For this iteration I will exclude discussions involving college or college admissions. There has been a lot of that since the last time I did one of these, along with much that I need to be careful with lest I go out of my intended scope. It makes sense to do that as its own treatment another day.
The Woke Kindergarten looks like satire at this point.
Tracking should come with the ability to move up at multiple levels. So it's not just like, one test in 5th grade (or one teacher's rec) determines whether you basically get to go to college or med school. More like na honors program you can test into in any year.
The punishing of those who defend themselves is a microcosm of enforcing strict rules on the law abiding and letting criminals go free, and is a grave injustice.
> I would also note the dramatically difference between socializing in 10th grade versus 12th grade, which I was not previously aware of. Wow.
My guess (and experience) is that this jump is primarily due to teens getting cars and being able to drive themselves when and where they want to socialize. I’m curious if the jump is different in walkable cities vs suburbs.
For the "Mathematics" subsection, Paul Lockhart is a phenomenal writer about the topic, both A Mathematicians Lament, and Measurement. Best work Ive seen about what it could mean to really "do math" in school.
On the math portion - are you familiar with the work of L. P. Benezet?
"For some years I had noted that the effect of the early introduction of arithmetic had been to dull and almost chloroform the child's reasoning facilities." All that drill, he claimed, had divorced the whole realm of numbers and arithmetic, in the children's minds, from common sense, with the result that they could do the calculations as taught to them, but didn't understand what they were doing and couldn't apply the calculations to real-life problems. He believed that if arithmetic were not taught until later on—preferably not until seventh grade—the kids would learn it with far less effort and greater understanding.
I had a super long response to the bullying stuff, but then I realized Shakespeare said it way better "A coward dies a thousand times before his death, but the valiant taste of death but once.".
Anyone that's been bullied should be able to reflect on the above, and think about how much better it would feel if instead they made an immediate proportional response. Immediate: you cannot wait to fight back. It's not self-defense if the kid is walking away or has stopped swinging. Proportional: you've gotta respond to the offense that is offered now, not the previous string.
Of course, paired with this is you've got to stop whatever behaviors are marking you out as "the kid to be bullied".
This often seems hard to implement. Teaching/modeling a proportional and immediate response. Tolerating it when your kids brawl so long as they keep it reasonable/proportional/immediate. Modeling and rewarding them for having a stiff upper lip vs whining about bumps and scrapes and dings. Teaching them to have behaviors that make them less of a target (and rewarding them when they do this/punishing them when they don't).
You don't have to go full Koch Brothers with boxing gloves in the basement/man-o-sphere insanity. Redwall is fantastic literature from this perspective, as is Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Narnia (Three Ninjas if you want a movie rec).
Probably have to buck a lot more modern trends when it comes to creating kids that, to be blunt, aren't nebbish dweebs. Teach your kid that they can be smart and nerdy, without being a cringing tattletale. If your kid is getting bullied and you read this going "what should I do now?", then I would suggest that Charles Atlas/Daniel-san LaRusso offer a better outcome than hoping that human nature changes, kids get kind or school administrators suddenly find time to stop shuffling papers and start cracking bully-heads.\
EDIT: Also adding a link to this incredible JM Blakley segment on building confidence which (real confidence) is massively linked the bullying issue.
Re; bullying.. yes, this is the dynamic. But maybe you just arent hurting the bully seriously enough/
Like, if you just hit him he'll start a fight like that over and over just to cause you trouble, as the small injury is insufficient dett]erent.
Personally, never got trouble again from the two school bullies after (separate occasion, for each) i gave them a serious enough beat down to put them in the Emergency Room. NB: way more force than just punching someone in the face.
====
Though, as a guy, there's a strange bluff dynamic going one here. I have to convince random other guy that if he attacks me, there is a serious possibility that I might take his life, Which may or may not be true. And also, I'm tryig to convince others that I'm not the kind of guy that would do that...
"Also, we're far more likely to punish generally rule-abiding people who break one rule than we are to punish someone who keeps breaking the rules." It's debatable whether 'rule-abiding' people are punished more harshly for minor infractions than habitual 'offenders'. Consider the impact of "three strikes" laws, which disproportionately punishes non-violent crimes with harsh sentences. Also, think about "white-collar crime" and its effects on the fabric of society. This type of stuff raises significant concerns about fairness and justice in our legal system, and I respectfully disagree with your statement.
“A "trauma-informed" approach to active shooter drills would be…” I agree. Active shooter drills, while designed for safety, can cause significant psychological distress.
