August 24, 2026
Teacher breaks down in tears when discovering high school seniors can’t read
USPIE: ‘Darius Williams exemplifies great teachers who really care about their students, reflecting genuine grief for a system that fails so many’
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Texas teacher Darius Williams struck a nerve recently with his online lament about the abysmal state of education that went viral.
A teacher for the Houston Independent School District’s Wheatley High School, Williams said in an Instagram video that he couldn’t get through the first class of the second day of school before his students’ poor literacy skills were too much for him.
“I just finished a three-hour class, and I literally broke down in the middle of class,” Williams said in the video during his lunch break on Aug. 11, according to The New York Post.
He gave his class full of seniors two paragraphs to read and asked them to complete another sentence he had practically filled out for them. He was shocked when they couldn’t finish the task.
“I basically completed the sentence for them, he said, in tears. “These are 17- and 18-year-old kids, and they couldn’t fill in four words. Four words!” Williams said.
“Darius Williams exemplifies great teachers who really care about their students, reflecting genuine grief for a system that fails so many,” said United States Parents Involved in Education (USPIE) Founder and President Sheri Few.
“It’s not surprising that critics immediately attacked him, citing problems with his pre-teaching, entrepreneurial businesses that have nothing to do with his teaching ability or credentialing. God help anyone who effectively points out that government education is worse than a waste of time for many students.”
Williams’ breakdown “came days after it was revealed that a majority of New York City students between third and fifth grades failed their English Language Arts tests last school year,” the Post reported.
“There are numerous reasons this system is failing, but a lack of funding is not one of them,” Few said. “If more people would acknowledge the system’s failures and commit to fixing them, maybe we will not fail the next generation of children. But parents should not wait. Get your children out of these failing schools.”
In an episode of USPIE’s podcast, “Unmasking Government Schools with Sheri Few,” Few and Ron Higgins, a substitute teacher and USPIE’s Washington State chapter president, discussed how America’s government schools aren’t just failing — they’re actively being used to subvert the very foundations of faith, family and freedom. America’s government schools are “a system that silences Christian educators while promoting radical ideologies, glamorizing self-destructive behavior, and stripping parents of their rightful authority.”
On the podcast, Few has also discussed why test scores are collapsing — and it’s not for lack of money. American taxpayers are pouring more into education than ever before, yet student achievement keeps sliding backward. Bigger budgets and more administrators are making the problem worse, not better.
As America’s government school system continues to fail children, Few advocates for home education, saying that home education produces the best results for children.
To hear more from USPIE’s Founder and President, Sheri Few, tune in to the latest episode of USPIE’s podcast, “Unmasking Government Schools with Sheri Few,” on Tuesday, August 25, where Few is joined by Dr. Susan Berry, physician, medical journalist, and founder of Lumen-News. In this episode, Dr. Berry examines the Trump administration’s efforts to hold schools accountable for protecting students from sexual predators, the practice of “passing the trash,” and why greater transparency and enforcement matter for families. USPIE’s “Unmasking Government Schools with Sheri Few” is a weekly podcast that exposes the dangers of education shaped by government bureaucrats and social engineers, while exploring practical ways to protect children and preserve America’s freedom. Listen to “Unmasking Government Schools with Sheri Few” on YouTube, Facebook, Spotify and X.
United States Parents Involved in Education (USPIE) is a nonprofit, nationwide coalition that is fighting to return education to its proper local roots and restore parental authority over their children’s education by helping parents and local communities to escape federal and other national influences. It is the vision of USPIE to create a culture where parents, empowered with the authority to choose what and how their children learn, are the undisputed primary educators of their children, where local schools operate in support of families, and where education is unencumbered by federal mandates.
USPIE’s powerful documentary, “Truth & Lies in American Education,” addresses some of the most glaring issues in the American education system and helps parents experience a paradigm shift in how they think about education and the role of their local schools. The film follows Few’s daughter-in-law, April, as she seeks to learn more about the system she was planning on exposing to her own children and learns the shocking truth. “Truth & Lies in American Education” is available for streaming on SalemNOW, as well as on DVD.
For more information on United States Parents Involved in Education, visit www.uspie.org or follow USPIE on Facebook or X.
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To interview a representative from United States Parents Involved in Education, contact Hamilton Strategies, Media@HamiltonStrategies.com, Beth Bogucki, 610.584.1096, ext. 105, or Daniel Moyer, ext. 104.
