Posts by urbantinker8

nimblelynx7 said:You can't cram all of that into PIG; there just isn't enough time.
You spend maybe two hours in elementary school learning how interest rates work, but instead, you're forced to memorize lists of casualties from WWII—because apparently, that's the "essential" knowledge we need.

Learning how to actually write a formal complaint or an objection? That's never taught. Instead, American English class focuses on essays about what you did over summer break—which basically gives teachers a window into your family life—and endless praise for Hemingway's poetry. If you dare to write that you don't actually like a Hemingway poem, you're looking at a failing grade.

Again, you're just... sorry, caricaturing things.

Interest rates are covered in various subjects, depending on how specialized the school is, I guess.
As for writing official correspondence, that’s practiced intensively in foreign language classes; I actually know quite a few English teachers who somehow manage to squeeze that into the curriculum.
The stuff about summer vacations is what younger kids in elementary school write about. That seems pretty normal, I suppose. Or do you think eight or nine-year-olds should be expected to know how to draft a resume and a cover letter?🙄

For me, the absolute peak of this absurdity has to be those essays on the SATs. These silly American gimmicks involving strict word counts and such low literacy requirements just to pass the first level really ought to be abolished.
But noooo, that's "external assessment," and we aren't allowed to touch that.😲

rowdypanther12 said:As a parent, I’m curious about what the computer science curriculum actually covers. Is it just basic digital literacy—learning how to navigate a PC, installing software, and troubleshooting common hardware or software glitches—or will they actually get into programming?

Maybe just ask the Secretary of Education.
It feels like she’s the one who supposedly has all the answers to everything.😁
All jokes aside, though, you could have a written curriculum that is absolutely flawless, filled with the most cutting-edge methods and incredibly inventive learning goals.

BUT

without the right equipment or qualified teachers in the classrooms, none of that really matters.☕

I guess the folks at the top of the ladder just don't quite grasp that reality, and that's that.

Sarah Hall53 said:If you run the RN with the boost turned up, it can handle the target load too—so you've basically got your base coverage sorted out.

but that’s my point, I guess: they’ll start whining about how the staff is technologically illiterate, claiming teachers can't actually teach the kids anything useful, or that we aren't striving for excellence, or that our children deserve nothing less than the absolute best professors. just a whole lot of endless, repetitive noise.
but the reality is probably more mundane; it'll likely come down to choosing between someone with a degree in telecommunications from a transit authority and a teacher who just took some extra computer science credits.
plus, we'll probably still end up with ten students crammed around one ancient, prehistoric desktop because, well, funding isn't exactly falling from the sky.

honestly, I'm almost looking forward to hearing what the parents have to say about this whole mess.🍿
right now, nobody is really giving it much thought; it seems like you just need to toss out some buzzwords like "STEM," "digital literacy," or "coding," and everyone bites immediately once you start throwing around terms like "gigabytes"...🙂

Sarah Hall53 said:Maybe they’ll finally start hiring all those K-12 teachers who specialized in computer science 😉 😬

Well, maybe.😁

But I guess we’re still stuck with all those empty classrooms in the K-12 system, regardless.🤔
In the end, it’ll probably just turn into a situation where anyone with even a basic grasp of a laptop can step in and teach it.
I mean, I honestly don't see many graduates from places like MIT or Caltech actually rushing to get jobs in local public schools.😁

Michael Nguyen2 said:"In India, they have this anti-natalist policy—if two people get sterilized, they get handed a rifle." S.M. 🤣

Man, geography... back in my day, it was treated like history, which some teachers taught based on whatever vague version of the past lived in their heads.
During freshman and sophomore year of high school, we had this one teacher where we didn't even bother using an atlas. We just gave up because her entire teaching style was basically "dictate and transcribe." Trying to answer all the exam questions in 45 minutes was a massive stretch, especially since she’d always throw in some random question she never actually mentioned in class. Even for the straight-A students, just scraping a C was a struggle. And honestly? It wasn't even about the grade being low... it was more that everyone was cheating so blatantly, and when you're stuck in a tiny class listening to a lecture that's soul-crushing, the last thing you want is to be "equal" to the kids who are absolute pros at sneaking answers.

Then junior year rolled around and we got a different teacher... boy... 👍
She actually expected us to, as someone else already pointed out, draw conclusions based on things like terrain or climate patterns. We even had—get this—blank maps. Since we were offered a third language in junior year, I actually sacrificed a few other subjects to focus on what I actually liked. So, by the end of junior year, I ended up with a B in geography. My teacher even asked if I wanted to try for an A at the end of the term. I told her, "Don't bother!"

