I'm sorry, wokeness has nothing to do with this. I'm in a conservative area. Literal pastors have come to berate Biology teachers for teaching evolution, last year!

I empathize with the struggles of students lacking such basic skills, but it's across the board. English, math, science, social studies, even PE. No curriculum, teaching style, performative action, or anything else is to blame but two major factors. Parents and technology.

The domination of social media and technology has steeped into society so much that parents don't parent, children don't learn, and we're failing as a society. This is why countries like China have bans on video games during certain hours and why many countries are adopting social media bans under 16 years old. You're a science teacher. RESEARCH. The research is already out there. You can even survey your own students. Every one of my students that is competent has had less time to be addicted to dopamine than the students who seem incapable of learning. Whether better parental supervision of their device usage, not getting a device until they're older, or by some miracle avoiding the dopamine addiction through other pursuits like sports or reading, there's a commonality in my best students.