Unthinking Majority wrote:Teachers should be teaching. They should not be involved in political activism, they should be apolitical. Especially public school teachers. So yes they should do what the government tells them. I assume you wouldn't want public teachers telling kids how great Trump is and how bad the Democrats were, or how bad abortion is? These teachers are definitely in the wrong.
I happen to think that if a parent is a religious and right wing fanatic they should go and either do homeschooling themselves or pay tuition at the many Christian private schools that exist in their states.
As for public school kids' educations? They need to avoid racist or biased literature or histories and be objective teachers in their subject matter. Present a vast and diverse point of view in history and social science.
Unfortunately in the past the schools often reflect the communities that are the most segregated. People wrongly assume that back in Little Rock High School in the fifties that forced integration that somehow most school districts are a good and balanced mix of children from all religions, races, classes and backgrounds. That is not true. To this day the US school system that is public reflects the tax bracket the local neighborhood is in. And it means? Wealthy school districts tend to be almost all white and low income districts tend to be all Latino or all Black. The diversity stuff is fiction.
if you want your kid to have progressive views? Discuss politics with them at home at the kitchen table.
I like the content of my kid's school. it is a private school that i pay for that is bilingual in English and Spanish. They teach him geography, art, science, math and reading in Spanish and reading in English too. They do computer and technology once a week. They have an exchange program once a week with a school in rural Japan and the Japanese kids are curious about how the Mexican kids schools teach their curriculum.
The parents are mostly well educated Mexican parents with a humble attitude and helpful to each other.
They have basketball, theater, dance, chess, and music lessons after regular school hours. The kids wear uniforms and they often teach them about Mayan culture and history and language.
I like that school. I picked it out for my son. Be in charge of your child's education folks. Don't think about throwing your kid in with the local public school without knowing what kind of education your kid is going to get there. Being uninvolved and not putting thought and energy behind how you are going to raise your children is irresponsible in the extreme.
In the USA my child's school was a public school. I also picked a dual immersion International Baccalaureate program school. Why? I really really believe in bilingual education and a strong art and science background for children. I will never tolerate a child of mine speaking, reading, and writing English only. Never and no way.
So? You are in charge of your child's education people. It is up to you. If you want your kid to be a racist idiotic bigoted redneck? You most probably will get that for them. If you want your kids to be conservative Christians who never opened a science book in their lifetimes? That is what you get. In the end? We got to share land, space, jobs, and public spaces in this world. And if all we know is an echo chamber? The problems we have with differences will be unresolved.
I believe in tons of foreign languages, reading religious texts of all major religions, reading science in massive amounts, dominating mathematics to calculus level for all or above, and learning geography, political science, history, government, and so on, including world history. A really top-notch education. FOR EVERYONE. Not just the ones who can afford to pay.
AFAIK a lot of parents in the USA are not really educated themselves. Even the liberals rarely speak foreign languages fluently and or are literate in science with any real discipline. Many that are religious never study other religions besides the one they grew up with. So as far as I know? Calling those people educated? Is a stretch.