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The MARKET does not DEMAND booksmart KNOW IT ALLS. Why aren't you teaching kids REAL WORLD skills like how to do TAXES and write RESUMES and operate MACHINERY
/s
I'm so fucking sick of bootlicking Luddites thinking that the sole purpose of their children's education is to mould them into fleshbots to be consumed like disposable batteries. Depleted, tossed aside and favourably looked upon for hanging in there and paying plenty of taxes like a good little citizen as though that somehow constitutes a life well lived
I mean, I low-key think the reason why reading has been taught so shittily for the last 40 (teaching kids to guess and look at the picture instead of you know, decoding) is so that there is a big population of people who are less capable of reading etc so are more easily manipulatable. Wages will stay down and the rich will get richer.
Maybe I have a tinfoil hat but … 🤷🏼♀️
I absolutely promise you teachers are not trying to teach reading shittily. The fact is, we work with what we are given. Give us children who have their needs met and come to school prepared to learn, we will meet them where they are and take them from there. Give us kids whose needs aren’t met and come to school with major deficiencies, well, same thing, we’ll take them from there. Considering the decline of family values (things like respect, perseverance, work ethic, manners, etc) you can see the result of what we are being given.
Oh, I’m in my seventh year of teaching. None of this is on teachers. Every single teacher I’ve worked with wants the best for their students and are doing the best they can based on what they know.
What I’m critical of is the methods we were told to use to teach reading (look at the first letter, what word would make sense here, look at the picture) are frankly strategies that bad readers use. My conjecture is that those methods of teaching were pushed despite being ineffective because wealthy business interests don’t want a highly educated and critical labour force.
Thank you for clarifying that. I see what you are saying and I agree that the method you refer to is not the most effective. However, I disagree on the reason it’s being pushed. I am wrapping up my 25th year and that is long enough for me to have seen the pendulum of methodology swing back and forth a few times. I teach in the U.S. and my feeling is that swing happens when talk heats up of our test scores falling behind other countries’ scores and politicians start pushing to overhaul how everything is taught. For fun you can read up on [Sputnik Math](https://www.amusingplanet.com/2022/01/how-sputnik-forced-american-kids-to.html) (I know it’s math, not reading, but this is an amusing example of what I’m talking about). Teachers know it doesn’t work and squawk loudly about it, but the powers that be know that something is not working and rather than taking the 3,000 foot view and considering perhaps the problem is more on a societal level, they go straight to what is 5 feet in front of them and think it must be the schools. It is much easier to make changes to curriculum at the school level and appear that they are “doing something” than it is to try to change society to assist and value education more.
TLDR: The motives have more to do with being lazy than malicious.
I'm not disgreeing with you, I love to see how other people learn or propose people should learn (I personally feel we teach math in the most stupid manners, if you want I could explain why and how to fix it in a later post). But what do you think is poorly done for reading and how would you say we fix it?
“There was a time when reading wasn't just for f*gs. And neither was writing. People wrote books and movies. Movies with stories, that made you care about whose a** it was and why it was farting. And I believe that time can come again!”
Adding that to the list of things that makes people gay.
Reading. Check. I’ll put it right next to guys who cross their legs when they sit because it’s comfortable.
Obviously sarcastic. But it’s insane how many people consider themselves “intelligent and educated” but still spout out nothing but opinions with no facts to back it up. Yet still feel oddly entitled to ridicule the actual educators trying to make a difference.
Almost everyone is insufferable these days. Jesus, I wish people could just talk about the weather in public and contain their weird theories to the privacy of their own homes.
I agree so much, I will give you an extreme example. Last month, I was in a McDonald's parking lot to pick up some stuff that belonged to my recently deceased mother when her abusive husband started ranting about elementary kids being turned gay by the teachers. I teach high school. He always wants me to tell him the real deal... through the hellscape that was my mother dying at home, I have finally learned to just say, not at my school. It shuts him up for 5 or 10 min, then he starts parroting that crap again... sigh. There is nothing that one can say that will satisfy these people unless you confirm their idiotic beliefs...
My mom thinks I teach kids to be gay. My response is to tell her I am only allowed to teach what will be on the state test. I don't have time to teach kids to be gay. Then I change the subject!
My sister and SIL were going off on an “I hate teachers rant” at a family party and are convinced that teachers are indoctrinating their children. Funny how neither of them can home school their kids though.
Yep. Just act clueless and ask them very specific questions about exactly how this indoctrination is occurring and what it includes. DO NOT let them give vague answers or try to change the subject. Break down every party line response and demand they explain, IN DETAIL, what they mean by x,y,z. RIDICULE them with your feigned ignorance. Make them feel uneasy and wrong footed as they lamely try to ‘Murica their way out of the conversation. Be RELENTLESS. Smearing their faces in their own stupidity probably won’t work in any life-changing way but it’ll be fun!
If I could indoctrinate kids, Impulse would be the most popular comics and our state scores for reading would be higher. All I want kids to do is to read.
That’s like folks ranting about schools putting out litter boxes for the “trans kids that think they’re cats.” Bro, we didn’t have paper towels for 3 days this week and you think we’ve got the funds to buy fecking kitty litter…but you go on and tell me more about your conspiracy theories lmao
That's not for the trans kids, that's for the furries. Duh. 🙄
That's a big one around here. Folks even say they know "for certain" it's happening at a specific school. 🤦🏼♀️
Around here hey are actually SAYING a specific school, but when you ask anyone who works there or is a student there, they have no idea what you're talking about.
