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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 bein

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 3y ago
[flagged]
- giantg2 3y 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 3y 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 3y 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.

lupire 3y ago

[flagged]

giantg2 3y 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 3y 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 3y 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.