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As a parent of a 7 year old, I would also say the same. Our kid goes to a public school and overall they spend way less time on core subjects but a lot more on

As a parent of a 7 year old, I would also say the same. Our kid goes to a public school and overall they spend way less time on core subjects but a lot more on things related to race and so on which really do not have relevance to their level. The math is so far back that we had to put him into an additional math tutoring outside of school. Pretty much all parents in our area send their kids to something like Russian School of Math or so. Within people I directly know a couple have put their kids into private school and I am strongly considering it moving forward though it will be a huge financial strain. A more problematic thing I see with schools not challenging kids is that all kinds of behavior problems arise because they do not have anything to learn. Our kid was a lot better when I gave him math stuff from grade 4 or higher to learn. Kids need challenge. There is a limit to how much you can occupy them with coloring numbers and iPads. And at least here it is definitely not a funding issue. In fact his school has a cap on spending because if they spent more it would increase disparities with neighboring schools.

skyyler 2y ago
>Our kid goes to a public school and overall they spend way less time on core subjects but a lot more on things related to race and so on which really do not have relevance to their level. I'm curious about this. Could you explain more?
- giantg2 2y ago
  Not the same person, but we recently started touring schools in different districts. They all seemed to push diversity and anti-bullying programs as a main part of their pitch. There was very little focus on the academics. It was basically you get the normal classes unless you test into an IEP or G-IEP. Then they'd show off their facilities, how every kid gets a Chromebook, and after enough good stickers under the bully program they get a pizza party, etc. The thing that spoke to me the most was looking in on the classes. Some of the schools seemed to just have the kids on screens in every class. Others had more of a mix. Behavior was also noticeable in one school, as was the aditude of the administration (both negative). On parent at that school told me you can't even tell the teacher about bullying and bad behavior. The kids are expected to fill out an incident report on their Chromebook.
  - dghughes 2y ago
    >and after enough good stickers under the bully program they get a pizza party, etc. That's terrible. You weren't evil? Get rewarded. What happens when they get sick of pizza? That reminds me of people who call themselves a hero or people who boast of giving to charity. Doing what is right and normal doesn't need to be rewarded.
    - giantg2 2y ago
      "Doing what is right and normal doesn't need to be rewarded." I might agree with you, but the schools don't see it that way. It's very much on the level of participation trophies. They don't even have winners and losers when playing games - it's winners and non-winners now. As if changing the name changes reality...
  - red-iron-pine 2y ago
    the diversity and anti-bullying are selling to the parents, not the kids. the bigger problem is the chromebooks. also, if you're "touring different schools in different districts" you're playing a game that's way different from the average US kid. most schools are funded by local property taxes and in poor areas that means they get what they get.
    - giantg2 2y ago
      Local property taxes are a part of funding for most. However, most state and federal funds try to reduce the bias by providing more funding to the poorer schools. Some places might have large funding differences, but many are pretty close, including the ones we looked at. It seems like the private school didn't really have the diversity or anti-bullying in their pitch. Probably since they had other things to pitch. I'm not sure the public schools had anything else to pitch (except one had a pool).
metalliqaz 2y ago
I have also been disappointed with the amount of focus they spend on such topics. Until our young child went to school, we had never singled out people as being different by race. She didn't really even have the words to call that out. Then in school they start putting emphasis on these differences, and in doing so are basically teaching them to separate people in that way.
- lupire 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - giantg2 2y ago
    Teaching people to categorize based on appearance doesn't teach them about history, nor does it mean that the individual's history aligns with the history taught about the group they appear to be a part of.
- ryandrake 2y ago
  I'd love to see concrete examples of this that are actually horrible. Whenever people complain about this kind of stuff, it always seems to be in extremely vague terms, like OP's "things related to race and so on." OK, what specifically are those things, and why are they a problem? "Different races exist" is not political opinion--it's a statement of fact that any kid can observe. Same with "Gay people exist"--that's not a political statement. One can argue that (for example) mixing these topics up with the math curriculum is probably not a productive use of instruction time, and I'd agree with that. But I think we need to be more specific and concrete instead of vaguely complaining about teachers talking about "differences".
  - leereeves 2y ago
    > "Different races exist" is not political opinion--it's a statement of fact that any kid can observe Race is a social construct and therefore a political opinion. The scientific fact is that race does not exist. "Today, the mainstream belief among scientists is that race is a social construct without biological meaning." "What the study of complete genomes from different parts of the world has shown is that even between Africa and Europe, for example, there is not a single absolute genetic difference" https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/race-is-a-social-construct-scientists-argue/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/race-is-a-social-... Differences between people exist, of course, but they don't map neatly to any concept of race.
thehoff 2y ago
Parent of a 10 year old in public school. I can't think of any race related subjects that they do at school. Sure they may cover a race/culture during a specific month (eg. February they learned about the underground railroad this year, they did a week on the Chinese New Year). He has a number of friends that go to private schools and its not too different amongst that peer group. Sure there are differences overall. In talking with other parents, for instance, the privates around us have classes on ways to study methods (notetaking, how to approach tests, things like that). Our public school does not do this (nor does any of the public middle schools we looked at). The privates around us also seem to give a lot more homework (even during the summer break). Our math programs seem average for what they are learning. We have been going to additional math tutoring outside to get our son ahead but it wasn't because of the program at his school (we started in Kindergarten). There is a also lot of info around bullying and so on. I just figured this was all schools. This one I don't know about at the other schools around us.
- bongoman42 2y ago
  This is in MA, there's a significant race related stuff here. He had some class on ballet, the entire thing was about the girl who was the first black ballet dancer accepted into some prestigious academy. There was pretty much nothing about the dance itself at all.
  - soco 2y ago
    As somebody who doesn't live in the US and only has the (likely very distorted) view of US schools we get from your series/movies, I would say doing things against bullying is a good thing. I always find revolting to watch how "normalized" seems to be the school bully form the football team. But again: this is what Hollywood is projecting... I hope to be very wrong on it.