I don't even have kleenex or the horrible excuse they give us instead and haven't for months.
I do have a bucket and toilet paper in the event of an active shooter. So there's that.
But I love talking about my weird theories!
Like how all the pigeons are actually drones - that's a fun one.
(I know you are talking about the harmful ones that people don't even generally acknowledge might be wrong, but I thought I'd have a bit of fun to hopefully brighten up your day, random stranger :)
My strategy: nonchalantly open the door, back slowly into the hall keeping my eyes on my class,, look over my shoulder to see that no one’s in the hall, then let it fly
My uncle shared something on Facebook about how we shouldn't be teaching kindergarteners about sex. I told him that they aren't learning about the act of sex, birth control, or anything directly related to reproduction. At that age, they are learning the names of their body parts so that Suzy doesn't come to school saying that her neighbor touched her flower, and the teacher brushes it off because it's just a plant, when actually, the neighbor is assaulting Suzy and she doesn't have the words to tell anyone. That shut him up quick about that. But he still shares some stupid shit.
Eh, not "Personal Space." If you're not paying attention closely it sounds like they just got real close to you or spent an hour poking you to annoy you.
Middle Parts also sound kind of ambiguous.
When dealing with this, you really don't want ambiguity. You want to know so that you can respond quickly and decisively with facts rather than generalized statements someone else might not notice or care about.
"Paul says his neighbor touched his personal space."
"So?"
As opposed to:
"Paul said his neighbor touched his penis."
"Well, let's call the cops and get the fucker."
Biiiiig difference.
Yup to this, was molested at a young age. the person who came to investigate asked me if I knew these parts and had a little diagram of a kid and asked me step by step if I knew what some parts were and where I had been touched and other things but I can’t remember that far back. It’s important that kids know the correct anatomical name of their bodies, even some adults are still to uncomfortable to say where something may hurt and describe it as other things and it’s frustrating when you’re a medical professional because you need to make sure they are explaining it properly.
And of course he claimed either that you were part of the coverup because Fox News told him that teachers were doing this or that well it may not be happening in your school but again he knows it's happening across the country.
I had this same discussion with a friend with just this claim. It didn't matter that it wasn't happening in the school I taught at, the one he was a para/sub in, the ones his grandkids went to, the ones the other parents in his church went to.... he knew it was happening because Fox / Trump / DeathSantis / et al told him
It is happening! Every teen from 7-12 is looking up tons of porn and sharing it with friends. So, it’s not teachers indoctrination. If they don’t want their kids exposed to that, take away their cell phones.
Dude, people believe that? I remember when I was first told what it was for. It was another one of those, "Well, this is the world we chose for ourselves..." moments.
Honestly, if I end up in a lock down long enough that kids need to piss in a kitty litter bucket, it will be far too long. They're enough for me in an 87-minute block.
I met someone like that too! Who works in education! And the context of when she chose to talk about this was incredibly inappropriate (a parent was present.) SOO weird! I didn’t even know what to say.
Mine was a retired teacher! Educators who actually believe kids in some furry costume pooping in the corner during class let alone that some colleagues would allow it. They know we’ve got no time for such nonsense.
I’m so sorry. I had a run in too last week. It was an old classmate from high school that I see more than I would like when I go visit my parents. He was literally talking about “trans issues” as soon as I saw him and was mentioning people’s genitalia (of course using all of slang) quite a bit. I said “I am not comfortable talking about people’s genitalia as much as you”. Then I used his full name “have a good day, Joshua”. He has and always has gone by Josh. I told him, “you were born a Joshua and who are you to think you can ask people to call you anything else”.
I teach middle in Illinois. When I moved into my neighborhood a couple of years ago, a neighbor introduced themselves and asked if we were enrolling our kids in the local school. Being that it was one of the reasons we chose the neighborhood, we said yes. She proceeded to tell me she had to pull her kids and homeschool because the school went woke and is teaching kids about "the gays and all their sex positions." In elementary..... she got the pamphlet. These people are legit crazy.....
Whenever I'm talking to someone like this, I always tell them something along the lines of "I don't teach wokeness. I teach my kids how to think critically and question what we know. I want my students to think for themselves and not draw conclusions just because their parents believe something." The other person will assume I'm teaching them to not listen to "wokeness" without realizing that critical thinking is the first step in being "woke"
We have a guy in our county who put in formal request to the school board to have several books from our school libraries banned, like The Hunger Games for example.
The kicker? He doesn’t even have kids. He claims he is “concerned about the welfare of our county’s kids”. 🙄
Get a life, loser.
Man, every time I mention I teach high school history people ask "oh are they letting you teach the REAL history?" What I want to say is that kids are so far behind I can't even begin to teach them the deeper nuances that these people would think is the woke history.
I had a parent teach her 1st grader the facts about Christopher Columbus and traumatized her so much. She went into detail about his governorship. Little kids are not ready for anything other than: he was an explorer, he changed the way the world was, and he made some mistakes. He is an important historical figure that literally changed the world- good and bad.
I have to teach sanitized Texas history. My county had the second largest slave population at the time of the finding of the Republic.
That ain't in the curriculum. Nor is the fact that Texas had beef with Mexico only after Mexico banned slavery.
Do I teach facts? Yes. Do I have a minute of time to teach about gender issues? No. Not so much.