"Woke kindergarten" is something I support (especially for the types of reasons stated in the article, such as being generally anti-police, anti-racism, and challenging the status quo, including the Supreme Court, etc.) even if my children's test scores go down. Introducing socially conscious education in early childhood, often referred to as "woke kindergarten," has benefits beyond conventional academic outcomes. Understanding complex social dynamics from a young age can foster empathy and awareness, which leads to a more just society. The trade-off in test scores, if any, is an investment in cultivating well-rounded, socially responsible individuals (not, for example, sociopathic techies or sociopathic jocks as in Silicon Valley or Wall Street, respectively).
“Student tracking” Student tracking segregates by perceived academic ability, which prevents diverse interactions that foster personal growth and empathy among students. My personal experience suggests that a non-tracked educational environment allows for more holistic development by exposing children (or teenagers or young adults) to a variety of peers. Nerds need to hang out and interact with the tough ("thuggish") kids and the normal ("normies") kids.
“Seattle has ended all of its gifted and talented programs.”. 'Gifted programs' should reflect the diversity of our society. This requires proactive efforts to identify and support potential from all ethnic groups, ensuring that no demographic is sidelined due to systemic bias or socioeconomic barriers (or cultural biases, see below). For example, many Black and Latino families may face systemic economic barriers that limit their ability to support their children's educational opportunities in the same way as other families; while the emphasis on academic rigor in some Asian communities is honorable, a balanced approach that develops well-rounded individuals is more equitable and beneficial for all children (and future adults), ensuring that every child has the opportunity to succeed in a variety of ways beyond academics. A diverse educational environment enriches learning and reflects the real-world social fabric, preparing students for broader societal interaction. Academic approaches and academia in general raise subverted individuals. Subverted adults could be the path to dystopia (controlling AGI, to name a few). On the other hand, we might agree that being less educated makes you more vulnerable to the ills of modern society (e.g., gambling, being phished, social media addiction, superficiality, etc.). I belive that we need more good troublemakers in society. The way to go from troublemakers to good troublemakers when it comes to Black and Latino kids is literally equity and inclusivity --> I can attest to this. I was a proud troublemaker in high school and can be considered a 'good troublemaker' as an adult → I did not benefit from any kind of DEI program, but I can see how some Latino and Black kids would benefit since many of them are less privileged than I was.
P.S. To increase accessibility and inclusion, consider including screenshots of relevant Twitter discussions in your newsletter. This would ensure that all readers, regardless of their social media usage, can fully engage with the topics being discussed.
I wonder how many folks reading this post feel like high school was a complete waste of time for them and wish they’d just went to college at age 13-14? I guess I could’ve also went to a specialized school with a very difficult curriculum but that wasn’t available in my area and also seems like finishing college by age 18 is a better alternative.
The idea that kids are prevented from working jobs in the US seems like a total strawman to me. Coming from Europe, the age and rate at which kids seem be working jobs instead of enjoying being kids in this country are pretty low and high, respectively. So many college kids have full time jobs and some have had them in high school and nobody seems to grasp how absurd that is. Even part time jobs add up quickly. I’ve seen many successful students working multiple jobs during college but that is not a safe recipe for everyone if you want to make the most of your college experience if you can afford it. Summer jobs and small jobs in high school are probably fine, though don’t underestimate teenagers’ need for rest, sleep, self discovery, play, fucking around. None of that is infantilisation. But if anything, American kids seem to have been indoctrinated into the religion of work. I just don’t think it’s remotely plausible that there’s a culture of discouraging kids from working jobs in the US. Or I have yet to see evidence of it.
The unions and flexible pay result is upon reflection unsurprising; what it reveals is how much teachers are paying (foregoing) for job security, and how much schools are charging (not paying) them for it.
> If you attend most of the classes and are non-disruptive, and are plausibly trying during that time, then we cut you a lot of slack and make it very hard to fail. If you do not attend most of the classes, then nothing bad happens to you automatically, but you are doing that At Your Own Risk. We will no longer save you if you do not pass the tests.
I'm pretty sure your description of the optimal way to handle truancy is how my company is handling remote work. They tell you you're supposed to come in most of the time, and that there will be dire consequences for not doing so, but in practice it's not made an issue unless you're also underperforming.
Something I have wanted to ask for a long time ... girls bullying has a different pattern, I think/
Like, with boys ...
= only a couple of bullies are going to attack you
- everyone else thinks this is really poor behavior on the part of the bully
- but they dont dare help you for fear of becoming victims themselves
- well, the others might help you by getting a weapon to you when the bully comes after you ("hey, you can have my knife") .. this may vary from school to school as to acceptability of weapons
The book censorship debate is seriously confused. People lose their minds when DeSantis and co "ban" left-wing books, but this obviously isn't a principled opposition to book censorship. It's just that the books that these people hate never even make it in libraries and curricula in the first place. People like DeBoer make a lot of very dumb arguments about this being evidence that conservatives "hate free speech", but how many miliseconds would it take for 'The Bell Curve' to be banned from a school if a teacher prescribed it to their students? Easy to be against 'banning books' when the books you hate never make it through the front door in the first place.
