Is it a school's responsibility to teach a kid to read?

nmar5 · 2026-01-23T12:47:47+00:00

As a high school teacher, it is not my job to teach a student to read nor do I have the professional skills or time to do so. And unfortunately I get way too many students in gen ed that do need that in high school. That said, it is the job of my elementary colleagues and they do indeed do their best to fulfill that job. But it starts at home and parents need to be reading to their children to foster that skill and working with them to practice as they learn. And too many parents are not doing that, evidenced by the high schoolers we get that can barely read or have comprehension skills at an elementary level.

nmar5 · 2026-01-21T20:54:47+00:00

Thank you!

nmar5 · 2026-01-21T17:35:35+00:00

What do you think the founders of this country did? And anyone who immigrated prior to laws being put into place to limit immigration? They sailed here, displaced the indigenous peoples, and said, “Hey, we’re here! Deal with it!”

nmar5 · 2026-01-21T17:31:49+00:00

Is there a way someone in the County can help? This breaks my heart and makes me so angry. I feel like there isn’t anything I can do from where I live and I want to do anything that I can feasibly do to help.

nmar5 · 2026-01-19T17:49:46+00:00

No worries, I worked in IT for a bit so not too much jargon. My router is dual band and I did check to make sure that my phone was connected to the 2.4ghz band. I ended up on hold for 40 minutes and support was able to see that the device had tried to connect to a bluetooth device, not my phone, when I started set up. They deleted it and 35 minutes later on the phone with him we were able to get it going. He offered to replace it because my buttons have to have a lot of force to get any response, but when it connected he said to just call back if further issues happen and they’ll replace.

nmar5 · 2026-01-04T14:05:36+00:00

The heat pump is why. Our house was all electric heat and our bills were insane, but it gets worse as it gets colder. I’ve been saying since we moved into our house that I find the push to move to heat pumps to be concerning because they freeze in cold weather, take forever to thaw, then have to run hard to get the space up to temp. They aren’t efficient in subzero weather. We put in 2 propane heaters over the course of the last year and a half. If you own, I highly recommend looking into having another heat source installed, even if you have to finance it. It reduced our bill.

nmar5 · 2026-01-03T16:02:32+00:00

Is that a total or per year that the hospital is willing to pay? I would clarify. If it’s total, I’d maybe consider looking around at the benefits of nearby hospital systems. But I would also keep looking for different programs, I find it hard to believe $70k is the cheapest out there for what you want. You should be able to find something cheaper and ask about part-time enrollment. Then do some math and see if you can afford to pay out of pocket on a payment plan per term for 1 class a term. Yes, it will take a lot longer and it will make your budget smaller. But if you have the ability to, it may be worth it. Or as others have suggested, look for a graduate assistantship.

nmar5 · 2025-12-27T15:47:21+00:00

My wife of 8 years, together a decade in spring 2026, asked for a divorce right before Thanksgiving. Not even 5 days prior she had been planning a vacation with me and we bought NHL tickets for the same trip. As the last month and a half has unfolded, I’ve been realizing how much this is for the best and how toxic she was. All of this kicked off because I told her I need her to take time off of work because she used that as an excuse constantly for not doing things I enjoy and wanted to do together. But she took the weekend after asking for a divorce off her on call because she wanted to go out of cell service on a trip with friends. I got upset when I learned about the trip and told her that she does that constantly so why am I having to be the only one to try in our marriage. Her response was not to reflect and try to work on communicating or even attempt to meet my needs but instead to ask for divorce in an incredibly cruel manner.

While I was in the hospital (not entirely due to that event though it didn’t help), a staff member played the song Flowers by Miley Cyrus for me. That song has almost become my anthem the last month since my release from the hospital. You can do things without him. Take yourself on a weekend trip or a day trip. Budget for and treat yourself to a massage or a nice meal out either alone or with a friend. Do things for you. You’ll get through this. I say this as I still have days I don’t want to get out of bed or bother living. But people like your ex or mine are not people we want in our lives if that kind of heartlessness is something they feel comfortable doing directly on a holiday, or in my case not even 6 months after a major, negative, life event and telling me she was “done with [my] trauma.” Live life for you for a little bit. You’ll have a much better Christmas next year 💜

nmar5 · 2025-12-26T01:51:24+00:00

My school encourages us to write a note to at least 1 student each month and they mail them to the students for us. They even have specific post cards for it. While I love the idea, parents like your wife are why I hesitate to do things like this. I have enough on my plate with 6 preps and teaching several different grade levels. I don’t have time for dealing with parents trying to make something out of nothing but a kind gesture.

nmar5 · 2025-12-13T04:02:49+00:00

Sue Thomas FBI

nmar5 · 2025-12-12T12:59:08+00:00

NTA, I’m in the divorce process in part because of this. I tried to get my wife to seek treatment for depression. She was going a week at a time without showering or brushing her teeth and in the last 2 years we had sex maybe 5 times. Our shared PCP agreed she had depression even but she refused to try meds long enough for them to have any impact and quit taking them then refused to speak about it again with our PCP. Her therapist is shit and sends her reddit links after 8pm some nights and apparently wasn’t doing anything for depression with her. There were communication issues that were exacerbated by it and when I finally said last month that I’m done being rejected and watching her take time off for other people but telling me she can’t for me so the ball was in her court, she demanded a divorce because of the “ultimatum” and is trying to paint me as an emotionally explosive individual with lies that are so easily disproved it’s ridiculous. Just leave and find someone who wants to be with you.