There's enough facts in the curriculum that I can blow their mind if they'd pay attention. Instead, I'm called racist for making them go to their assigned seat.
I remember a PTA meeting many years ago (45~?) a mom and dad were ballistic because a kindergarten teacher was talking about families. She was talking about traditional 2 parents plus kids, single parent families, and God forbid, 2 white parents with brown kids. They thought that the teacher was approving of the mother having sex with n----s. I have never been more ballistic myself. The teacher was merely responding to my son, one of 4 Cree boys we had adopted. It was a very lively meeting until they left with the parting words, "You deserve it whe our sons kill us in the night!" Well, since the youngest of my sons is over 50, they are running out time to do the deed. Some people just can't accept that the world just might not orbit around their prejudices.
This is one of the reasons why I do not engage the troglodytes inpublic. THey will deflect and deny any grain of truth or proof, because it does not fit into their narrative. They ave created this belief that all teacher are pedophiles, groomers, gay, evil member of our society that cannot be trusted with children. Then in the same thought, they think teachers should be armed to protect children. In the same thought process though teachers are incompitent because they allow books to come into the school.
THe entire thing is a perfect example of "Doublethink" from George Orwell's 1984. If theywould have actually read this book, they would realize that they part of that novel.
I am listening to an absolutely fascinating podcast called "Teaching Texas" that interviews so many people and gets into a lot of explanation on how things got to where they are now. It doesn't make the conclusions for you, just lays out the situation.
I blew minds at the last family gathering when I told them that schools do the pledge EVERY day, because it is law. They are the type that spread the false info around the socials.
I’m always surprised when people lament the lack of the pledge of allegiance these days.
Like clearly, you have absolutely no idea wtf you’re talking about.
Actually there is a supreme court ruling that we cannot force kids to stand for the pledge or recite it violates freedom of speech. I explain to my students that if there is anyone near you such as a veteran and they observe you ignoring the pledge they will be highly offended. You should know that and not just ignore the pledge out of laziness.Other than that, it's up to them.
My Bio-dad and I talked for the first time in a bit. He's gone off the deep end into the Far Right silliness. He told me that "All Democrats and Liberals are just Socialist-Communist Chinese agents who want to turn us into a Fascist state like China where anyone can be killed for expressing their beliefs. And that they should all be shot in the face rather than let any one of them vote."
Another cherry line: "They \[Democrats\] also want to take money away from white people to give out five million dollars to every black person in the country, make all the children gay or trans, and make white people effeminate slaves that \[Fellatiate\] people of other races." Apparently the books taken out of Florida all have graphic depictions of white children performing oral sex on well endowed people of color among other things.
He also hailed DeSantos as the savior of the working man who would "raise a tax on billionaires, cut war spending, improve the environment, raise minimum wage, provide universal healthcare, and make sure that every deserving American got food, shelter, and a decent living." (Granted he then explained what he meant "deserving" and it was rather... well, let's just say it referred to a *pale* imitation of "every American" and read that how you will).
I.... I had no words.
My guess That dude likely saw some video of a teacher going off on TikTok which represents .0001% of teachers. The rest of us are too busy dealing with the chaos of children, teaching them to read and write whilst not being assholes and doing stupid shit like gulping noises or eating tide pods.
I’m so sorry. I was accused of this by a neighbors friend who I didn’t even teach. Man started screaming at me and telling me he would have my teaching license. I finally told my neighbor I wouldn’t be back and that I didn’t appreciate how I was treated. There’s no reasoning with people like that.
Oh man. I know a person who is convinced that kindergarteners are being to taught how to masturbate. I teach first grade, and told her that just isn't true. She doesn't believe me and insists it's happening everywhere.
If I had the power to indoctrinate kids into any kind of agenda it would be whatever one made them do their homework and actually participate in classes.
I hate my state government and those who blindly follow the ideology because there’s an R next to their name so much. I don’t give a fuck if I indoctrinate students that the holocaust was fucking horrifying and that the Nazis slaughtered Soviet civilians by the millions. They need to know the horrors of the wars that aren’t even a distant memory.
That’s interesting. I teach in title I urban schools and I don’t see any bullying of gay people./students… we’ve actually had to keep fifth grade girls from making out in the bathroom lol 😆 anyway I’m glad I work where I work. I’m wondering if you teach in a predominantly white Christian area?
I teach at a DAEP, so my students are primarily POC, but the school district is predominantly white Christian.
The girls are more openly bi or whatever, but the boys are huge homophobes. I figure it's just the age.
Kids are bullied for their sexuality everywhere. You can have to stop girls from making out and also have a problem with students being bullied. I'm in a pretty progressive area, also in Tile 1, urban schools (which is irrelevant), and we've had parents complain about all kinds of things related to supporting LGBTQ students. We've had all kinds of problems with kids being hateful towards LGBTQ students. We have a population of out kids and kids who are gender non-conforming but they're still bullied.
Kids can be super mean in general.. and of course we should stop all bullying I was simply saying it’s not a problem where I work that I have observed.. I’m Librarian I keep my books current on CRT,LGBTQ, Hispanic, Asian, etc. but I simply haven’t had any issues with parents or kids. I’m sorry that this is happening. America is definitely turning into a fascist country and schools are on the front line..