Too many people are looking at schools wrong, and the viewpoint matters. They are asking 'what did the schools teach' making the schools responsible for the student's learning. They should be asking 'what did the schools provide the student the opportunity to learn?' It is the responsibility of the student to learn - and it is the responsibility of the school to provide an appropriate learning environment - and that means one free of excessive disruption and intimidation.
My youngest daughter was (is) on the spectrum and realiized immediately that she HATED middle school. I told her that if she was willing to work very hard, we could minimize it. I jumped her in math so she took pre-algebra in 6th grade and high school algebra in 7th grade (I and numerous other parents drove our kids to the high school for the first class of the day for Math and then took our kids to the Middle School). In 7th grade I had her doing about 50% online classes - which she just burned through. And then I had her do Geometry by correspondence over the summer after 7th grade (she asked me lots of questions and I had not done Geometry in 50 years). Then she jumped 8th grade and went to high school - and I gave the principal hell ' we are doing her education my way'. I had her do pre-Calculus by correspondence over the summer after 9th grade so that she could do College Calculus in 10th grade. We had planned on her doing Running start after 10th grade, but she dropped out and went to the University where she did her engineering degree. Her brother, who is not quite as mathematically gifted did the Running Start route.
Both kids found me frustrating in math - I told them that they had to learn things my way as well as the way the teacher was teaching them. Later, when they came to me with other questions I would say - do you remember how I taught you to do long division (or multiplication)? You can handle complex numbers or polynomials the same way.....
Too often school administrators or researchers think that some new idea is working fine without any idea that the more educated parents are making sure that their kids learn it independently of the current idiocy that the school is pushing. And yes, I do remember the 'new math' that Tom Leherer satirized.
School idiocy and chaos cause educated parents to supplement, home school, or shift to private schools. My eldest daughter in Atlanta has shifted to private schools due to Atlanta dropping their college prep track.
Exciting! Thank you for this roundup!
The Woke Kindergarten looks like satire at this point.
Tracking should come with the ability to move up at multiple levels. So it's not just like, one test in 5th grade (or one teacher's rec) determines whether you basically get to go to college or med school. More like na honors program you can test into in any year.
The punishing of those who defend themselves is a microcosm of enforcing strict rules on the law abiding and letting criminals go free, and is a grave injustice.
> I would also note the dramatically difference between socializing in 10th grade versus 12th grade, which I was not previously aware of. Wow.
My guess (and experience) is that this jump is primarily due to teens getting cars and being able to drive themselves when and where they want to socialize. I’m curious if the jump is different in walkable cities vs suburbs.
For the "Mathematics" subsection, Paul Lockhart is a phenomenal writer about the topic, both A Mathematicians Lament, and Measurement. Best work Ive seen about what it could mean to really "do math" in school.
As a current public school teacher raised according to an unschooling philosophy... I have a new favorite Substack
Do you send your kids to school or homeschool?
On the math portion - are you familiar with the work of L. P. Benezet?
"For some years I had noted that the effect of the early introduction of arithmetic had been to dull and almost chloroform the child's reasoning facilities." All that drill, he claimed, had divorced the whole realm of numbers and arithmetic, in the children's minds, from common sense, with the result that they could do the calculations as taught to them, but didn't understand what they were doing and couldn't apply the calculations to real-life problems. He believed that if arithmetic were not taught until later on—preferably not until seventh grade—the kids would learn it with far less effort and greater understanding.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-learn/201003/when-less-is-more-the-case-teaching-less-math-in-school
I had a super long response to the bullying stuff, but then I realized Shakespeare said it way better "A coward dies a thousand times before his death, but the valiant taste of death but once.".
Anyone that's been bullied should be able to reflect on the above, and think about how much better it would feel if instead they made an immediate proportional response. Immediate: you cannot wait to fight back. It's not self-defense if the kid is walking away or has stopped swinging. Proportional: you've gotta respond to the offense that is offered now, not the previous string.
Of course, paired with this is you've got to stop whatever behaviors are marking you out as "the kid to be bullied".
This often seems hard to implement. Teaching/modeling a proportional and immediate response. Tolerating it when your kids brawl so long as they keep it reasonable/proportional/immediate. Modeling and rewarding them for having a stiff upper lip vs whining about bumps and scrapes and dings. Teaching them to have behaviors that make them less of a target (and rewarding them when they do this/punishing them when they don't).
