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> We asked adults who say the public education system is going in the wrong direction why that might be. About half or more say the following are major reasons:
by Hayvok 2y ago
> We asked adults who say the public education system is going in the wrong direction why that might be. About half or more say the following are major reasons:
> Schools not spending enough time on core academic subjects, like reading, math, science and social studies (69%)
> Teachers bringing their personal political and social views into the classroom (54%)
> Schools not having the funding and resources they need (52%)
As someone who has lots of friends in conservative circles, these sentiments ring true. (I am surprised "health decisions / vaccine mandates" aren't in the list.)
A lot of my wife's friends are choosing to homeschool, and #2 on that list is their primary reason. They acknowledge its likely a minority of teachers engaging in that behavior, but their feeling is "it only takes one" to ruin the entire school experience for their kid, and create a ton of problems for them to deal with at home.
(Disclaimer: we homeschool for reason #1 and because my wife was homeschooled and it's a comfortable way for her to run our schedule and home.)
- hobs 2y agoAnd the question I have for conservatives is, then why doesn't that apply to cops? Public sector job, unaccountable to the individual, has authority over people we care about, etc. I have heard more conservatives complain about librarians (again, same deal, except they dont shoot anyone) than cops.
- skhunted 2y agoIt’s disconcerting that people who have no training on how to teach think they can do it well enough. Those same people generally seek out those with training to do things in other areas of their life. But when it comes to teaching they think they know better. Asimov’s famous quote on ignorance comes to mind. EDIT: Do people generally use those without training to provide medical care, fix cars, cut hair, do electrical work, etc.? The answer is no. But when it comes to teaching science to k-12 students it’s ok to use someone with no training? It’s crazy.
- slothtrop 2y agoIf you consider what constitutes this training, you'll realize it doesn't matter, what matters is understanding the core topics and communicating well. Parents aren't teaching a class of 30 students, they can engage on a 1-1 level with their kids. > But when it comes to teaching science to k-12 students it’s ok to use someone with no training? That "someone" is you. Do you have any memory of gradeschool at all? Teaching is not complicated, it's just work.
- skhunted 2y agoHow do you know this? What is the basis of your conclusion? I’ve taught mathematics for 30 years at the college level. I don’t know how a child should be taught an introduction to fractions. I could look it up and get the gist of it. But then I’d also have to look up how children learn and what cues to look for. How would I know if a kid needs special education? I could look that up too. At what rate should a person learn how to do arithmetic with fractions? I don’t know. I could look it up. But I’d have to do this with every subject. It’s not feasible. My sister has 8 kids and homeschooled all of them through grade 12. The first 3 went to college but the remaining ones did not. They didn’t learn as much as they should have an all of them have nutty beliefs. They all believe the Union started the Civil War and that slaves were generally treated well. There are enough knaves and fools. We don’t need to willfully create more of them. There’s a reason teaching requires training. It sounds to me like you’ve never really taught and don’t know what you are talking about.
- VS1999 2y agoCan you be more specific than teaching math "at the college level"? In America, after 13 years of public education by professional teachers, they're lucky if they've even taken an introduction to calculus or trigonometry. Somehow I think I can do better than that.
- skhunted 2y agoSomehow I think I can do better than that. Dunning-Kruger.
- VS1999 2y agoI don't need a degree in babysitting to watch my own kids. That's all teaching is.
- skhunted 2y agoYou clearly have never taught. Your statement is profoundly ignorant.
- overrun11 2y agoDid you go to college? If so you probably also learned from people with almost no training in teaching. Somehow every college professor in America teaches just fine without this supposedly crucial "training on how to teach." I also hope you aren't learning online from people like Grant Sanderson (3Blue1Brown), Salman Khan (Khan Academy) who also have no formal training. Side note: I can't name a single popular online teacher that keeps from a typical teaching background.
- skhunted 2y agoCollege teaching is different than teaching kids. Intellectual maturity comes into play at a certain point. Khan’s explanations and videos have a lot of flaws and are poorly done. At least the math ones that I’ve seen.
- lupire 2y agoUniversities are famous for terrible teaching, so not a great examt.
- ndriscoll 2y agoAll of those things you listed are totally normal for people to DIY. It's kind of bizarre to me that you think otherwise. It's like when Randy on South Park teaches his kids to call the handyman to fix the oven door. Or there's a handyman on youtube who's talked about being called and charging people like $500 to push the button on a GFCI outlet. It's hard to believe he's serious. He's also talked about being called by millennials to change smoke alarm batteries.
- AlotOfReading 2y agoFor many people, #1 and #2 are the same thing. They don't perceive certain topics (e.g. slavery, evolution, gender) as parts of the core academic subjects, but instead as teachers or schools bringing politics into the classroom.
- ThunderBee 2y agoI grew up in the religious south and the amount of stuff considered political is extremely disconcerting. The list includes: - Climate science - Evolution - Geology - History - Sex ed. Essentially they believe in banning anything contradictory to their narrow religious beliefs.
- philbin 2y ago[dead]