I will say that, although I don’t approve of it, necessarily a kid on the spectrum clocked a guy that was bullying him the other day and gave him a bloody lip and it was pretty awesome
I know someone who is subbing at her kids school to make sure “they aren’t teaching the kids what they teach them in California”. At least she’s helping with the sub shortage I guess
I’m married to one :(
He was always a bit on the conservative side but it has been really bad since Donald Trump and COVID. I was hoping it would get better as restrictions were eased and things came out about how Fox News was a-ok with misinformation. But it all can be explained away, even if the explanations are conflicting. It’s exhausting.
I met a lot of them.
Imagine their shock when you tell them they can check the curriculum online and that its got none of that shit. Most of the time they discard that information and keep on ranting about how you're fucking up with the kids minds
I'm not even woke, or am I ? What is woke ?
Hello, I'm from a latam country so I dont really know how things work in the US outside from news I read online occasionally and memes lol. I thought this genuenly was a problem in the US. I have seen videos of teachers explaining explicit sex to 4-8 year olds. Books talking about sexuality and rubbing penises inside vagina targeted to kids below 8. And trans people dressed and presenting to little kids. Were this extreme cases and not really the norm over there? Maybe my algorithm thinks I'm a 40 year old republican or something lol.
No, your algorithm must be feeding you stuff from some far right propaganda outlets, but none of that is happening. Sex ed for kids that young is them learning the words for the different parts of their bodies, and how to find and tell a safe adult if someone is abusing them. Nobody is talking to them about actual sex. Especially not what sounds like a very niche kind of sex act.
There aren’t books with explicit sex or even non-explicit sex targeted for 8 year olds. That’s also a lie. There are books about sex in many libraries, but you have to be an adult to access them. There is a graphic novel about what it was like to grow up as someone who isn’t straight, but it’s not something that you will find in a school library unless you bring it in yourself. Again, you have to be an adult, with an I’d showing that you are 18 or older, have a library card as an adult, and present all that to a librarian in order to get access to it.
Drag performers presenting to kids? There’s a thing called “drag queen story hour” where a drag queen dressed up, often as elaborately as a Disney princess, and reads a kid’s book (an actual kid’s book) to a group of parents and children. I remember a person dressed as a bunny reading a book in the children’s section of the library when I was a kid. It was fun. Same thing here. The kid’s laugh at the person in a costume, hear a story, go home.
This is not at all a reality at American schools. Politics aside, it’s a pretty deeply conservative culture when it comes to sexuality.
But acceptance of trans teachers is a positive thing. Not by any means universal in the US, but a good thing when it happens. I’m not sure what you mean by trans people dressed and “presenting” to kids, like drag queens doing a performance? There’s a program called Drag Queen Story Hour. This is not at all about sexuality. It’s fun princess dress up and acceptance of difference, and storytime.
No, it's not actually happening the way some extremists are saying, Sure there are a few isolated cases, but that's nowhere near the "lgbt agenda" that homophobes/etc like to say is happening. Yes, some teachers do abuse their position, but it's the exception, not the rule
My secret agenda is to get a new generation into comic books (not the movies, actual comic books) and not to get killed for being openly trans in public.
Sounds like you are a good teacher who is just trying to teach her kids. Wish all teachers were like that. Unfortunately, their are some that try to push agendas, both conservative and liberal. I have seen it both with my boys in elementary school in both California and now Tennessee.
????……go on with what? Did you want the examples? I purposely left them out because I was simply giving this teacher praise, not trying to start a debate. Not trying to say that is what you are doing, but I find people are very quick to judge and argue on Reddit. Lol
I’d like to know the examples. Not to gaslight you, just to know the real examples. I hear horrific, definitely unacceptable stories on YouTube or podcasts, but then friends and family tell me those are not widespread. I don’t know what to believe. I have 1 year old and choosing school for him in couple years is really anxiety provoking for me. I don’t want my kid indoctrinated or keep secrets from me under the instruction school teachers or staff.
Well first off I would say not to be too worried, most teachers we have come across just want to teach their students and make it through the day. And also have open conversations with your kids about their day, they pretty much tell you everything with far greater detail than you want. Lol
In California which is where we are originally from, my dons 5th grade teacher started the school year with the kids going around and giving their pronouns. They had a boy in their grade who wore a wolf tail and identified by his “wolf self” (whatever that means) and the kids were instructed by their teacher that they needed to use his preferred pronouns because people can be whatever they identify as. They had a few gay pride and trans flags hung in the class but, stuff like that. Other little examples but I don’t want to make this too long. Feel free to message if you want. In Tennessee it’s the opposite, my son had a teacher going on about Easter and why we celebrate it, felt like a mini sermon. Sons say the teacher talks about church a lot, little things like that. Now full disclosure, we are Christian so the church stuff doesn’t bother us, but I feel like, if I wouldn’t want someone in authority talking to my kids about their beliefs like they were fact, then I don’t think it should be cool the other way around just because I agree with it. School should be a place for learning.
How dare they have pride flags to show students who are gay that they matter! School is a place for learning and one of the things that we learn is empathy.
So you cool with them flying the Christian flag or the Ten Commandments on the wall, what about a Maga flag? How about an all lives matter flag? If you want personal or political statements to be made you have to allow it for everyone. Or we could just focus on the learning.
If you have one option and present it as boring and uninteresting and heap attention on children who choose the other option you will get some children to switch options for the attention. In [this classroom](https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1653879932026781697) who do you think will get more attention/praise/encouragement?
