“I fear for the future of this country. I won’t see the ultimate consequences, but there are enough signs right now to tell me it won’t end well.”

"I have taught in high and low-performing schools, and the students are the same. They don't care about learning or the need to think critically; they only care about finishing the assignment and getting the grade, not how they arrived at their conclusions.

Grades are so heavily inflated that I had a kid drop my class on Monday, enroll in a different history class, then return on Wednesday, with no notification from counseling. When the kid returned, I asked him why, and he said, 'Because in the other class, my grade would be an F, and in your class, it would be a D, so I came back.'

And the test he missed the day he was enrolled in another class, he expected to be able to take it, and so did his mom. When he dropped my class, teacher-shopped, and then came back, I'm supposed to give him the test he missed?"

—Anonymous, 44, Female, Southern California

"That threat, more than anything, caused me (and most of my friends) to at least learn the minimum at school because we did not want to be held back, be separated from our friends, and be mocked because we're now in a class surrounded by young children. The school system now just sends them all through, even if they can't read or do basic math. There ARE NO consequences, and that's what they grow up learning: they can do what they want because no one will hold them accountable."

—Anonymous, 58, Female, Maryland, Retired English teacher

"It's the apathy that frustrates me. The apathy at the student level, because they know they’ll be passed on, at the parent level, because they don’t value education, and at the district level, because as long as we meet the requirements for the kids being in school, they get the payouts."

—Anonymous, 46, Female, Buffalo, New York

"Another told me that I ‘grade wrong’ and that is why she is failing my class. She turned in two out of six assignments. I have a sixth grader who cannot tie her own shoes, and most of them cannot spell. Trying to get them to write an essay is such a Herculean task; I only do it once a quarter. I’ve caught at least four students using AI to write less than three paragraphs this year alone."

Note: Responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.