted a video urging Millenial parents not to give their babies iPads because they "can't read" and don't have imaginations because "all they know is little screen with colors and numbers." She also calls them "demons," relating the iPad to a pacifier. She then urges parents to spend time with their kids and claims Gen Alpha can't communicate with one another. The video gained over 2.8 million views in two weeks (shown below, right).

On November 28th, TikToker^[8] @bigaldrag posted a video partially blaming, in her opinion, the "No Child Left Behind" law^[9] for causing a decline in literacy, as it purportedly causes the government to strip funding from schools where kids get worse grades, also mentioning COVID-19's effect on teachers and students and blaming the conservative government for setting kids up to fail so they can dismantle the public education system altogether, garnering over 1.1 million views in two weeks (shown below).

On December 14th, YouTuber^[10] Khadija Mbowe posted a video titled "the kids can't read" where she examines the claims that kids can't read and are performing below their grade levels, examining numerous clips from TikTok on the topic. The video gained over 80,000 views in a day (shown below). In the video, she speculates that COVID-19 had a part to play in the decline in proficiency, that immigration could have an effect and that teachers are incentivised to pass students whether they're ready or not.