It could be tough if a kid feels left behind at preschool because all their friends moved on to kindergarten, or if they feel like they're being held back as punishment or due to some perceived shortcoming.
I don't see anything wrong with keeping a child in preschool until they're 7.5 years old, though I suppose it might get a bit boring if all their friends move on to elementary school. My approach would be based on whether the kid actually feels ready for school and if there's anyone left to play with at the preschool. If they're lonely, I'd enroll them in school; if they still have a social circle, I'd let them stay.
If she really doesn't have the guts to speak up, she should just tell her parents to reach out to the principal or a counselor instead. Whenever a client comes to me complaining about someone and asking for advice, I usually just give them my boss's office number. If I happen to know the person they're upset with, I’ll suggest they focus their complaint on the specific work performance, though I'll probably tell them to tread lightly. 🤷 I'm just lucky my kid already knows how to say, "I don't have to do this, Mom said I don't have to." 😂 Then they can just come talk to me, and I'll sort everything out with them. 🙂
Dana Roberts4 said:I’m trying to put myself in that teacher's shoes, facing the question of why on earth the duty teachers are hassling kids just because they didn't finish their lunch... And honestly? What does she even know?! Some random colleague somewhere decided food shouldn't go to waste... But what is she supposed to tell the parents? Make them happy while their precious little ones stay untouched, all without throwing a coworker under the bus? She doesn't even know who's involved, if the claim is even true, or why that guy acted like such a jerk in the first place... 🤷 I was expecting questions about things actually within her jurisdiction, not stuff that's completely out of her control or knowledge... It's the same deal with extracurriculars. Like, if a colleague wants to run a drama club—what is she actually supposed to do or even suggest right now? 🤔
for example I don't know, I feel bad saying this, but I'll look into what kind of authoritarian methods were used and who was behind it so we can stop it; I'll update you all at the next meeting regarding what was found.
I never really struggled with the required reading; I actually enjoyed even the stuff most people find annoying. My only gripe was that Romanticism felt a bit overly sentimental, but it was manageable. What I find truly baffling, though, is how contemporary literature is completely ignored. Instead, there's this constant push toward these incredibly long, tedious classics. I’m not sure how things are handled in schools these days, but I honestly think it would be better to let kids have some agency—let them choose whatever they want from that era, or at least offer a few alternative options.
So, are you saying someone who isn't into assigned reading automatically hates quotes? 😂 I mean, looking at the choices you made—picking Faulkner over Proust—it wasn't just a bad call, it was a total disaster. 🤷
In my opinion, required reading should be about sparking a love for books, not just forcing kids to study more stuff they already covered in class. I’m talking about elementary schoolers here; high schoolers should probably just grit their teeth and finish what they don't feel like reading 😁
To be honest, I have no clue what the current reading list looks like, but from what I saw a few years back, they seem way better than they were when I was in school 😁
Personal preferences aside, I think elementary school reading lists should focus on helping kids actually fall in love with reading—making it accessible while gradually broadening their horizons. By high school, the goal should be tackling the classics and truly significant works. Whether we personally enjoy them or not, you can't really argue a position on something you haven't actually read 😁 . Unfortunately, for most people, assigned school readings will likely be the only books they ever finish, especially if you don't count the stuff picked up at a drugstore or airport kiosk.
Do your kids know how to draft a formal complaint to the water department in Word, build a budget in Excel, or put together a PowerPoint presentation? If they can, great. If not, then they’ve got plenty to learn from an "expert" IT professor like me.
All I can really say is what my own dermatologists and estheticians have told me: you need to stick to much gentler products. Anything too harsh just strips the top layer of your skin and ends up making things worse. If you don't have a dermatologist nearby, it might be worth taking her to a high-end spa specialist instead.
😂😂😂😂😂 I think I could actually tackle this one... though I’ve never 🤣🤣🤣 . Honestly, whenever I’ve taken IQ tests where math and logic were involved, my scores always ended up being way lower than even people with significant 😂 .
But why would it take years? 🤷 You can see things become very clear and obvious within the first year or so. Honestly, this elitist attitude toward education is exactly what landed us where we are today.
I’m being completely serious here. Go ahead and enroll—if you can keep up with the curriculum, great; if not, you can always switch to a less demanding school. The same goes for universities. Education should be accessible to anyone who actually wants it.
Nicholas King said:First off, we started this whole discussion talking about "ruining an entire generation's future," and somehow—I don't know how—we've drifted into much milder territory.