In the classroom where they do this kind of stuff one week per year? Are you also worried that during black history month, all the students are going to want to be black? I think you should worry about more important things.
~~1. Pride month is only a week long now?~~ Edit: fixed.
2. You think [this person](https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1637925374121132034) is keeping the indoctrination/attention/praise to one month per year?
1. Did you watch the video that you yourself linked in the previous comment? The teacher literally says "pride week"
2. I have no idea, literally never seen that person before. I won't assume and neither should you.
3. I hardly think attention, praise and indoctrination are the same thing and you shouldn't use them interchangeably.
4. If it was that easy to change someone's gender identity or sexuality, you'd think there wouldn't be any gay or trans people around since that shit's been taboo up until very recently and arguably still is in lots of places. The presence of gay people in societies where that kind of thing is basically a death sentence should tell you that you don't have to worry about previously straight people being turned gay. Unless they were already gay to start with of course, in which case I would say "right on!"
there were no “options” presented in that video that indicate “choosing” a gender/sexuality though. do you think wearing a rainbow bracelet or having a pride flag means someone is gay?
Probably more likely scenario is encouraging someone in their trans identity and they get medical procedures done too young, although I doubt it really would happen since parents have to consent to that anyway
Edit: Easy with the downvotes, fellow liberals. To be clear I don’t care at all what medical decisions parents make for their own kids. Just explaining how those who do put their nose where it doesn’t belong are thinking. Sheesh 🤷
And I’m 100% for parents making those choices for their own kids. Not my kid, not my decision. It’s weird how so many extreme rightists like to act so concerned about other peoples’ kids lol
I mean, not really. Puberty blockers are easily reversible. No harm done if they want to take a minute to figure out who they really are before puberty happens.
Except that it doesn’t. There is no study on its safety. Also high testosterone on girls cause many medical issues and high estrogen in men can cause cancer. It’s not safe.
How do I know? Personal experience. I have PCOS and have high testosterone level for woman. I battle with insulin resistance, infertility and other issues like weight, acne, and high risk for heart disease. It’s crazy to me that we are administering testosterone to healthy girls and tell them it’s completely safe. It’s not.
Same token most of one of my classes is on antidepressants and mood altering drugs. Can I be concerned about the number of teens being my prescribed these drugs? Do they have serious side effects? Yes to both. But at the end of the day, that’s between them and their parents and their doctors.
> Also high testosterone on girls cause many medical issues and high estrogen in men can cause cancer. It’s not safe.
Puberty blockers aren't testosterone or estrogen.
This is not happening. No minor is being prescribed hormones. I’m sorry that this makes you feel personally upset in the light of your own issues, but that doesn’t make any of these things true. You need to step back and realize that you’re falling into echo chambers of reactionary hysteria that are not based on reality.
And also that this is none of your business.
Your post history also shows antivax fearmongering and anti-gun control nonsense, so I’m not sure your views on anything else are to be taken seriously.
Yes. I prefer reason over being told what to think.
None of that has to do with your desire to give children drugs, and lie to them about the effects.
Go tell the folks over at /r/detrans they're not to be taken seriously. I'm sure they'll love that lol
We as teachers have a tremendous power over our students and position of privilege
But, I posit two things: what could someone have said to 12 year old you that would have made you become and remain gay. Not experiment; full out switch sexualities.
Who was more important to you: your fellow middle school peers or your teacher regarding approval?
The second thing I offer is: There's more of a chance of kids whose parents are normal and just encourage their gay or trans child to be themselves serving as walking happiness advertisements than me who harps on people about not wearing their hoods up for encouraging people.
Certainly there are people out there who use their position poorly. We actually heard about articles of the anti Biden woman talking to her students about that. But.... Those people aren't convincing anyone.
Students just talk about that former crazy person.
>But, I posit two things: what could someone have said to 12 year old you that would have made you become and remain gay. Not experiment; full out switch sexualities.
I don't know the exact words, but the answer is yes it is possible. You don't need a lifelong study where you try to convince a kid to be gay to see that this is possible. You can just compare national rates versus rates in certain schools or communities. If it weren't possible the rates would be the same. Also, nice try pretending this is only a problem for 12+ and not a problem for younger children too. Slick.
I teach many different ages and even in the early teens there are some kids that care more about their peers and some that care more about my approval. For instance there was a student who let me know that other students had cheated on a quiz despite knowing it would have social consequences and there would be no consequences for saying nothing.
Like I said in another comment earlier- "If you have one option and present it as boring and uninteresting and heap attention on children who choose the other option you will get some children to switch options for the attention. In [this classroom](https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1653879932026781697) who do you think will get more attention/praise/encouragement?"
>I don't know the exact words, but the answer is yes it is possible. You don't need a lifelong study where you try to convince a kid to be gay to see that this is possible. You can just compare national rates versus rates in certain schools or communities. If it weren't possible the rates would be the same.
No, the rates wouldn't be the same. But that's not because the schools in more gay-accepting areas are 'making' students gay. The number of students who are gay is the same in both gay-accepting and non-gay-accepting schools. However, in order for a gay student to self-report as gay, they need to know they would not be beaten and abused for saying they were gay. They would need to know that it was ok to admit that the feelings of attraction they have towards members of the same sex were not sinful and shameful, but part of the human experience. In many areas in the country, those students have reason to be afraid and ashamed, and so would not admit they were gay, even if they were.
Those students in open areas weren't 'made' gay. Gay students in bigoted areas were 'made' to be silent about it.
