How Much Of A Role Should Parents Have In Deciding Public School Curricula?

[Josie]

What's your point, as it relates to the subject of the thread?

I was responding to this reply:

Since when are library books, which students are free to check out and read or not, considered part of the "curriculum"?

 

[ttwtt78640]

Trump ensured that.

BS, that has been going on since long before Trump’s brief time in office and is continuing today.

 

[multivita-man]

BS, that has been going on since long before Trump’s brief time in office and is continuing today.

Yeah, truth is, we just tend not to value education, really. We've always valued practical skill over enlightenment, and we're going to pay a price for that in the end.

 

[ttwtt78640]

Yeah, truth is, we just tend not to value education, really. We've always valued practical skill over enlightenment, and we're going to pay a price for that in the end.

A K-12 education should be geared towards much more to teaching essential practical skills - that ‘enlightenment’ can (and should) mostly be done either at home or with further (secondary) education.

 

[multivita-man]

A K-12 education should be geared towards much more to teaching essential practical skills - that ‘enlightenment’ can (and should) mostly be done either at home or with further (secondary) education.

Slightly disagree. I do agree that there should be vocational training in high school. Things like welding, carpentry, plumbing, etc.

But there is a place for enlightenment. Math and other hard knowledge teaches an individual how to function in society. Social sciences teaches someone how to be an informed and responsible citizen.

 

[TXNormalGOP]

How much of a role should parents have in deciding public school curricula?

Major role
Moderate role
Minor role
No role whatsoever

Responses are private, so please be honest.

My parents never tried to influence the curriculum in any of my education and look at well I turned out!

Seriously though, this is a bait thread, in my opinion to attempt to demonstrate that "the left is trying to indoctrinate our kids to hate while, Christian people".

As long as homophobia and racism exists, there will be threads like this.

 

[BirdinHand]

A K-12 education should be geared towards much more to teaching essential practical skills - that ‘enlightenment’ can (and should) mostly be done either at home or with further (secondary) education.

At least here in my area of NJ - we have both.

There are outstanding technical schools that are very competitive for students to gain admission to.

These focus on very career specific education where students walk out with certifications necessary to start a career right out of high school.

 

[TXNormalGOP]

If the parent in question has an education get their input. These guns and jeezuz book banning types need to sit and and shut up.

I'm gonna go out "on a limb" here and declare that this thread is not going the way the OP expected.

 

[ttwtt78640]

Slightly disagree. I do agree that there should be vocational training in high school. Things like welding, carpentry, plumbing, etc.

But there is a place for enlightenment. Math and other hard knowledge teaches an individual how to function in society. Social sciences teaches someone how to be an informed and responsible citizen.

That depends entirely on what (political) viewpoints are deemed to be (politically) correct (by union teachers?) for their students to be considered “responsible citizens”.

 

[TXNormalGOP]

It's not sensible to buy a dog, and then bark yourself. Educators are hired to provide education. They are specialists in their field. Nobody hires a dentist, then pulls their own teeth with a doorknob and string.

If men had input into their doctor's care, prostate exams would never happen!

 

[BirdinHand]

If men had input into their doctor's care, prostate exams would never happen!

To be fair, mammograms and annual gyno exams aren't exactly a rip-roaring good time either.

 

[TXNormalGOP]

To be fair, mammograms and annual gyno exams aren't exactly a rip-roaring good time either.

Being the givers of life, women have more "moving parts". It's both a blessing and a curse. I think we should lobby for some kind of "appeal process". For example, when the urologist says, "ok, drop 'em and grab the table", I should be able to say, "I object and request a ruling!".

I think that's reasonable

 

[Gateman_Wen]

It seems to me that more danger (to our freedom) comes from those who seek to use government power to ban guns and “jeezuz books”.

As far as I know nobody is trying to ban jeezus books.

 

[multivita-man]

That depends entirely on what (political) viewpoints are deemed to be (politically) correct (by union teachers?) for their students to be considered “responsible citizens”.

Children should be exposed to contrarian viewpoints. I think high school kids should be familiar with the work of Ayn Rand and Milton Friedman just as much as they should be familiar with Karl Marx. They are influential thinkers. The point isn't to indoctrinate; it's to expose young minds to different ideas and to connect them with their own experiences. It's criminal that outside interest groups are deliberately lying and pushing a reactionary agenda in order to interfere with intellectual growth. The very thing that right wing groups are complaining about - indoctrination - is what they actually seek for themselves, quite often at the expense of historical and scientific fact.

 

[ttwtt78640]

At least here in my area of NJ - we have both.

There are outstanding technical schools that are very competitive for students to gain admission to.

These focus on very career specific education where students walk out with certifications necessary to start a career right out of high school.

I wasn’t addressing vocational training courses. I was addressing teaching basic reading comprehension, writing and math skills - as prerequisites to being ‘trainable’ for almost any vocation.

