He didn’t understand his mobile number
I was helping seniors fill out some forms. One girl needed me to look up her address because she knew truly none of it. Not the first occasion that’s happened. Then a boy told me he didn’t know his phone number and he asked me to look it up. I told him we only keep parent numbers on file. Then he asked where he could look up his number and I shrugged. He ended up texting his best friend asking his best buddy to give him his phone number. I went to graduate school for similar to this
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A student once pulled out Google Maps and traced the path he took to school to find his home address. He at least knew the school's name to give him a starting point. It took him 20 minutes. This is a junior registering for the ACT.
Man and I was trying to keep my face neutral when an AP kid in my room for the ACT today didn’t know his zip code. I asked him if he’d moved recently and he looked at me like I was crazy and said he’s lived there for years.
I also knew a senior that did this
He's demonstrating skills most adults I know don't have.
Counselor here and this is the norm. Me: which town do you live in? Them: I don’t know 🤦🏻♂️ Them: Was I accepted to college? Me: the email that you just showed me, clearly said congratulations on being accepted 🤦🏻♂️ Also forget about them knowing a zip code.
This is why my kids' zip codes were the password to their phones for a while. I changed their password and told them it was our zip code. Didn't tell them how to find it. They ended up asking youtube on our TV how to find it.
WAIT, WHAT? how could they not know the name of the town? that's--woah. that's bad, but you don't need me to tell you lol. i just don't understand
On the address, was it by chance one of those situations where they live in one place while the address says they live in another? I grew up not knowing my town because my address listed a city in another county. Note: it's also a rural countryside I couldn't walk outside and...
I'm pretty sure they made me memorize all that in kindergarten...
There was more reason to memorize it back then.
According to some academic coaches that was trauma inflicted on you for having to memorize something as a student /s
We moved every three years on average all through my kids' childhoods. Learning it in kindergarten isn't always applicable. Some places we were only in for less than a year.
I encountered a 17 year old who, when asked for her address, had to open up her UberEats account to look it up. I was *stunned*.
She *had the problem solving skills to think of this solution* This kid is fine.
Is it possible she had recently moved? Personally it takes me weeks before I can reliably recite a new address
Yeah, I always deal with this when I help Juniors register for the ACT. They don't know their phone numbers, their parents' numbers, or their addresses. Last year a kid showed me his ID, pointed to his zip code, and asked if that was in fact his zip code. I was just delighted...
I'm in high school, I know my mom's number, I've been meaning to find out my own, and I know about half of my address. Thank you for reminding me once again to sort that stuff out before I graduate.
Omg I was proctoring the SATs once a few years ago and they had to fill in their bubbles in the beginning. The amount of juniors and seniors who didn't know their addresses was ASTOUNDING! Like how? Unless you just moved, that's a literal essential thing to know. Some of these...
Last year I had an 8th grader WHO DIDN’T KNOW HIS MOM’S ACTUAL NAME. “I just call her Mom…”
Watch them try to make change.
All the data points indicate this generation is the dumbest ever. So sad for them. They are doing less and thinking in narrower patterns. Go outside: I see Boomers are Gen X folk slaying the day while kids are too tired from online social comparing, shopping, and giggle meme f...
Boomers and gen alpha are statistically the dumbest generations, the flynn effect didnt stop until a few years ago.
Here's a situation... My wife (allegedly) had students who technically had an address in the school zone (like an aunt) but lived in a neighboring county. They may have been specifically not given their address, or specifically told not to give it out.
Yeah. It is confusing when you are registered at one address, but factually live in another. Sometimes you get confused which one you should be using.
When I was in kindergarten we had to know our parents first and last names, our address, and our home phone number by the end of the year. The teacher would test us every once in a while. NYC 1970s. We were also expected to learn how to tie our shoes. …and walk with scissors.
If any parents are reading this and you want an easy way for your kid to remember phone numbers, make a song to go along with it. Mnemonic devices work! My kids have had our phone numbers memorized since preschool because we have phone number songs! There's a reason people re...
