America’s Kids Are Falling Behind: A Way Out For Teachers & Parents | Dr. Hutz Hertzberg
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What issues are parents facing in the current education system?
Parents across America have this feeling right now that something is deeply off in education. Kids can't read, teachers are burning out, boys are falling behind, AI is changing how students learn, and more families than ever are questioning what schools are actually teaching, if anything. So today we're talking about all of it with Dr. Hutz Herzberg, Chief Education Officer for Turning Point Education. He spent decades leading schools, universities, churches, and educational organizations, and now he's helping lead a national conversation around faith, courage, and the future of education in America. You might remember him back in September of 2025. We interviewed him all about Charlie Kirk. Watch this bonus episode on the Real Alex Clark YouTube channel or Culture Apothecary on Spotify.
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Why can't kids read and do math anymore?
Please welcome Dr. Hutz Hertzberg, Chief Education Officer for Turning Point Education to Culture Apothecary. Why can't kids read anymore?
Not only can't they not read, they can't do math either. It's the lowest it's been in many, many years, certainly since COVID, but even going back before COVID. You know, there's different theories in answer to your question. I mean, some say that this is the most distracted generation because of all of the technology that they have available. Some would just say it's just poor teaching.
How is the curriculum impacting children's learning abilities?
The education is just so bad. And we know that's the case, Alex, in the government schools, that the education is so bad. So I think that's a factor. I think it's been so dumbed down. So I would say it's not any one factor. It's a combination of all of that. But it is a point of concern. If kids can't read...
What role does homeschooling play in modern education?
They really can't be free. I mean, if you can't read the great texts and read God's word and read the great documents, you know, you're not really a free person. So this is a really important issue.
Logistically, what is happening, though? Like, how is it that we have high schoolers that can't read beyond a third grade level? I mean, what is the curriculum they're using to even try to teach kids to read?
It's a woke, watered-down curriculum that goes all the way back, really, to around the turn of the century, the 1920s for sure, where it's the beginning of this liberal, progressive thinking in terms of education, and with Locke and Dewey and others that began to sow those seeds.
Why are boys struggling in today's educational environment?
And I think we're just seeing the fruit of that now come to fruition. I mean... It's really been in the last 10 to 20 years that we've seen really bad test scores and they continue to go down. But I think it's been baked in for a long time. And we've moved away from classical education. I mean, we have this social, modernistic, progressive form of education, which is not the way our forefathers were educated. It was not the way that most people were educated until really around the turn of the last century.
Haven't we abandoned phonics?
How are high-achieving students affected by modern education?
Like kids aren't learning with phonics. They're using something called sight words. You just have to try to memorize like what a word looks like and that's how they're trying to teach them to read.
In some cases, but not totally, phonics is something that is still used. And by the way, classical education is exploding across our country. People are seeing exactly what you're seeing and they're saying, you know, this is not good education. And so the number of classical schools across the country are growing like crazy.
Is homeschooling growing because parents became radical or because schools changed radically?
I think it's both. People during COVID began to see what their kids were learning in school. They were watching over their shoulders. And I think that helped accelerate it. But the homeschooling movement...
What does courage look like for teachers in 2026?
has actually been growing over the last 20 years. There was very little that you could find on homeschooling. You go to a homeschooling conference, there's two or three tables there. Now there's hundreds of homeschooling conferences with thousands of vendors. And so the curriculum has gotten much, much better.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What issues are parents facing in the current education system?
0:21–1:05
2
Why can't kids read and do math anymore?
1:05–1:36
3
How is the curriculum impacting children's learning abilities?
1:36–1:55
4
What role does homeschooling play in modern education?
1:55–2:33
5
Why are boys struggling in today's educational environment?
2:33–3:02
6
How are high-achieving students affected by modern education?
3:02–3:45
7
What does courage look like for teachers in 2026?
3:45–4:17
8
How can churches re-engage in the education of children?
4:17–31:04
Speakers
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