When people talk about war, they picture overseas battlefields, not elementary school hallways. But America is embroiled in a civilian crisis a war thats quietly destroying childrens brains and our future.The battleground is our public school system. The casualties are the minds, dreams and potential of an entire generation.Leaving aside the tremendous indoctrination in our countrys schools in the alphabet (LGBTQIA++) ideologies, the actual alphabet has suffered. Over the past century, Americas literacy rates have cratered.A new study flagsthat28% of U.S. adults perform at the lowest literacy level around third-grade reading level.Worse still, the share of adultsreading below a sixth-gradelevel clocks in at around54%.Our kids fare even worse. NAEP reading scores dropped in 2024 fourth- and eighth-graders lost two more points since 2022, deepening a trend that beganbefore the pandemicmarking thelowest reading proficiency in 32 years.NEW STUDY REVEALS THREATS TO THE CLASS OF 2025. FIXING THEM SHOULD BE JOB NO. 1 FOR AMERICAThats not a blip its a nosedive. The fallout: weaker critical thinking, poorer job prospects and citizens unable to parse even basic news headlines.And while were losing ground in literacy, we are paying a lot more money.Inflation-adjusted revenueforK12 rose about25% per student from 2002 to 2020.In 202021, public schools spent a whopping$16,280 per pupil, culminating in a staggering$927 billion overall.What a waste! The extra money built the bureaucratic administration while learning outcomes declined. Its like upgrading yourFord to a Ferrari with no engine.Despite billions spent on tech to teach literacy, reading is plummeting. Only42% of 9-year-oldsand17% of 13-year-oldsreadforpleasure "almost daily." This marksthe lowestin 40 years.We gave them Kindles and Chromebooks butforgot to court their curiosity.AMERICANS NEED TO WORK TOGETHER TO FIX EDUCATION. WEVE BOTH DONE IT BEFORE ON OPPOSITE SIDESOne in three eighth-graderscant read a textbookwell enough to pass a history quiz.And thats just "basic," which isnt what basic used to be, either. Indeed, the "educators" degraded the very word "proficiency" so they could pile a bunch of lower achievers onto it to see if it floated. Then, to cover their tracks, they shifted the national conversation from "What do our kids know?" to "How do they feel?"They prioritized soft skills over hard knowledge. Participation trophies replaced performance incentives and inflated grades substitutedforreal learning. Kids left high school more emotionally confused than intellectually prepared. They even coined a new term, "adulting," because mature behavior became such aforeign concept. The schools have been producing eternal childrenfortoo long.Theyre also teaching kids to outsource thinking. (Just Google it.) Artificial intelligence and calculators might help with homework, but they also train in dependency. Students memorize less, understand less and rely more.The question becomes whether America can afford to outsource our intellect.The U.S. once led the world in innovation, from the cotton gin to the traffic light. Now most of our students are meandering toward complacency and mediocrity. Our unlimited imaginations were fueled by reading, not by consuming the visual pablum of our streaming services.THE REAL CRISIS BEHIND AMERICA'S UNREST BEGINS IN THE CLASSROOMThis isnt a partisan jab. NAEP scores were falling before COVID, before any woke curriculum debates, before anyone warned about "too much technology." Theyve been falling since we started the Department of Education and since schooling began.Pandemic interruptions worsened things, but the rot was already there. If we dont reverse course, we're writing an obituaryforAmerican exceptionalism. We may be eclipsed by a world that takes competition seriously.There are simple steps to regain that entrepreneurial spirit that provided the enginefornearly the greatest triumph in human history. Instead of sending our healthy children into institutions that essentially mimic prisons, revert back to trusting childrens intuitive and curious character their natural drive to learn.Parents' voices must matter more in our schools. Parental involvement is the number one predictor of academic achievement. They must be included in any dialogue about childrens learning.PARENTS AND STUDENTS NEED SCHOOL CHOICE, NOT RELIGIOUS BIGOTRYWe must teach phonics instead of the failed"whole word reading method"that is pushed in our schools.Standards should be clearly defined: if you cant read above eighth-grade level, you dont graduate.No more participation awardsformediocrity. Show kids that effort matters, not just feelings.Money should flow to classrooms: textbooks, tutors, coaches not more diversity officers. Streamline school budgets and cut costs to superfluous administrator overhead.Invest in logic, rhetoric and debate. Teaching kids how to argue and dissect arguments will train them to think deeply, which beats shallow scrolling every time.CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINIONMake books sexy again. Family reading nights. Library trips. Book "flirtation," notforced indoctrination.Weve effectively taught kids to edit their selfies, but not their sentences. We arent doomed but were dangerously adrift. The war on reading the war on thinking is real, but the front line is in living rooms and school board meetings. Americas destiny isnt lost. It lies in the courage to demand more forour children, and our country.Americas future shouldnt be scripted by bureaucracy but by bright, curious, literate kids. Lets fight back.