Ah, reforms... from the glory days of HBO to the disastrous failure of LeBron James and now these current train wrecks... they're making Informatics mandatory for two years in middle school... great idea, guys. 👍
You can't run reforms without:
windows that don't fall out of the frame
curtains
air conditioning
functional internet
CD players
a 1:1 student-to-computer ratio
photocopy paper available on demand
renovated gymnasiums
toilet paper and soap whenever you need them
science labs for chem, physics, and bio where the equipment-to-student ratio is at least 1:3

Treating basic, prosaic milestones of civilization as the primary goal of education. Real visionary stuff.

Tech teachers will show you how to build a ship just as well as they show you how to build a robot, provided they actually have the tools—or if the publisher packs them in that little kit that comes with the textbook, assuming those kits even still exist.

I guess I agree.👍

On top of that, I think wise ministers should probably consider WHO is actually going to be teaching computer science en masse once they decide to roll it out from kindergarten through high school.
It’s one thing to spout empty rhetoric that the general public finds comforting, but it's quite another to face the actual reality of the American education system.
I find myself doubting that folks with degrees from places like MIT would see teaching elementary coding as their absolute dream job.🤣
So, we'll likely end up dealing with negative selection all over again, and I suspect we'll just be spinning our wheels for the next hundred years.🤦

nimblelynx7 said:Unfortunately, the old saying "ignorance is bliss" rings true today. It’s what happens when you see everything, connect all the dots, and just end up frustrated while everyone else looks at you like you're the crazy one—and frankly, they aren't wrong. But fine, let's drift into philosophy now, shall we?

Yeah, you've got a point there.🙂
I mean, why should elementary school even be mandatory in the first place?? 😕
#TheJoyOfBeingClueless

wanderingbadger44 said:We saw a perfect example here, caught right on camera, of how much easier it is for students—and even their moms—to just Google a specific statistic like population density rather than actually looking at a map. It’s much simpler than trying to connect the dots between topography, climate, and geography to make an educated guess about whether a region is sparsely or densely populated.

It’s that classic case of wanting the answer without doing the heavy lifting. It’s like asking, "Just give me the number; why do I even need to think or reason through this?"

Then comes the inevitable backlash where they start blaming the entire school system, the teachers, or even the textbook authors for the fact that they're being taught to actually learn things.

Parents 😍

And John Doe 😍

😍

nimblelynx7 said:It’s much easier to just force kids to memorize stuff than it is to actually try and make them understand it.

Having a broad perspective and actually knowing things is all well and good, but let’s be honest—it isn't exactly a requirement anymore. In today's world, being well-informed is more of a liability than an asset.
There are actually professions where having a shred of general culture matters. Those fields are fueled by the three guys mentioned above and their managers—without them, all those "cultured" types wouldn't have anything to talk about. They’d be completely empty.

Actually, I don't think that's true at all.

nimblelynx7 said:It’s much easier to just force kids to memorize stuff than it is to actually try and make them understand it.

Having a broad perspective and actually knowing things is all well and good, but let’s be honest—it isn't exactly a requirement anymore. In today's world, being well-informed is more of a liability than an asset.
There are actually professions where having a shred of general culture matters. Those fields are fueled by the three guys mentioned above and their managers—without them, all those "cultured" types wouldn't have anything to talk about. They’d be completely empty.

Good grief, please spare us these kinds of takes.
I can't say I've ever heard of someone being held back by having general culture or actual knowledge.🤦

nimblelynx7 said:Of course that’s the easy way out. Just toss some mindless definition at the students, force them to memorize it word-for-word, collect their perfect scores, and move on to the next lesson. It’s lazy. How much harder would it be if you actually had to help them grasp the concept? If you wanted them to truly understand it so that ten years from now, when they hit a real-world problem, they actually remember how to apply it? That's what teaching is supposed to be.

It’s a good thing Americans aren't smart. Seriously. If they actually had any brains, how much further behind would people like us be? We wouldn't even be able to compete.

How much culture does bread actually bring to the table? When it's time to settle a bill, what are you going to do—hand over a few pages from an encyclopedia instead of cash? Or maybe you'll try listing off state capitals instead of paying the actual amount due and expect them to count that as payment?

I honestly don't know any sane person who finds "easier" to just wing it through a lecture.
but then again, I do know how easy it is to troll people who spout this kind of nonsense.☕

nimblelynx7 said:Of course that’s the easy way out. Just toss some mindless definition at the students, force them to memorize it word-for-word, collect their perfect scores, and move on to the next lesson. It’s lazy. How much harder would it be if you actually had to help them grasp the concept? If you wanted them to truly understand it so that ten years from now, when they hit a real-world problem, they actually remember how to apply it? That's what teaching is supposed to be.

