hiddenscout44 said:The thing is, they're both right: why on earth would anyone do work they aren't getting paid for?
But then again, you look at professors today and they're basically just ghosts—they don't even do what we're actually paying them to do. Like, instead of teaching kids how to read, they just dump homework on us parents and expect us to be the tutors. I get that practice makes perfect, but why am I the one grinding with my kid when I’m already paying the school and the teachers to handle that during class hours? I remember back in elementary school, we had to practice reading during school time, and if you didn't nail it, your grade took a hit. My parents never sat down to drill me on reading (and yeah, my grades suffered because of it), but nowadays, it's totally standard for parents to have to teach everything at home. So what's the point of school then? It's honestly depressing that I have to tell my kid not to burn herself out over schoolwork—to learn what she can, sure, but not to obsess over the grades... because a GPA isn't some indicator of her actual worth or what she truly knows.
And while we're on the subject of religion, it sucks that those of us raised Christian—even though we've woken up from that sheep mentality—have to fight this battle against religious extremists ourselves. We're trying not to subject our kids to that brainwashing, while people from other faiths are basically playing dead and sending their kids to those classes just out of fear (I've seen it happen at my little girl's school)
You know what I find really interesting about this whole discussion?
There were two moms chiming in here whose kids take religious education classes.
One mom was very clear that she’d be furious if her child needed extra help learning, yet the teacher is using that religious ed period to give supplemental lessons in English to the non-religious students.
It feels like there’s zero sense of priority. We enroll our kids in school specifically for core academics where the teachers are experts, right? So, honestly, you shouldn't even be worrying about electives until you can read and write. A teacher should find a different time slot that works for everyone, leaving the other kids free during that period.
Or, let the kids go to their religious studies while the parent stays home to work with them, maybe hiring a private tutor or speech pathologist... which is basically what the second mom said. She’s actually happy her kid gets to attend religious ed at school because it provides opportunities she can't offer at home (🙄), and she’d much rather pay for a private speech therapist in the afternoon than ask the school therapist to pull her kid out of religious ed when the child is struggling with basic reading and writing.
Honestly, that doesn't seem right to me. If I saw an opening in the schedule, I’d prioritize the fundamentals first.
I mean, if we’re going along with the logic that
religious education was brought back to schools in the early 90s, then why not just move the schools into the church? Let the priests handle the academics since teachers are already underpaid anyway—at least then they might actually be doing something useful.