I wish one teacher, just one, had been a hundredth as supportive of LGBTQ+ people existing as that teacher is.
I grew up somewhere that not being straight got you bullied and beaten up. I was absolutely convinced that I was straight, after all, I liked women, had girlfriends, looked masculine, still got the crap beaten out of me from 6th through 12th. Pushed my bisexuality down so far I didn’t even realize that I was bi until I was 44. All the time I spent hating myself for stray thoughts or random dreams because I had been raised to hate gay people. Then years of not understanding where those thoughts and dreams were coming from.
If one person had said, “Look, I understand that you have to hide who you are because it’s not safe, but here are some things that gay and bi people have said about what kinds of thoughts and feelings and crushes they had as a teenager,” I’d have seen myself in their stories and would have had a much healthier and happier time growing up.
A flag? A button? A wristband? A lapel pin? A brief moment of positivity from a teacher? In exchange for spare change for a suicide prevention hotline for LGBTQ+ kids?
How can you be so threatened by someone being supportive to all their students, not just the ones that are straight and cis?
Using the national rates for this... Ok. Let's do that with left handedness.
13% of people in the United States are left handed, compared to say 4.7% in China or 9.63% in Spain. Since 12% of the world is left handed... That's statistically higher in America.
Maine and Vermont have even higher populations of left-handedness still.
So, if we compare world rates to US rates and then note that particular communities have statistically more left handed people even still... We can concluded people are forcing or indoctrinating people into left handedness. If it weren't happening and possible, the rates would be the same.
The difference in rates is due to the difference in parents and community acceptance of those kids coming out. It doesn't mean those kids don't exist in other places. Not everyone is hateful as you are.
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Well, you ARE trying to teach them to read, aren’t you? You know what that leads to…
It leads to THINKING which is BAD 😩😩😩 We want easily manipulated people 💪💪 /s ofc
The MARKET does not DEMAND booksmart KNOW IT ALLS. Why aren't you teaching kids REAL WORLD skills like how to do TAXES and write RESUMES and operate MACHINERY /s I'm so fucking sick of bootlicking Luddites thinking that the sole purpose of their children's education is to mould them into fleshbots to be consumed like disposable batteries. Depleted, tossed aside and favourably looked upon for hanging in there and paying plenty of taxes like a good little citizen as though that somehow constitutes a life well lived
This is, perhaps, my favorite Reddit response. Kudos.
Agreed
I mean, I low-key think the reason why reading has been taught so shittily for the last 40 (teaching kids to guess and look at the picture instead of you know, decoding) is so that there is a big population of people who are less capable of reading etc so are more easily manipulatable. Wages will stay down and the rich will get richer. Maybe I have a tinfoil hat but … 🤷🏼♀️
I absolutely promise you teachers are not trying to teach reading shittily. The fact is, we work with what we are given. Give us children who have their needs met and come to school prepared to learn, we will meet them where they are and take them from there. Give us kids whose needs aren’t met and come to school with major deficiencies, well, same thing, we’ll take them from there. Considering the decline of family values (things like respect, perseverance, work ethic, manners, etc) you can see the result of what we are being given.
Oh, I’m in my seventh year of teaching. None of this is on teachers. Every single teacher I’ve worked with wants the best for their students and are doing the best they can based on what they know. What I’m critical of is the methods we were told to use to teach reading (look at the first letter, what word would make sense here, look at the picture) are frankly strategies that bad readers use. My conjecture is that those methods of teaching were pushed despite being ineffective because wealthy business interests don’t want a highly educated and critical labour force.
Thank you for clarifying that. I see what you are saying and I agree that the method you refer to is not the most effective. However, I disagree on the reason it’s being pushed. I am wrapping up my 25th year and that is long enough for me to have seen the pendulum of methodology swing back and forth a few times. I teach in the U.S. and my feeling is that swing happens when talk heats up of our test scores falling behind other countries’ scores and politicians start pushing to overhaul how everything is taught. For fun you can read up on [Sputnik Math](https://www.amusingplanet.com/2022/01/how-sputnik-forced-american-kids-to.html) (I know it’s math, not reading, but this is an amusing example of what I’m talking about). Teachers know it doesn’t work and squawk loudly about it, but the powers that be know that something is not working and rather than taking the 3,000 foot view and considering perhaps the problem is more on a societal level, they go straight to what is 5 feet in front of them and think it must be the schools. It is much easier to make changes to curriculum at the school level and appear that they are “doing something” than it is to try to change society to assist and value education more. TLDR: The motives have more to do with being lazy than malicious.
I'm not disgreeing with you, I love to see how other people learn or propose people should learn (I personally feel we teach math in the most stupid manners, if you want I could explain why and how to fix it in a later post). But what do you think is poorly done for reading and how would you say we fix it?
I'd agree with you, but GWB actually did a ton around childhood literacy...until September 11th. ETA: This is the ONE thing I agree with GWB on.
How else would we get Christians?
All kids need to be able to read is "Bud" and "light" so they can avoid it. /S
Insert Gaston quote here
*'What're trying to read for?'* *'Are you a F..?'* /Idiocracy
“There was a time when reading wasn't just for f*gs. And neither was writing. People wrote books and movies. Movies with stories, that made you care about whose a** it was and why it was farting. And I believe that time can come again!”
My dad hated that I read so much and was sure it would make me gay....thanks pops!....weird that we don't visit that much...