It’s a good thing Americans aren't smart. Seriously. If they actually had any brains, how much further behind would people like us be? We wouldn't even be able to compete.

How much culture does bread actually bring to the table? When it's time to settle a bill, what are you going to do—hand over a few pages from an encyclopedia instead of cash? Or maybe you'll try listing off state capitals instead of paying the actual amount due and expect them to count that as payment?

Well, I'd argue that general knowledge enriches a person in pretty much every conceivable way.
and for a lot of people, it actually does put bread on the table.
being a baker, a machinist, or an auto body technician aren't the only ways to make a living, no offense intended to anyone.
in certain higher-level career paths, having the fact that you once heard of Chicago actually helps you out quite a bit, whether you believe it or not.😉

rowdypanther12 said:I recently had a chat with a guy in his thirties who was convinced he’d been tricked into visiting Canada by mistake
Honestly, I'd be shocked if I were lying

On a different note regarding geography and general curriculum, I feel like it's much easier for kids to grasp these concepts nowadays. It just seems more intuitive for them.
I remember back in school, we learned about the seasons and why they happen, but it was all just rote memorization—you'd learn a definition, spit it back out on a test, and forget it by next year. I never really took the time to actually understand the mechanics of it; I just knew it had something to do with the sun and its position. Most people don't even think about it unless their kid asks a question😁
Initially, I tried Googling it, but I just kept running into those same dry, textbook definitions I grew up with. Then, I stumbled upon this amazing little video on YouTube that explains everything in twenty seconds. It’s one of those things you'll never forget once you see it😁

Oh, I believe you.
I run into that kind of "expertise" almost every single day, I guess.
It used to be that you'd just encounter the occasional person who was totally checked out or just completely lost in time and space, but that felt rare.
Now, over the last decade or so, it feels more like a full-blown epidemic of people just being utterly clueless.

Well, strike me blind if I’m wrong here, too.😁
People can't even tell you what the capital of Canada is. Most folks would bet their life savings that it's Maribor—mostly because they've heard of it on the way to Graz, which, by the way, is the capital of Austria.

Sarah Hall53 said:Or, honestly—better yet—when you actually say "Turkmenistan," people are going to burst out laughing because they'll think it’s some totally made-up place you just cooked up on the spot.

Turkmenistan, Zanzibar, Sri Lanka, Kazakhstan... they all feel like places invented just to confuse kids during geography class or to make a trivia game unnecessarily difficult.☕

Sarah Hall53 said:So, I was just scrolling through this teacher forum, and some colleagues who teach at a local high school were venting about how students—supposedly top-tier honors kids, like they have a 4.0 GPA or better—have absolutely no clue about basic history or geography. They’re talking about kids who have never even heard of Warsaw, or couldn't tell you which country Prague is in, stuff like that. And the scary part isn't just that it happened once; it’s that it’s becoming the norm. Back when I was in high school about twenty years ago, I remember one girl in my class who couldn't find Australia on a map, but she was one in twenty, you know? Not half the class. Now, apparently, it's most of them.
Am I being too dramatic if I consider this kind of stuff part of general knowledge? I mean, sure, you don't need to know it to survive, but shouldn't a student aiming for college—which is basically why you go to a prep school in the first place—have this baseline just to be well-rounded? I feel like we're way too small of a country to act like... well, like some people in the States sometimes do, where the attitude is basically, "If it isn't happening in my own backyard, I don't care."

not at all, you aren't overreacting.☕

it just seems to me that there are these incredibly loud groups today who constantly mock the very idea of "culture," opting instead to take the path of least resistance by making fun of distorted or caricatured facts—things that used to be taught in school but now seem to exist just for the sake of being mocked.
so, I guess we're left with entire generations of people who wouldn't even know where France sits on a map compared to the US, even when they're halfway through high school. 👏
of course, everyone will just blame the "failing education system," which feels like a convenient way to ignore the reality that this is actually the direct result of those massive curriculum reforms that, unfortunately, have already started taking their toll in certain subjects.
it’ll probably get even worse. much worse, I think.
maybe people won't even bother mentioning Turkmenistan, or maybe they won't even know the capital of England, because... well, who cares, right?🙄

Since we’re already drifting into geography talk...

