As teachers we are always asking our students to question their ideas, the ideas of their peers, and to question our instruction. It’s the complete opposite. Our classrooms are a place that fuels curiosity and allow children to explore the world through their own understanding and worldview.
Discussion
I don’t think teachers are being attacked, I think it’s the idea of schooling as sort of an industrial production line. Your classroom sounds like a pleasant learning experience, but unfortunately, more often than not, kids end up in schools and classrooms that don’t nurture their curiosity for various reasons, e.g class size, needing to “get through”curriculum, teaching for testing etc
It’s a fallacy. It’s not a production line. Every school is different, every classroom is different, and every teacher is different. Yes, the curriculum is the same, but we all bring our own personal philosophy to it.
Also, are you talking about private schools or government schools?
I’ve taught in both. Aboriginal schools too.
When children are forced to go to school and to follow a curriculum then they are having to conform - this is the production line. There are amazing teachers out there my whole family are teachers but the school system is founded on coercion
Come on. Coercion? Curriculum is used to coordinate efforts and to make sure jurisdictions are meeting certain thresholds. Conforming to what? Learning to think critically? Learning to read? To do arithmetic? Learning to use the inquiry method? Such horrible things to “conform” to.
Still coercion - do you like being coerced ? I don’t
How are my students, or my four children who attend school being coerced?
Strong words have implications
Coerce - to persuade (an unwilling person) to do something by using force or threats.
Is that what you think happens in schools?
Did they have a choice to go or not?
Of course.
In many countries homeschooling is outright banned and government forces children to go to school. For example, it is this way in Germany, Sweden, Norway, Austria, Greece, France, Finland, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Portugal and many others. In some of those places they literally take away your kids if you do not conform.
No coercion going on here… 😏
What about mandatory "Critical Race Theory" and "Sex Ed"? Do you think it is good that kids are required to learn that they somehow are oppressors or oppressed based on their skin color? Is it good that they are taught at an early about "gender identity" and that having gay sex is normal?
I have no idea what you’re fling about. I’ve never taught any of that in any school or classroom I’ve been in. Where I teach, nothing is “mandatory”.
Talking
I never said that you personally did. I just noticed that those are mandatory subjects in Canadian schools in response to you implying that nothing horrible is being taught to kids and mandatory curriculums are a good thing.
I can’t answer your question because I have no idea what those things are because I don’t teach them. I’ve seen them discussed in reference to some states in the US. They are not taught in the jurisdictions that I teach.
Interesting, you must not be teaching in Ontario then. https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-42/session-2/bill-67
Also, it seems that CRT is named differently in Canada, but the overall concept is still the same. Here is an article that explicitly talks about CRT being implemented in Canadian schools. https://slowtowrite.com/critical-race-theory-in-canadian-schools/
As for the Sex Ed, I am pretty sure it is being taught in all of the Canadian schools regardless of a province. Check this comparison out and keep in mind that it is from 2015. https://globalnews.ca/news/1847912/sexual-education-compared-across-canada/
I’m not. I’ll let you in on a little secret. Most teachers don’t care about “mandated” curriculum. It’s impossible to fit everything in and we are really good at weeding out the bullshit.
I doubt that teachers who specifically teach CRT and Sex Ed, somehow manage to leave everything from the curriculum out. Unless they manage to omit 100%, it is still incredibly harmful.
What’s wrong with sex ed?
I don't know, maybe teaching young kids that they can choose their gender and go mutilate their bodies in order to fit their new "gender identity"? Or showing them basically pornography and telling them (if not encouraging) that boys engaging in oral and anal sex with each other is completely normal? Maybe I am old fashioned, but I think it is completely inappropriate for strangers to talk about such things with kids under any circumstances.
When did they start teaching that? I’m out of the loop for many years now
🤷♂️
Weird that you as a teacher haven't heard about it. I get that you teach math, but you still supposedly should be more familiar with the school system than I am.
I would wager that I am. This is what I have been trying to say all night. Every classroom and every school and every school district is different. Every teacher is different.The curriculum is grey around the edges, and we tailor it to our students in the place we are teaching.
This has also been my observation from the limited time I was in classrooms as a district IT tech. Most teachers were passionate, and methods of teaching varied a lot.
You can pretend that this stuff is not being taught all you want, but it is a fact that these subjects are in the curriculum, the textbooks are actively being produced, bought and used in schools in many countries.
Differs from place to place, I can not tell you the exact year. It probably started in 2015 or even earlier and has been gaining major traction in many American and European countries since 2019.
Which schools? Because states have different curriculums.
Do you want me to name exact schools? I am afraid that is too much to ask. If you genuinely are interested in this subject I suggest you do your own research. You can also check out this article comparing Sex Ed curriculums in Canadian provinces. It is from 2015 and they already had gender identity included at that time. https://globalnews.ca/news/1847912/sexual-education-compared-across-canada/
Here are a couple examples of Sex Ed from UK and Switzerland.
Look, there is no denying that there are problems in our education system. There are bad teachers, there are bad curriculum designers, and there are bad schools/school districts. Unions protect bad teachers and most school districts are too top heavy, with more money being spent on administrators than in the classroom.
I entered this conversation because I don’t believe that they are “factories” producing “mindless” adults who can’t think for themselves and are being coerced to “conform” and that they are drillling out the curiosity of our children.
Homeschooling is a great option for many families, and many of my friends do it. I also know of many families who can’t, or don’t know how, to properly educate their children.
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Getting through is important below literacy level.
Where do you teach? In all of the schools that I am aware of students are only taught to remember someone else's ideas as if they are an ultimate truth by heart and are tasked to repeat them line by line.
Was wondering same thing - sounds like no school I’ve ever heard of and if it exists it’s amazing ❤️
Canada. I have taught in public schools, private schools, aboriginal schools and French immersion schools. Rote memorization is not the way we teach (for some thing yes, like memorizing multiplication tables)
What subject do you teach, if I may ask? In all of them except for maybe math or languages there is always some official narrative that is being pushed as an ultimate truth (even though often it is unsubstantiated). As in history, biology, economics.