You don't have to go full Koch Brothers with boxing gloves in the basement/man-o-sphere insanity. Redwall is fantastic literature from this perspective, as is Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Narnia (Three Ninjas if you want a movie rec).
Probably have to buck a lot more modern trends when it comes to creating kids that, to be blunt, aren't nebbish dweebs. Teach your kid that they can be smart and nerdy, without being a cringing tattletale. If your kid is getting bullied and you read this going "what should I do now?", then I would suggest that Charles Atlas/Daniel-san LaRusso offer a better outcome than hoping that human nature changes, kids get kind or school administrators suddenly find time to stop shuffling papers and start cracking bully-heads.\
EDIT: Also adding a link to this incredible JM Blakley segment on building confidence which (real confidence) is massively linked the bullying issue.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCy3V5SuQio&t=4418s
Re; bullying.. yes, this is the dynamic. But maybe you just arent hurting the bully seriously enough/
Like, if you just hit him he'll start a fight like that over and over just to cause you trouble, as the small injury is insufficient dett]erent.
Personally, never got trouble again from the two school bullies after (separate occasion, for each) i gave them a serious enough beat down to put them in the Emergency Room. NB: way more force than just punching someone in the face.
====
Though, as a guy, there's a strange bluff dynamic going one here. I have to convince random other guy that if he attacks me, there is a serious possibility that I might take his life, Which may or may not be true. And also, I'm tryig to convince others that I'm not the kind of guy that would do that...
"Also, we're far more likely to punish generally rule-abiding people who break one rule than we are to punish someone who keeps breaking the rules." It's debatable whether 'rule-abiding' people are punished more harshly for minor infractions than habitual 'offenders'. Consider the impact of "three strikes" laws, which disproportionately punishes non-violent crimes with harsh sentences. Also, think about "white-collar crime" and its effects on the fabric of society. This type of stuff raises significant concerns about fairness and justice in our legal system, and I respectfully disagree with your statement.
“A "trauma-informed" approach to active shooter drills would be…” I agree. Active shooter drills, while designed for safety, can cause significant psychological distress.
"Woke kindergarten" is something I support (especially for the types of reasons stated in the article, such as being generally anti-police, anti-racism, and challenging the status quo, including the Supreme Court, etc.) even if my children's test scores go down. Introducing socially conscious education in early childhood, often referred to as "woke kindergarten," has benefits beyond conventional academic outcomes. Understanding complex social dynamics from a young age can foster empathy and awareness, which leads to a more just society. The trade-off in test scores, if any, is an investment in cultivating well-rounded, socially responsible individuals (not, for example, sociopathic techies or sociopathic jocks as in Silicon Valley or Wall Street, respectively).
“Student tracking” Student tracking segregates by perceived academic ability, which prevents diverse interactions that foster personal growth and empathy among students. My personal experience suggests that a non-tracked educational environment allows for more holistic development by exposing children (or teenagers or young adults) to a variety of peers. Nerds need to hang out and interact with the tough ("thuggish") kids and the normal ("normies") kids.
“Seattle has ended all of its gifted and talented programs.”. 'Gifted programs' should reflect the diversity of our society. This requires proactive efforts to identify and support potential from all ethnic groups, ensuring that no demographic is sidelined due to systemic bias or socioeconomic barriers (or cultural biases, see below). For example, many Black and Latino families may face systemic economic barriers that limit their ability to support their children's educational opportunities in the same way as other families; while the emphasis on academic rigor in some Asian communities is honorable, a balanced approach that develops well-rounded individuals is more equitable and beneficial for all children (and future adults), ensuring that every child has the opportunity to succeed in a variety of ways beyond academics. A diverse educational environment enriches learning and reflects the real-world social fabric, preparing students for broader societal interaction. Academic approaches and academia in general raise subverted individuals. Subverted adults could be the path to dystopia (controlling AGI, to name a few). On the other hand, we might agree that being less educated makes you more vulnerable to the ills of modern society (e.g., gambling, being phished, social media addiction, superficiality, etc.). I belive that we need more good troublemakers in society. The way to go from troublemakers to good troublemakers when it comes to Black and Latino kids is literally equity and inclusivity --> I can attest to this. I was a proud troublemaker in high school and can be considered a 'good troublemaker' as an adult → I did not benefit from any kind of DEI program, but I can see how some Latino and Black kids would benefit since many of them are less privileged than I was.
P.S. To increase accessibility and inclusion, consider including screenshots of relevant Twitter discussions in your newsletter. This would ensure that all readers, regardless of their social media usage, can fully engage with the topics being discussed.