What I’ve been noticing over the last decade or so is how all these various curriculum deconstructions, those "innovative" ultra-modern teaching techniques, and constant shifts in educational goals—all wrapped up in the spirit of those famous school reforms🙂 have basically led to a criminal lack of knowledge regarding even the most basic facts in this field.

It isn't just that kids can't list or point out Southeast Asia on a map, heaven forbid, along with some major capital cities there🙂, but rather high schoolers aren't always entirely sure where that part of the world—the Southeast, generally speaking—is actually located on the globe.🤦🤦

I’m not saying they need to memorize GDP figures and stuff like that, but I get this pretty strong impression that the reformers got a little too carried away with their own grand ideas.

I find myself constantly waiting for newer generations to prove me wrong, but the situation just seems to be getting worse and worse. It’s not just isolated cases where you could blame a single bad middle school teacher; this feels more like a widespread systemic issue.☕

Jason Ortiz5 said:That wasn't me making some sweeping generalization. I was talking directly to the people who couldn't wait to start throwing shade without even bothering to ask why. Honestly, I think it’s a bit ridiculous that anyone would question my right to have an opinion.

Well, you certainly have the right to your opinion, and you make it pretty clear what that is, I guess.
but maybe we could all just let others have their own views too, even if they happen to be the exact opposite of yours.
and if possible, perhaps we could try to keep the side comments to a minimum—you know, the ones where people start acting like "oh, they're just like me."

Jason Ortiz5 said:Google during a test? And in a class that isn't even computer science? Are we even living in the same country? I mean, half the time the laptops glitch out during actual tech class anyway...

It’s not like I’m misreading the situation here. It just honestly hurts my soul to watch kids engage in this mindless rote memorization that's basically designed to be forgotten the second the bell rings.

My gut feeling is that some educators are just resisting letting go of these totally pointless drills. It would clearly make their jobs way harder if they actually had to teach kids how to think logically or learn stuff that's actually useful in the real world.

Now, don't get me wrong—I don't think everyone is like that. My English teacher gives us assignments where we actually enjoy digging things up online, and the history teacher keeps us hooked with these cool extra facts that make you want to learn more. Same goes for German, and in English lit, we get to write these super creative essays... But yeah, some people just take the path of least resistance. I get it, though. Honestly, it's just easier that way.

Well, I suppose you shouldn't generalize quite like that:

Jason Ortiz5 said:Look, no matter what a parent posts in here, there’s always going to be a few folks—usually the academic types—ready to jump down your throat. Honestly, you guys can talk all you want, but I’m perfectly happy just watching our kids graduate from high school or college and actually land jobs. Seeing what our education system is actually churning out is enough for me.

The whole issue isn't about "Googling" things. Let’s be real, kids today are way faster at finding answers online than most of their teachers are. The problem is that dry, useless curriculum that exists just so they can cram it into their heads, pass a test, get a grade, and then immediately forget everything they learned.

I mean, obviously, "our education system" is responsible for everything.
If it didn't exist and we just left upbringing and schooling entirely up to the parents, America would probably be a total paradise.
In every possible sense, I guess.🙂

Jason Ortiz5 said:Look, no matter what a parent posts in here, there’s always going to be a few folks—usually the academic types—ready to jump down your throat. Honestly, you guys can talk all you want, but I’m perfectly happy just watching our kids graduate from high school or college and actually land jobs. Seeing what our education system is actually churning out is enough for me.

The whole issue isn't about "Googling" things. Let’s be real, kids today are way faster at finding answers online than most of their teachers are. The problem is that dry, useless curriculum that exists just so they can cram it into their heads, pass a test, get a grade, and then immediately forget everything they learned.

Sorry, but it seems like only parents and students view it that way.

nimblelynx7 said:It’s a hell of a lot easier to force kids to memorize stuff by rote than it is to actually make them understand what they're learning.

Why on earth would that—and for whom, really?—be any easier?

wanderingbadger44 said:Is it actually "nonsense" to teach a child how to Google something, or how to look up a fact in a textbook—like finding out that almost all of Turkmenistan, for example, is desert?

Sure, it’s much easier to play the victim of a "broken" school system and vent on a forum about how tragic it is that kids have to memorize the population density of some remote place like Truk... Turk... Turkmen... Turkmenistan (what even is that place, why does it even exist??!!11).

But hey, thanks for sharing the assignment so we could explain it to you. 🙂

there.
don't think I have anything else to add.

Jason Ortiz5 said:asap regarding geography: my daughter was cramming for her test yesterday, and since she likes to study out loud, I ended up catching some of it... For example, she had to memorize the population density of Kazakhstan. And then there were all these tongue-twisting, pointless facts designed just to see if you can memorize them.