Adding that to the list of things that makes people gay. Reading. Check. I’ll put it right next to guys who cross their legs when they sit because it’s comfortable. Obviously sarcastic. But it’s insane how many people consider themselves “intelligent and educated” but still spout out nothing but opinions with no facts to back it up. Yet still feel oddly entitled to ridicule the actual educators trying to make a difference.
Beasteality and inbreeding! 🙄
Almost everyone is insufferable these days. Jesus, I wish people could just talk about the weather in public and contain their weird theories to the privacy of their own homes.
I agree so much, I will give you an extreme example. Last month, I was in a McDonald's parking lot to pick up some stuff that belonged to my recently deceased mother when her abusive husband started ranting about elementary kids being turned gay by the teachers. I teach high school. He always wants me to tell him the real deal... through the hellscape that was my mother dying at home, I have finally learned to just say, not at my school. It shuts him up for 5 or 10 min, then he starts parroting that crap again... sigh. There is nothing that one can say that will satisfy these people unless you confirm their idiotic beliefs...
My mom thinks I teach kids to be gay. My response is to tell her I am only allowed to teach what will be on the state test. I don't have time to teach kids to be gay. Then I change the subject!
My sister and SIL were going off on an “I hate teachers rant” at a family party and are convinced that teachers are indoctrinating their children. Funny how neither of them can home school their kids though.
“What would you specifically do differently? How would you do that?” Those 2 questions usually stop people from that line of nonsense.
Yep. Just act clueless and ask them very specific questions about exactly how this indoctrination is occurring and what it includes. DO NOT let them give vague answers or try to change the subject. Break down every party line response and demand they explain, IN DETAIL, what they mean by x,y,z. RIDICULE them with your feigned ignorance. Make them feel uneasy and wrong footed as they lamely try to ‘Murica their way out of the conversation. Be RELENTLESS. Smearing their faces in their own stupidity probably won’t work in any life-changing way but it’ll be fun!
I don't give a shit what they read, just dear God, please read.
If I could indoctrinate kids, Impulse would be the most popular comics and our state scores for reading would be higher. All I want kids to do is to read.
Wow, your own mom, that sucks!!! I would ask her how exactly that is done, like what are the actual steps...
Me too thankfully all my family is supportive and to the jerks I teach to the standards there right there go look them up
If I could indoctrinate kids it would be to put names on their papers and keep fingers out of noses!
That’s like folks ranting about schools putting out litter boxes for the “trans kids that think they’re cats.” Bro, we didn’t have paper towels for 3 days this week and you think we’ve got the funds to buy fecking kitty litter…but you go on and tell me more about your conspiracy theories lmao
That's not for the trans kids, that's for the furries. Duh. 🙄 That's a big one around here. Folks even say they know "for certain" it's happening at a specific school. 🤦🏼♀️
I always ask for the name and location of the school. Still awaiting that answer.
Around here hey are actually SAYING a specific school, but when you ask anyone who works there or is a student there, they have no idea what you're talking about.
Lol exactly, I've bought 10 boxes of kleenex out of pocket but we have the staff to clean litter boxes twice a day...
I don't even have kleenex or the horrible excuse they give us instead and haven't for months. I do have a bucket and toilet paper in the event of an active shooter. So there's that.
Let's be honest, even the weather isn't safe. Because there are plenty of people with strong opinions about climate change.
Well you know that *weather* leads to **climate change** which is **WOKE CONSPIRACY**
Well as long as you're steering clear of that critical thinking stuff🤨
But I love talking about my weird theories! Like how all the pigeons are actually drones - that's a fun one. (I know you are talking about the harmful ones that people don't even generally acknowledge might be wrong, but I thought I'd have a bit of fun to hopefully brighten up your day, random stranger :)
I might indoctrinate my students as soon as I can get them to pay attention and do their homework.
I’d indoctrinate them to use deodorant and stop farting in class if I had time for that.
That means I’d have to stop farting in class.
You don’t have to stop. Just do it quieter and around a group of boys. One of them will take the blame 😆
My strategy: nonchalantly open the door, back slowly into the hall keeping my eyes on my class,, look over my shoulder to see that no one’s in the hall, then let it fly
Haha. My seventh graders do it on purpose all the time.
Every sentence uttered by a seventh grade boy is about farting or titties. Occasionally sports.
So don't my seniors, ugh.
Genuine LOL with that one! Thank you!
My favorite response
I'm trying to indoctrinate them to put their fucking phones away.
My uncle shared something on Facebook about how we shouldn't be teaching kindergarteners about sex. I told him that they aren't learning about the act of sex, birth control, or anything directly related to reproduction. At that age, they are learning the names of their body parts so that Suzy doesn't come to school saying that her neighbor touched her flower, and the teacher brushes it off because it's just a plant, when actually, the neighbor is assaulting Suzy and she doesn't have the words to tell anyone. That shut him up quick about that. But he still shares some stupid shit.
Private parts/boy parts/girl parts/middle parts/my personal space are all good in my class
Eh, not "Personal Space." If you're not paying attention closely it sounds like they just got real close to you or spent an hour poking you to annoy you. Middle Parts also sound kind of ambiguous. When dealing with this, you really don't want ambiguity. You want to know so that you can respond quickly and decisively with facts rather than generalized statements someone else might not notice or care about. "Paul says his neighbor touched his personal space." "So?" As opposed to: "Paul said his neighbor touched his penis." "Well, let's call the cops and get the fucker." Biiiiig difference.
