It's no secret that many kids are getting left behind in the education system. When I was a kid, America was all about not leaving kids behind in this exact setting (when I was a kid, I thought that policy was about parents not leaving their kids behind at the grocery store), but now that it's been 20 years since that initiative, many kids have been promoted when they shouldn't have been
There is still some debate about what kinds of activities set children up to be successful in an academic environment. It's well known that reading to your kids is good for them, especially in early childhood, but some parents don't want their kid to learn how to read too early. They don't want them focused on academics; they want them focused on play instead, and they think reading will get in the way of their kid just being a kid. Kindergarten used to be more like preschool, focusing on play instead of learning to read, but it's probably more advantageous for your child to know how to read, write their name, and follow basic instructions before they go to 1st grade.
It's one thing for a kid to be bad at holding a pencil in kindergarten, but the kids in this story have never actually held a pencil and written anything on paper. It's as if they never colored with crayons before, which is just unthinkable for 5-year-old kids. Back in the day, when our parents wanted us to be quiet at a restaurant, they gave us a coloring book. Now, when parents want their kids to be quiet, they give them an iPad, which makes developing motor skills much more difficult.