"Not Qualified for Fifth Grade" — Teacher Cites Shocking Holes in American Elementary Education

Education has always been a hot topic of debate in America, and this past presidential election race was no different. The U.S. has fallen way behind in basic educational benchmarks, and the situation's so dire that incoming President Donald Trump is toying with the idea of scrapping the Department of Education entirely. The agency was first created under Jimmy Carter in 1979 to roll out federal-level education policies.

Enter Mr. Wilson’s Twin Brother, aka @iammrwilson313. He’s a teacher who threw his 2 cents into the conversation with a 7-minute, 38-second video that's accrued over 6 million views. Speaking from his classroom, he explained exactly what students should know before moving on to middle school, at which point, he says "the stakes get way higher."

He then details a dire classroom situation many fifth grade students face.

"I'm gonna say something controversial," he started in. "If your child does not have these skills, they are not qualified for the fifth grade."

What one might think to be common sense, he emphasized the importance of students being able to write their own name. "Every year, I give a test to make sure my kids can spell their names, and not once in five years have I had a class where 100 percent passed. This isn’t just a COVID thing. At some point, between kindergarten and fifth grade, a child should have learned to spell their name automatically."

Reading, naturally, is another fundamental skill that students must master before advancing. "If your child can’t read beyond CVC words — basic consonant-vowel-consonant words like ‘cat’ or ‘dog’ — they’re not ready for the fifth grade. They need to be reading in paragraphs to access the curriculum, and I can’t keep reaching back to the basics for them when we’re supposed to be moving forward."

Next up on his list was math. Mr. Wilson, particularly focused on the basics, like students’ ability to count "2 + 2" on their fingers. "My kids need to know their multiplication facts because after that, we’re doing decimals, standard algorithms, and more complex math. If they’re stuck on basic addition, it’s going to snowball into bigger problems later."

His last point was also shocking: students failing to know basic personal information about themselves. "If I ask a student for their home address or a parent’s phone number and they don’t know it, that’s a huge red flag. How are they going to get home safely if there’s an emergency? This isn’t even about academics; it’s about safety and independence."

Mr. Wilson’s point was, how are kids who don't possess this knowledge allowed to move into his fifth-grade classroom?

The response to the video was massive. Many expressed shock at how low the bar had fallen.

One wrote, "Being able to write their own name is a skill they should have by AGE 5 not GRADE 5."

Another teacher chimed in, "I've had fifth graders that didn't know their birthday." Many turned their criticism at the "No Child Left Behind" policy, with one commenting, "Parents are not parenting anymore! No child left behind has left all our kids behind," and another added, "No child left behind is really just dragging kids forward while leaving them behind."

So, what’s the deal with No Child Left Behind?

The law, signed by George W. Bush in 2002, was rooted in a well-intended ideology: close achievement gaps and hold schools accountable. Standardized testing in reading and math was mandated, with schools required to meet certain benchmarks or face serious consequences, like funding cuts and/or restructuring.

One of NCLB’s main goals was to ensure that no child was "left behind," (hence the name) and put emphasis on advancing all students through the system. This resulted in students being passed without achieving the necessary skills. And this paradoxical outcome is the key criticism of the policy.

But while “no child left behind” as an idea sounds nice and empathetic, allowing kids to move forward without achieving proper metrics, it ultimately seems to put them further behind. If a kid graduates to fifth grade but can’t adequately demonstrate fourth-grade math proficiency, they’re now deeper in the hole.

Other critics argued that NCLB created a test-obsessed environment. For fear of the hammer coming down, teachers ended up teaching students how to pass tests instead of delivering a well-rounded education. Additionally, many schools labeled as failing didn’t receive the resources needed to improve. So the viewpoint became: If we, as a school, get enough kids to pass standardized tests, then that comes first in order to secure proper funding.

Statistics also paint an ugly picture for the state of learning in the United States. A recent global study ranks the U.S. 13th in education, with particularly concerning declines in math. The U.S. now ranks 24th out of 45 education systems in eighth-grade math. For a country that prides itself on being No. 1, it’s time for a look in the mirror. Weirdly enough, America is still ranked No. 1 in college education.

So what's the solution? Is the Department of Education's expenditures providing the results for the amount of money the government spends on it annually? In 2024 alone, $268 billion alone went to the agency that is, according to statistical analysis and anecdotes from teachers like Mr. Wilson's Twin Brother, setting up many students for failure?