Then everybody will think their phone number is 867-5309. That won’t work!
I taught my daughter a song with her name, phone number and street address when she was two years old. I don't know if she remembers the song now, but I do! (she's thirty)
He was holding his phone and didn't know where to look in his phone for his own number? ...He was holding his phone and _you_ didn't know where to look in his phone for his number?
Kids are dopes and always have been. I help interview applicants for our (private) school. Some kids don't know the name of the school they are currently in -- or the town it's located in. I've asked my own students a few times what their parents do. These are juniors and Seni...
I am absolutely lost, and I wish that I could call my mom.
You raise a good point with the phone number issue. Most of us NEEDED to know our parents numbers and our address because otherwise if we got lost, we were pretty much screwed. Nowadays we've automated everything and now we get irritated when people forget how to do the thing...
I asked 4 second graders how old they were and only one could give me a clear answer.
This is insane to me
In my defense, my age is irrelevant to me and I do need to do math to tell my age. I might know the decade as it is a sort of a milestone, but not the exact number. Age milestones tend to be: teen, 16, 18, 21, retirement age, 80. Everything in between is irrelevant.
In kindergarten in 2005, we had to learn our parents phone number, homephone, & address. I still remember all the addresses I've lived at ...
I had a 6th grader a few years back who did not know his own birthday. Not the month nor the day....
this is honestly crazy to me because it was a requirement in kindergarten to memorize our home address and at least one of our parents phone numbers. in kindergarten! i pray for the kids these days
I feel like in this thread there is far too much "well, they solved the problem, so its fine". These things are NOT good. Not knowing your address at 17 is ridiculous. Like, people lose phones. If that happens, will you just never be able to return home? This is exactly...
Your phone number is on your phone
Right? It's funny that the younger generation is assumed to be tech-savvy, but they're actually quite the opposite.
I'm impressed he figured out how to look it up.
My kids' phone numbers are just their names in my contacts. I couldn't even tell you their area code. Kids are astonished we used to have to memorize phone numbers and addresses.
In what world do we still not memorize these things? My daughter is 7 and knows all this. I have her working on memorizing phone numbers of myself, her dad, her grandma. God no wonder these kids are all helpless.
How sad
You do not know your children's phone numbers? I find that oddly upsetting. What if you need to contact them and your phone is dead, or broken, or stolen?
You have got to be joking… how old are these kids? Not remembering your phone number is normal, especially when you’ve just got a phone and haven’t gotten used to the number yet. But not knowing your own home address? That seems hard to believe.
If a kid walks home, they aren't using home addresses to find their way, they know the route and it's not by street or number. They don't navigate by address or send mail. The reason parents used to hammer the address into their child's memory is because kids were unsupervised...
When I got my phone here in Europe, the person showed me a list of numbers to choose from. They all looked good to me, so the salesperson said, “let’s use one that’s easy to remember”. The number (not my real number) has a pattern like this: 828 85 58 59 17 I curse that sale...
How often are you giving your phone number to others? I might need it once a year or rarer. People nowadays tend to exchange social media accounts or e-mails.
They’ll be voting soon
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They'll be *allowed* to vote soon. Unfortunately half of them won't bother.
When I went to kindergarten in 1983, I had to know my name, my mom and dad's name, my address, my Grandma's address (she babysat me), my mom's work phone number, and Grandma's phone number. What the heck are high schoolers doing, knowing literally no relevant information?!?
Recently I worked a long shift at a concession stand for a high school band comp. Naturally, the children do not know a thing about cash…but that’s ok because we took Apple Pay and Venmo! Except at this event the Square reader required customers to input their zip code to use...
To be fair, I’ve had a lot of students, especially Title I, have situations in which phone numbers are changed/phones cut off/ moving/ etc. I was surprised to realize they didn’t know their phone numbers or addresses but it is more common than you think.
The thing that astounds me is when they live in an apartment building but can't tell me their unit number. How do they know which door to go in???
Fifth floor the second door to the left. Also, remembering how my doors look.