The following article notes (mainly) recent (COVID-19 policy related) drops in the outcomes of K-12 educational outcomes in math, but what is most alarming (to me) is the dismal (yet acceptable?) levels they were prior to that recent drop.

The nation’s average math score for fourth-graders fell by five points since 2019 (from 241 to 236, out of a possible 500). Eighth-graders’ national average math score dropped by eight points (from 282 to 274, out of a possible 500). Average reading scores for both grades fell, less dramatically, by three points. Scores in a group of large urban school districts fell by similar margins.

American test scores prompt 'a moment of truth' for schools

The “Nation’s Report Card” reveals steep declines in math and reading scores among U.S. fourth- and eighth-graders.

www.politico.com

 

[SkyChief]

I'm gonna go out "on a limb" here and declare that this thread is not going the way the OP expected.

You'd be wrong about that. . . VERY wrong.

You foolishly assumed that I had some agenda to prove here, but you are mistaken. I actually stole the poll question from a MSN poll which was aired on the same day. However the results of the MSN poll were very different than the results of this thread's poll. (most responded "moderate role" in the MSN poll)

I never intended it to go one way or another.

 

[DCCougar]

....other smut books include...

A few books on the shelves of the library does not a curriculum make.

BTW, should schools promote homophobia just because some parents are homophobes?

 

[j brown's body]

A K-12 education should be geared towards much more to teaching essential practical skills - that ‘enlightenment’ can (and should) mostly be done either at home or with further (secondary) education.

It should and must teach critical thinking skills.

 

[j brown's body]

I wasn’t addressing vocational training courses. I was addressing teaching basic reading comprehension, writing and math skills - as prerequisites to being ‘trainable’ for almost any vocation.

The following article notes (mainly) recent (COVID-19 policy related) drops in the outcomes of K-12 educational outcomes in math, but what is most alarming (to me) is the dismal (yet acceptable?) levels they were prior to that recent drop.

American test scores prompt 'a moment of truth' for schools

The “Nation’s Report Card” reveals steep declines in math and reading scores among U.S. fourth- and eighth-graders.

www.politico.com

Schools generally reflect what is going on in society, and more specifically, the community.

A school with low test scores in math and reading, like the one I teach in, have students who come from families that, while they may value education, don't understand how to go about getting it, or are unable to truly access it. In the first case, I would bet many of my students were never read to as little ones and aren't encouraged to read now. They know no one who does read. In the second case, many of these students work to support the family or take care of siblings while the parents work, leaving them less time to study.

Meanwhile, my school is staffed with amazing teachers.

 

[ttwtt78640]

Schools generally reflect what is going on in society, and more specifically, the community.

A school with low test scores in math and reading, like the one I teach in, have students who come from families that, while they may value education, don't understand how to go about getting it, or are unable to truly access it. In the first case, I would bet many of my students were never read to as little ones and aren't encouraged to read now. They know no one who does read. In the second case, many of these students work to support the family or take care of siblings while the parents work, leaving them less time to study.

Meanwhile, my school is staffed with amazing teachers.

Yet that (blame anyone and anything except the teachers) is being used an excuse by teachers to pass these obviously undereducated students along to the next grade level simply because they have aged a year.

While it’s not the fault of a grade level X teacher that many (most?) in their class can’t do grade level X-1 (or X-2) level assignments that’s not a valid reason (excuse) for pretending otherwise and giving them a passing grade for their ‘class participation’ (simply meeting minimum attendance requirements). That may be fine or those in the ‘special education’ programs, but not for those eventually handed (allegedly) ‘regular’ high school diplomas.

 

[noonereal]

How much of a role should parents have in deciding public school curricula?

Major role
Moderate role
Minor role
No role whatsoever

Responses are private, so please be honest.

Who the hell voted for a major roll?

I hope all these people have certificates in education.

People just don't know how much they don't know.

 

[noonereal]

Meanwhile, my school is staffed with amazing teachers.

LOL, I had to chuckle.

Yeah, all schools are packed with amazing teachers.... underpaid too.

So silly.

 

[ttwtt78640]

Who the hell voted for a major roll?

I hope all these people have certificates in education.

People just don't know how much they don't know.

What level would you consider the role of a parent who either sent their kid(s) to private schools or homeschooled them? If (when?) making that decision allowed them to get a voucher, thus defunding (transferring?) some amount from their local public school they would then have a ‘major’ role.

 

[Helix]

Any parent is free to homeschool. As for me, I don't want faux choosing the curriculum of the real school that my kids attend, which is effectively the premise of this thread.

 

[ttwtt78640]

Any parent is free to homeschool. As for me, I don't want faux choosing the curriculum of the real school that my kids attend, which is effectively the premise of this thread.

That’s not my view. See post #98.