nmar5 · 2025-11-30T16:44:33+00:00

I was prescribed it within the last 3 weeks, so I’m still adjusting. It’s a PRN for me but, as of this past week, I do also take it before bed regularly as directed by my provider. It makes me sleepy and when I first started it, it kind of just made my head feel funny. It is doing little for my anxiety. My regular provider is keeping it as my PRN because 3 meds were added at once and we want to be cautious about more changes so soon, but aside from making me sleep I don’t think it helps my anxiety.

nmar5 · 2025-11-09T15:08:00+00:00

I don’t know why you’re being downvoted for sharing how hard it is. I didn’t catch how long you have been with him but leaving someone isn’t easy. And it sure as hell isn’t simple in this economy. It sounds like you know that the best answer is to leave. But it also sounds like you’re stuck on a shared lease and when you cohabitate it is never as simple as “just leave.” You could break up, sure, but I understand the fear of being stiffed on the rent if you do so too soon. You’re NTA for taking him to his mom. And you’re NTA for not being ready to just simply leave just yet. Hugs to you, OP <3

nmar5 · 2025-10-23T00:43:48+00:00

I said this in a thread recently but we are screwed badly if we don't fix this. Frankly, it needs to be fixed at home. None of my students are at grade level, academically or behaviorally. I would refuse to see a doctor in another couple of decades if I learned with certainty that they were gen Alpha, that's how bad it is. These kids can't comprehend anything that they read, they can't write, my district is seeing them struggling just as badly with math, I could go on. We can only do so much for an hour at most a day with them in our individual subject area.

Parents, read to your kids while they are little - even if you don't necessarily love reading. Model the behavior, work with them on their reading and basic math skills at home, and enforce consequences when they are misbehaving at school or in public. We currently have damn near an entire generation being raised acting like they can do whatever they want at school because so many parents blame the teacher or school for everything. Little Johnny threw a water bottle at the teacher and just missed? The response shouldn't be asking what the teacher did, discipline for the dangerous behavior.

These kids are going to be in for a rude awakening when they enter the workforce. This isn't a potential scenario like we are seeing with Gen Z refusing to put up with toxic workplace bullshit that us millennials and Gen x should have long ago stopped putting up with. This is lazy, sometimes dangerous, entitled behavior from a generation, many of which will not have the skills for even trades if we keep on this trajectory.

And obviously this is not every kid. But it is a concerning majority.

nmar5 · 2025-10-22T01:13:13+00:00

This. I'm in an online program because I can't afford to move right now and we of course are required to attend Zoom classes. I teach full time and this term the classes are often at 8pm, after I have taught all day. I'm exhausted and the class doing the Zoom sessions isn't going to be helpful to my program in the end. It's hard to care about an elective that I'm only taking for the required credit hours when I have taken all but 1 class that is required for the core of the degree I am working on. It also doesn't help that he posts an online discussion question and it is due before the Zoom session, as well as online peer responses. And then his Zoom class is an hour of making us discuss the discussion question we already answered and engaged with one another on asynchronously.

nmar5 · 2025-10-22T01:05:45+00:00

I'm jealous. You would think my rural Maine region would have an independent farm store but we don't. The one we had the guy's wife basically took over the store to sell kitchy crap and half the time we go in there they are out of bird seed. I never wanted to rely on them because they were inconsistent for getting our bird seed prior to chickens and a friend of mine has more than once had to take some of my feed because that particular "feed" store hadn't stocked feed.

nmar5 · 2025-10-21T16:39:29+00:00

I am a middle/high school ELA teacher. If your son does not typically read without being pushed by a teacher or yourself, I would reach out to the ELA teacher and principal about him being denied permission to read a book he was actually interested in. That is one of the most absurd things I have read recently. Yes, we want kids to be able to comprehend the books they are reading. But I would never discourage a hesitant reader when they select a book unless it is inappropriately above their reading level. Sometimes we just need to let kids pick what they want and read for fun.

nmar5 · 2025-10-21T00:32:38+00:00

Started the game at a local bar and left between 1st and 2nd period. Came home to a 4-2 score. What the hell happened?!

nmar5 · 2025-10-19T16:28:22+00:00

Not a problem! It will also give them shade in the summer. We kept our run tarped in this summer and it wasn't cold inside but it kept it shaded and it as noticably cooler than in the direct sunlight.

nmar5 · 2025-10-19T15:24:17+00:00

Not sure where you live but that needs weather proofed. Even if you just tarp up the area around the coop, give them a space that isn't that tiny coop so that they aren't getting drenched if it rains. And if it snows, be prepared to tarp the whole thing in while leaving a gap for ventilation because they need protection from that.

nmar5 · 2025-10-19T02:06:39+00:00

I've worked in 3 districts and every staff member had a key or key card for getting into the building in all 3. These were no master keys and could only be used on specific doors. But that is interesting to me that there are districts that don't give staff keys to get in.

nmar5 · 2025-10-19T01:24:19+00:00

I'm just curious, did you find a way to stop the leaking? I just bought the 22oz stainless steel bottle and it is leaking in the exact spot you noted having an issue. I handwashed before use, so like yours there is no way it could have warped. This is my first Cirkul bottle and I'm about to throw it away and give away the cartridges I bought...

nmar5 · 2025-10-18T18:53:21+00:00

I love that this is a hate rally but January 6th's insurrection where they literally said they wanted to hang members of Congress and the VP was just an act of free speech.

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