skyyler 2y ago

>Our kid goes to a public school and overall they spend way less time on core subjects but a lot more on things related to race and so on which really do not have relevance to their level. I'm curious about this. Could you explain more?

giantg2 2y ago
Not the same person, but we recently started touring schools in different districts. They all seemed to push diversity and anti-bullying programs as a main part of their pitch. There was very little focus on the academics. It was basically you get the normal classes unless you test into an IEP or G-IEP. Then they'd show off their facilities, how every kid gets a Chromebook, and after enough good stickers under the bully program they get a pizza party, etc. The thing that spoke to me the most was looking in on the classes. Some of the schools seemed to just have the kids on screens in every class. Others had more of a mix. Behavior was also noticeable in one school, as was the aditude of the administration (both negative). On parent at that school told me you can't even tell the teacher about bullying and bad behavior. The kids are expected to fill out an incident report on their Chromebook.
- dghughes 2y ago
  >and after enough good stickers under the bully program they get a pizza party, etc. That's terrible. You weren't evil? Get rewarded. What happens when they get sick of pizza? That reminds me of people who call themselves a hero or people who boast of giving to charity. Doing what is right and normal doesn't need to be rewarded.
  - giantg2 2y ago
    "Doing what is right and normal doesn't need to be rewarded." I might agree with you, but the schools don't see it that way. It's very much on the level of participation trophies. They don't even have winners and losers when playing games - it's winners and non-winners now. As if changing the name changes reality...
- red-iron-pine 2y ago
  the diversity and anti-bullying are selling to the parents, not the kids. the bigger problem is the chromebooks. also, if you're "touring different schools in different districts" you're playing a game that's way different from the average US kid. most schools are funded by local property taxes and in poor areas that means they get what they get.
  - giantg2 2y ago
    Local property taxes are a part of funding for most. However, most state and federal funds try to reduce the bias by providing more funding to the poorer schools. Some places might have large funding differences, but many are pretty close, including the ones we looked at. It seems like the private school didn't really have the diversity or anti-bullying in their pitch. Probably since they had other things to pitch. I'm not sure the public schools had anything else to pitch (except one had a pool).

metalliqaz 2y ago

I have also been disappointed with the amount of focus they spend on such topics. Until our young child went to school, we had never singled out people as being different by race. She didn't really even have the words to call that out. Then in school they start putting emphasis on these differences, and in doing so are basically teaching them to separate people in that way.

lupire 2y ago
[flagged]
- giantg2 2y ago
  Teaching people to categorize based on appearance doesn't teach them about history, nor does it mean that the individual's history aligns with the history taught about the group they appear to be a part of.
ryandrake 2y ago
I'd love to see concrete examples of this that are actually horrible. Whenever people complain about this kind of stuff, it always seems to be in extremely vague terms, like OP's "things related to race and so on." OK, what specifically are those things, and why are they a problem? "Different races exist" is not political opinion--it's a statement of fact that any kid can observe. Same with "Gay people exist"--that's not a political statement. One can argue that (for example) mixing these topics up with the math curriculum is probably not a productive use of instruction time, and I'd agree with that. But I think we need to be more specific and concrete instead of vaguely complaining about teachers talking about "differences".
- leereeves 2y ago
  > "Different races exist" is not political opinion--it's a statement of fact that any kid can observe Race is a social construct and therefore a political opinion. The scientific fact is that race does not exist. "Today, the mainstream belief among scientists is that race is a social construct without biological meaning." "What the study of complete genomes from different parts of the world has shown is that even between Africa and Europe, for example, there is not a single absolute genetic difference" https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/race-is-a-social-construct-scientists-argue/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/race-is-a-social-... Differences between people exist, of course, but they don't map neatly to any concept of race.

thehoff 2y ago

Parent of a 10 year old in public school. I can't think of any race related subjects that they do at school. Sure they may cover a race/culture during a specific month (eg. February they learned about the underground railroad this year, they did a week on the Chinese New Year). He has a number of friends that go to private schools and its not too different amongst that peer group. Sure there are differences overall. In talking with other parents, for instance, the privates around us have classes on ways to study methods (notetaking, how to approach tests, things like that). Our public school does not do this (nor does any of the public middle schools we looked at). The privates around us also seem to give a lot more homework (even during the summer break). Our math programs seem average for what they are learning. We have been going to additional math tutoring outside to get our son ahead but it wasn't because of the program at his school (we started in Kindergarten). There is a also lot of info around bullying and so on. I just figured this was all schools. This one I don't know about at the other schools around us.

bongoman42 2y ago
This is in MA, there's a significant race related stuff here. He had some class on ballet, the entire thing was about the girl who was the first black ballet dancer accepted into some prestigious academy. There was pretty much nothing about the dance itself at all.
- soco 2y ago
  As somebody who doesn't live in the US and only has the (likely very distorted) view of US schools we get from your series/movies, I would say doing things against bullying is a good thing. I always find revolting to watch how "normalized" seems to be the school bully form the football team. But again: this is what Hollywood is projecting... I hope to be very wrong on it.