I mean, seriously. Kazakhstan, plus the names of every single island, river, valley, mountain, and even the specific crops and main industrial exports for every tiny little corner of Asia... All in 6th grade. Or ever, really. I'm speechless. Aside from the obvious ones...

Could you please, just for once, provide the author and the specific textbook title where this is written, specifically the one that supposedly requires students to master this?🙂

rowdypanther12 said:So does that mean they can opt out of religious studies if, say, the kid decides they're an atheist now?

🤣
look, it might be worth a shot, I suppose.😁

Susan James said:I'm not surprised either, though it definitely makes me angry.
Because, if a school can just delay a child's entry because they don't have the space to house them (meaning instead of expanding classrooms or hiring more teachers, they just tell the kid they aren't "mature" or "ready" enough and dump all the responsibility on the parents 🙄), then it’s no wonder parents feel forced to jump through hoops to make sure their child starts at age eight. Given that context, it feels unfair to judge them for doing what they have to do.

To me, it sends a terrible message from the system. While I doubt this is the norm everywhere, I think it happens way more often than people realize—especially when a kid actually *needs* to start school, but the local district is short on students and is trying to fill seats.

Yeah, it definitely sends a bad message from the system.
but personally, I find it equally aggravating—the officials who refuse to build new schools, upgrade existing ones, or hire more staff, combined with the helicopter parents who exploit the situation without much cause.
No matter how you look at it, the actual purpose behind delaying enrollment gets completely lost, which I think is just really, really bad for everyone involved.

Susan James said:What do you mean by overcrowding at the school?
Do they have so many kids enrolling that they suggest deferrals for those on the edge of the age cutoff? 😕
So they'll just show up next year when there might be even more applicants? Or did they already defer 14 students last year, so now they need to defer another 14 just to balance the numbers? 😂

A parent who "insists" usually ends up exaggerating the situation, which isn't something you can really verify during a quick 15-minute screening (I sometimes wonder why these assessments aren't longer or more thorough...)
Trying to point them toward a second opinion is mostly a lost cause anyway. By the time a child goes in for an assessment in April or May, by the time they actually get an appointment at a clinic, they're already finishing the first semester or even the whole first grade.
So, yeah, it's a bit of a mess. 🤷
And for what it's worth, preschool opinions still don't seem to carry much weight. Since they're under orders from the School District to clear spots for new enrollments, they often skip over certain issues, meaning kids get enrolled without any deferral. In my opinion, that’s actually a bigger problem than the kids who actually do get their schooling delayed.

How did he finish without any trouble if he ended the year with anything less than a 4.0? 😕
Just one B on a report card sends a message that maybe he should have been deferred, and anything more than that suggests you've set him up for failure. 😬 🐔

whether you believe it or not—whenever there’s a year where the student count gets a bit overwhelming and they can't really manage it properly (you know, massive class sizes or just an inability to organize after-school care effectively)—they just start handing out deferrals whenever they feel like it.
in neighborhoods like that, I guess the schools stay somewhat "in sync" with the local preschools to get a rough idea of how many toddlers are coming their way, and they use that to adjust things if they absolutely have to.
plus, there's this general trend across the country toward declining birth rates, so maybe they're just hoping these delays won't totally mess up next year's numbers.

it's just the reality of dealing with a handful of older, underfunded schools and all that...
honestly, it doesn't surprise me one bit.🤷

northerncobra27 said:Well, I don't think it works quite like that. A single request for a delay is pretty much a non-issue on its own, but the real trouble seems to be that these requests are becoming increasingly common.
And the underlying issue is that these delays often seem to go hand-in-hand with helicopter parenting or parents having overly lofty ambitions for their kids. You constantly hear people complaining about children who are "too hyperactive." But honestly, what should seven-year-olds be like if they aren't energetic, full of life, and completely uninterested in sitting still for obligations? If we have to wait until they stop being spirited, until they can sit quietly in a desk for hours on end from day one and master everything their parents expect, then we might as well just wait a few more years and enroll thirty-year-olds in first grade. And even then, I bet you'd still find some worried parent making a fuss...

If these delays are truly happening as often as people say, we are essentially raising generations of people who lack basic competence—not because they are incapable, but because their own parents unintentionally stifle them by never actually trusting in their abilities. It feels like a broken system, coupled with that unfortunate social worker mentioned in the earlier posts, is working overtime to ensure that happens.

At the end of the day, the more of these unjustified delays we allow, the more we're actually depriving the children who truly, desperately need that extra time.

igzekli.👍