I wonder how many folks reading this post feel like high school was a complete waste of time for them and wish they’d just went to college at age 13-14? I guess I could’ve also went to a specialized school with a very difficult curriculum but that wasn’t available in my area and also seems like finishing college by age 18 is a better alternative.
The idea that kids are prevented from working jobs in the US seems like a total strawman to me. Coming from Europe, the age and rate at which kids seem be working jobs instead of enjoying being kids in this country are pretty low and high, respectively. So many college kids have full time jobs and some have had them in high school and nobody seems to grasp how absurd that is. Even part time jobs add up quickly. I’ve seen many successful students working multiple jobs during college but that is not a safe recipe for everyone if you want to make the most of your college experience if you can afford it. Summer jobs and small jobs in high school are probably fine, though don’t underestimate teenagers’ need for rest, sleep, self discovery, play, fucking around. None of that is infantilisation. But if anything, American kids seem to have been indoctrinated into the religion of work. I just don’t think it’s remotely plausible that there’s a culture of discouraging kids from working jobs in the US. Or I have yet to see evidence of it.
The unions and flexible pay result is upon reflection unsurprising; what it reveals is how much teachers are paying (foregoing) for job security, and how much schools are charging (not paying) them for it.
> If you attend most of the classes and are non-disruptive, and are plausibly trying during that time, then we cut you a lot of slack and make it very hard to fail. If you do not attend most of the classes, then nothing bad happens to you automatically, but you are doing that At Your Own Risk. We will no longer save you if you do not pass the tests.
I'm pretty sure your description of the optimal way to handle truancy is how my company is handling remote work. They tell you you're supposed to come in most of the time, and that there will be dire consequences for not doing so, but in practice it's not made an issue unless you're also underperforming.
Something I have wanted to ask for a long time ... girls bullying has a different pattern, I think/
Like, with boys ...
= only a couple of bullies are going to attack you
- everyone else thinks this is really poor behavior on the part of the bully
- but they dont dare help you for fear of becoming victims themselves
- well, the others might help you by getting a weapon to you when the bully comes after you ("hey, you can have my knife") .. this may vary from school to school as to acceptability of weapons
On the other hand .. mean girls
The book censorship debate is seriously confused. People lose their minds when DeSantis and co "ban" left-wing books, but this obviously isn't a principled opposition to book censorship. It's just that the books that these people hate never even make it in libraries and curricula in the first place. People like DeBoer make a lot of very dumb arguments about this being evidence that conservatives "hate free speech", but how many miliseconds would it take for 'The Bell Curve' to be banned from a school if a teacher prescribed it to their students? Easy to be against 'banning books' when the books you hate never make it through the front door in the first place.
Too many people are looking at schools wrong, and the viewpoint matters. They are asking 'what did the schools teach' making the schools responsible for the student's learning. They should be asking 'what did the schools provide the student the opportunity to learn?' It is the responsibility of the student to learn - and it is the responsibility of the school to provide an appropriate learning environment - and that means one free of excessive disruption and intimidation.
My youngest daughter was (is) on the spectrum and realiized immediately that she HATED middle school. I told her that if she was willing to work very hard, we could minimize it. I jumped her in math so she took pre-algebra in 6th grade and high school algebra in 7th grade (I and numerous other parents drove our kids to the high school for the first class of the day for Math and then took our kids to the Middle School). In 7th grade I had her doing about 50% online classes - which she just burned through. And then I had her do Geometry by correspondence over the summer after 7th grade (she asked me lots of questions and I had not done Geometry in 50 years). Then she jumped 8th grade and went to high school - and I gave the principal hell ' we are doing her education my way'. I had her do pre-Calculus by correspondence over the summer after 9th grade so that she could do College Calculus in 10th grade. We had planned on her doing Running start after 10th grade, but she dropped out and went to the University where she did her engineering degree. Her brother, who is not quite as mathematically gifted did the Running Start route.
Both kids found me frustrating in math - I told them that they had to learn things my way as well as the way the teacher was teaching them. Later, when they came to me with other questions I would say - do you remember how I taught you to do long division (or multiplication)? You can handle complex numbers or polynomials the same way.....
Too often school administrators or researchers think that some new idea is working fine without any idea that the more educated parents are making sure that their kids learn it independently of the current idiocy that the school is pushing. And yes, I do remember the 'new math' that Tom Leherer satirized.
School idiocy and chaos cause educated parents to supplement, home school, or shift to private schools. My eldest daughter in Atlanta has shifted to private schools due to Atlanta dropping their college prep track.