I live an apartment and have been asked for my unit number like once. You don’t need to know the unit number to know which door you walk into everyday
In my head all kids should know that kind of information even before going to school. Well, times have changed... At least he know his number now.
I was subbing during the early pandemic and one student’s phone KEPT PLAYING NOTIFICATIONS. I asked him to silence not turn it off. Multiple times! I finally asked him (nicely) if he knew how to turn the phone off, to which he replied “iPhones can’t be turned off because they ...
So much for ‘digital natives,’ eh?
My 4 year old knows our street, city, and state as well as my phone number…..
The number of middle and high school kids who don't know their parents 'names is alarming
They're just playing dumb to waste your time, and it seems to be working.
I also don't know my phone number as I need it very rarely. I do have it written in my phone as an address. I also don't have to use my address oftentimes. I somehow memorise where they are on a map rather than the address... Unused information tends to be forgotten.
So I teach this information to special needs kids - especially if I put "Elopement" on their BSP. It always surprised me the # of folks who never thought to teach their kids basic info even tho I know my sons pediatrician told me at 3yo he needed to know his address and phone ...
We tried to take middle schoolers to the local library to get library cards. One kid asked me how to spell his last name, some had no idea where they lived, and most did not know their parents names.
When no system works in favor of our future it fails the kids so hard
I didn't used to remember my cell phone number, but at least I knew how to find it on my own damn phone.
I knew people who didn’t know their own phone number when I was in school too and I’m in my 30’s!
Wow, I’m so glad I’m an older stepmom. We’ve covered deposit slips, mailing envelopes, reading bank statements, advocating for yourself at the doctors office etc. I want him to be able to survive when he decides what he’s doing after school. Laundry you name it.
Title I? I have kids who can't tell time on an analogue clock, figure out simple division to get their grade, read at grade level...
My cousin was visiting with her fourth grader a few years ago. She wrote her phone number on his arm with a Sharpie when he wanted to go to the park two blocks away.
Sweet Jesus I still remember the address and phone number of the house I lived in before I could READ. Then I had to do it all over for the next house where I learned how to read.
Crippling.
I know my phone number and my wife's phone number. I don't know the phone numbers for my kids or my siblings, or anyone else. Why would I bother? (But yeah, knowing your own is probably worth the time it takes.)
Tbh, as a kad I did not know my phone number either and had it saved as a note. It's more often I needed to remember someone else's number (like my mom's) than my own.
To be fair, I don’t know my kids’ phone #’s. But I still know my bff’s # from the 80’s. 😂
Meanwhile I'm 40 and accidentally wrote my phone number from 1999 the other day because apparently that just resurfaced
My mom was a daycare teacher in the 90s, she taught 3-4 year olds and one of the main skills they worked on was teaching them how to remember the name of the road/street they lived on. I wonder if daycares even still teach that anymore.
What are these students seniors in what grade exactly?
1. She moved recently (some people move frequently. Not everyone has a stable housing situation.) 2. He just got a new phone number
It's not typical to know numbers now. I know my number but can't even tell you my husband's.
You should have at least one other number memorized in case of an emergency. Other than my own number, I know my mom's cell and their landline at home.
Okay, okay, so I have NO idea if the situation for this student is anywhere near to mine, but I want to share it because there are potentially cases where this might make some sense: When I was 7 my parents & I moved from our home state to try a fresh start elsewhere. Mo...
Some of that is abuse. "You will have a phone so I can reach you, but you wont have the number for others to reach you."
Your phone will tell you your phone number if you just open the settings menu.
While controlling, is that really abuse? Parents dont owe their kids a smart phone for social purposes.
How’s that abuse?
I dont know my wifes phone number. I know the phone number of my house in 1974, and my last house before HS graduation, any my grandparents numbers, and the neighbors....... We just dont need to know numbers anymore-they are all in the phone and can be auto dialed.
True we don’t need to memorize other people’s. But I’d say we do need to memorize our own because we can’t autodial it when our health insurance asks us to confirm it on a call or we need to quickly give it to someone or we need to fill out a form when our phone is dead or th...