Teacher Breaks Down After Saying His Students Couldn’t Read or Write — ‘They Couldn’t Write Four Words’

A teacher’s video about his students’ academic struggles is going viral on X. He said some of his high school students struggled to read and write, including with assignments he described as basic. He’s scared for their future, and struggles to understand what is going wrong in the education system.

In the video, the teacher is crying. “These kids are leaving high school and going to college, and they couldn’t fill in 4 words. I literally broke down in the middle of class. This is only day two, and I have seniors who can simply not read, and seniors who cannot write.”

The teacher becomes increasingly emotional as he discusses his students. He described his passion for teaching while discussing his concerns about his students.

“They could reason. They have the ability to defend their reasoning if it’s talking to their homeboy, but applying that to a written text, 2 paragraphs, and they couldn’t do it,” the teacher continues. “Our young Black men, our young Brown men, our young Black girls and our young Brown girls.” The teacher’s video cuts off there. He was too choked up to continue speaking.

Viewers Debate the Teacher’s Claims About His Students

The teacher’s video about his students has drawn widespread attention on X. Some people couldn’t believe how much education had changed since their childhood. “Man, we couldn’t even graduate high school without passing Spanish 1, which became mandatory, so how the fuck did they make it to high school not being able to read or write???” one person commented. Another added, “I feel bad for this teacher. Something has definitely radically changed in the school system since I was in school. I had to take a second language to pass school and if I didn’t get good grades my mom was pissed.”

Other commenters criticized the teacher. One X commenter wrote, “Stop making videos and teach them, stupid. I ain’t gonna do a deep dive crying about how dumb he is tho lol.” It's your job to continually impact knowledge until they comprehend dunno what you crying about you can’t do it??? Then quit,” another person wrote.

Some thought the school system had failed these kids, writing, “How do you let them move on to next grade after grade and even become seniors if they can’t read and write tho?? No way! Either this is a lie or YOU are fake and your sorry azz school board failed them!” Another person wrote, “I don’t believe society can’t read because we literally read everyday on social media if we want to or not. People literally create words and the rest of society goes with it, that's just how life works.”

The video prompted debate over students’ academic preparedness and the broader education system.

The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify the teacher’s claims about his students’ reading and writing abilities. The statements in the video are based on the teacher’s account of his experiences in the classroom.