School really only serves one purpose: provide a nurturing environment for students to learn. But that singular task seems to grow more herculean for educators every year. Though many parents are generally aware of the challenges teachers face today, it’s still alarming to hear firsthand the full scope of what’s happening.

On the Reddit subforum r/Teachers, teachers were asked to name “something in education no one wants to admit, but we all know is true” and, well… there was no shortage of insight.

As a teacher, what’s something in education no one wants to admit, but we all know is true? byu/dokutarodokutaro inTeachers

Teachers say screens are ruining focus

Technology (and the resulting well-documented cognitive decline it causes) was a primary source of exasperation.

“Nobody reads anymore…kids have unlimited use of devices.”

“Screentime has killed attention spans. Students have horrible handwriting because they never write anything. It’s time to close the laptops and get back to pen and paper.”

“There’s too much screen time in our schools right now. Technology has its place, but districts have gone all-in on 1:1 and iPads in lower grades because of ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ and how it looks for PR rather than instructional effectiveness. I see this as the next big battleground with parents. New parents I interact with know of the dangers of screentime, and they hate how their kids are getting inundated with it in schools.”

“Cellphones are the single largest impediment to childhood development.”

When failure isn’t allowed to happen

A school system in which students are no longer allowed to fail (and therefore actually learn from those failures) was also a........

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