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I had a similar reply in a separate thread, but human-to-human interaction is extremely important for young children. Teachers teach much more than school subje

I had a similar reply in a separate thread, but human-to-human interaction is extremely important for young children. Teachers teach much more than school subjects in the classroom - they teach how to behave, how to ask for help, how to interact with others, etc. I often feel like teachers of young children teach them how to be "human". I think as people age they can probably rely more on Khan Academy, etc. Maybe this will change in the future as we find better ways to teach young children with technology, but I would be apprehensive with dropping a 1st grader in front of a screen and having zero human interaction.

misssocrates 4y ago
> teach how to behave, how to ask for help, how to interact with others, etc. I often feel like teachers of young children teach them how to be "human". Isn't that the job description of parents and/or day care?
- swatcoder 4y ago
  Small modern families don’t have a ton of people around and the relationships between those people tend to settle into equilibrium. It’s not really adequate for practicing the adaptive social skills we usually (used to?) expect from adults. And day care can provide more of that, but is naturally supplanted for 25-30 hours per week once kids start attending school. Socialization is absolutely a function of schools. You can expect big societal repercussions if it were substantially removed.
- cyrialize 4y ago
  Yes, but at that age it's important to be taught those things and be socialized through all aspects of life. You can kind of think of it like learning a language - you learn it faster when you're fulling enveloped in it. It's easy for parents to miss things that a public school teacher with an education degree would not. Also, children can be taught all of that by their parents and through day care, but still fail to do what they've been taught in a school setting. It's important for teachers to teach those things or reinforce those teachings. I highly recommend asking teachers of young children about this, or looking into what education materials teachers are trained on. Many schools have professional development days, so what a teacher knows and works with changes/updates often.

misssocrates 4y ago

> teach how to behave, how to ask for help, how to interact with others, etc. I often feel like teachers of young children teach them how to be "human". Isn't that the job description of parents and/or day care?

swatcoder 4y ago
Small modern families don’t have a ton of people around and the relationships between those people tend to settle into equilibrium. It’s not really adequate for practicing the adaptive social skills we usually (used to?) expect from adults. And day care can provide more of that, but is naturally supplanted for 25-30 hours per week once kids start attending school. Socialization is absolutely a function of schools. You can expect big societal repercussions if it were substantially removed.
cyrialize 4y ago
Yes, but at that age it's important to be taught those things and be socialized through all aspects of life. You can kind of think of it like learning a language - you learn it faster when you're fulling enveloped in it. It's easy for parents to miss things that a public school teacher with an education degree would not. Also, children can be taught all of that by their parents and through day care, but still fail to do what they've been taught in a school setting. It's important for teachers to teach those things or reinforce those teachings. I highly recommend asking teachers of young children about this, or looking into what education materials teachers are trained on. Many schools have professional development days, so what a teacher knows and works with changes/updates often.