Secondly—and this is the part that actually matters—I still haven't received a straight answer to my simple question: what is the fair and just way to handle kids who, for one reason or another, completely slack off during middle school? Every single time someone gets into a high school they didn't earn through their own merit, it means some other kid—who actually earned that spot with their hard work—gets pushed out. But, well, let's be honest, not everyone has parents with deep pockets or political connections.
There are certain academies where you can get in with lower scores. There are vocational schools where a "reformed" student can independently prepare for the SATs. There are ways to fix this—it’s just that, more often than not, it seems people would rather just pretend the middle school screw-ups never happened and sweep them under the rug...
What about the three-year programs? And do you honestly think a 15 or 16-year-old is capable of teaching themselves advanced placement material? 😕Especially subjects their specific school doesn't even offer. 🤷 We shouldn't just ignore the problem, but we shouldn't create a barrier that almost nobody can overcome either. And why couldn't everyone go to a preparatory academy if they wanted to? 🤷 That’s how it used to be a long time ago. If someone wants to try, let them, and if they can't hack it, they can switch to a less demanding school later. Besides, not everyone wants to aim for a top-tier academy anyway. 🤷
Man, if I’d just been among those top four students with all those honor roll certificates and awards, things might have gone differently 😂 I'm mostly kidding, but honestly, back in high school, I saw firsthand what happens when you mess up at thirteen or fourteen. And while Nicholas King says he doesn't really know which kids end up ruining their own prospects, I actually know quite a few. Even more than that, I know plenty of people who had parents who made some poor life choices early on, leading them to enroll in schools they didn't even have the grades for—but then those kids actually pulled themselves together during high school and started working hard.
(I don't love the phrase "ruining your future" because life is about so much more than just a career or a job, but it definitely limits your options and narrows your path)
He mentioned that it’s definitely better for a high school to see all four years of schooling rather than just two. If you’re looking strictly at GPA (rather than actual knowledge), a school gets a much more realistic view of a student's progress over time if they look beyond just the last two years.
On one hand, kids can totally hit a wall during their teenage years and let everything they worked hard for slide, while others might finally find their footing just as high school applications are due.
There are so many students who arrive for tutoring in 7th or 8th grade without even knowing the basics, like reading comprehension or multiplication tables, just to try and save their grade and boost their average. I really want to believe that kids will start waking up earlier and making up for those "lost" moments before it's too late.
4.2 😳 🤣 I won't even bother mentioning 7; the only thing worse than that score is his number of absences (though they might be justified, sending love to you, Doc)😂😂
That’s actually why I think this approach works better—having one bad year only account for 25% instead of 50% feels much fairer. Personally, I would have preferred being judged on my junior and senior years, where I barely scraped by with a C, rather than just looking at my freshman year and my later grades where I really struggled.😂
But honestly, there should be a way for students to pivot whenever they want. If they realize their current path isn't working, they should be able to switch majors and head in a new direction if they have the drive. It used to feel like there was more flexibility here to balance school with a job, which gave people a real chance to pursue an education or change careers even into their 30s, no matter how tough things got. With the way the current credit system is set up, that kind of work-study balance is pretty much gone.
Nicholas King said:"Ruin their entire future"? Really? Is that what we're doing now? I mean, apparently, if a kid isn't a straight-A student by fifth grade, it’s written in the stars that they’re destined to spend their life stocking shelves at a Walmart?
Where are all these kids who supposedly "ruined their lives" back in middle school? Are they being kept in some sort of basement somewhere so we don't have to look at them?
This whole idea—that a bit of childhood mischief or playing around effectively nukes your entire destiny—is everywhere, yet I have never once heard a single concrete example of a child who actually "found themselves" later in life. And I don't just mean someone who finally decided to stop slacking off; I mean someone who truly made up for lost ground (actually worked their way up through higher education), only to be systematically blocked from succeeding by some broken American educational system.
Well, if my mom hadn't been able to afford community college, I would've been one of those cases. The system makes it so tough because balancing work and college while trying to be independent is brutal. And now, let's say the way credits transfer makes working while studying almost impossible. 🤷 Sure, anything is possible—if a girl living on the streets managed to get into Harvard, then hey, we can all major in molecular biology while working a shift at Target. But let's be real: a kid who falls behind in elementary school—whether it’s due to puberty, being too playful, bullying, or any other reason under the sun—faces massive, often insurmountable obstacles.
Things might actually be looking up now. A bad grade back in middle school doesn't weigh nearly as much as it used to—it’s more like a small bump in the road rather than half of your entire GPA.