Yup to this, was molested at a young age. the person who came to investigate asked me if I knew these parts and had a little diagram of a kid and asked me step by step if I knew what some parts were and where I had been touched and other things but I can’t remember that far back. It’s important that kids know the correct anatomical name of their bodies, even some adults are still to uncomfortable to say where something may hurt and describe it as other things and it’s frustrating when you’re a medical professional because you need to make sure they are explaining it properly.
Im sorry that happened to you. 💜
Hmm, point taken
Exactly this. Exact words are key.
And of course he claimed either that you were part of the coverup because Fox News told him that teachers were doing this or that well it may not be happening in your school but again he knows it's happening across the country. I had this same discussion with a friend with just this claim. It didn't matter that it wasn't happening in the school I taught at, the one he was a para/sub in, the ones his grandkids went to, the ones the other parents in his church went to.... he knew it was happening because Fox / Trump / DeathSantis / et al told him
I got in a fight with my mom about this too - “well it’s happening somewhere! You don’t know everything!”
It is happening! Every teen from 7-12 is looking up tons of porn and sharing it with friends. So, it’s not teachers indoctrination. If they don’t want their kids exposed to that, take away their cell phones.
I finally met somebody who believes the kitty litter in classrooms for those who identify as cats. Laughed out loud.
Dude, people believe that? I remember when I was first told what it was for. It was another one of those, "Well, this is the world we chose for ourselves..." moments. Honestly, if I end up in a lock down long enough that kids need to piss in a kitty litter bucket, it will be far too long. They're enough for me in an 87-minute block.
I met someone like that too! Who works in education! And the context of when she chose to talk about this was incredibly inappropriate (a parent was present.) SOO weird! I didn’t even know what to say.
Mine was a retired teacher! Educators who actually believe kids in some furry costume pooping in the corner during class let alone that some colleagues would allow it. They know we’ve got no time for such nonsense.
I’m so sorry. I had a run in too last week. It was an old classmate from high school that I see more than I would like when I go visit my parents. He was literally talking about “trans issues” as soon as I saw him and was mentioning people’s genitalia (of course using all of slang) quite a bit. I said “I am not comfortable talking about people’s genitalia as much as you”. Then I used his full name “have a good day, Joshua”. He has and always has gone by Josh. I told him, “you were born a Joshua and who are you to think you can ask people to call you anything else”.
Well done.
Love this!!!
It would have been nice to end the conversation with "I need to take a leak. Where's the litterbox...I mean bathroom?"
I teach middle in Illinois. When I moved into my neighborhood a couple of years ago, a neighbor introduced themselves and asked if we were enrolling our kids in the local school. Being that it was one of the reasons we chose the neighborhood, we said yes. She proceeded to tell me she had to pull her kids and homeschool because the school went woke and is teaching kids about "the gays and all their sex positions." In elementary..... she got the pamphlet. These people are legit crazy.....
Peoria?
No closer to Rockford.
Oh so you met one of my mom’s relatives. I’m so sorry. They’re the worst.
Whenever I'm talking to someone like this, I always tell them something along the lines of "I don't teach wokeness. I teach my kids how to think critically and question what we know. I want my students to think for themselves and not draw conclusions just because their parents believe something." The other person will assume I'm teaching them to not listen to "wokeness" without realizing that critical thinking is the first step in being "woke"
We have a guy in our county who put in formal request to the school board to have several books from our school libraries banned, like The Hunger Games for example. The kicker? He doesn’t even have kids. He claims he is “concerned about the welfare of our county’s kids”. 🙄 Get a life, loser.
Good! We should ban Hunger Games! All that love triangle romance nonsense getting in the way of my dystopian child warfare 😤
Man, every time I mention I teach high school history people ask "oh are they letting you teach the REAL history?" What I want to say is that kids are so far behind I can't even begin to teach them the deeper nuances that these people would think is the woke history.
I had a parent teach her 1st grader the facts about Christopher Columbus and traumatized her so much. She went into detail about his governorship. Little kids are not ready for anything other than: he was an explorer, he changed the way the world was, and he made some mistakes. He is an important historical figure that literally changed the world- good and bad.
I have to teach sanitized Texas history. My county had the second largest slave population at the time of the finding of the Republic. That ain't in the curriculum. Nor is the fact that Texas had beef with Mexico only after Mexico banned slavery. Do I teach facts? Yes. Do I have a minute of time to teach about gender issues? No. Not so much. There's enough facts in the curriculum that I can blow their mind if they'd pay attention. Instead, I'm called racist for making them go to their assigned seat.
I remember a PTA meeting many years ago (45~?) a mom and dad were ballistic because a kindergarten teacher was talking about families. She was talking about traditional 2 parents plus kids, single parent families, and God forbid, 2 white parents with brown kids. They thought that the teacher was approving of the mother having sex with n----s. I have never been more ballistic myself. The teacher was merely responding to my son, one of 4 Cree boys we had adopted. It was a very lively meeting until they left with the parting words, "You deserve it whe our sons kill us in the night!" Well, since the youngest of my sons is over 50, they are running out time to do the deed. Some people just can't accept that the world just might not orbit around their prejudices.
This is one of the reasons why I do not engage the troglodytes inpublic. THey will deflect and deny any grain of truth or proof, because it does not fit into their narrative. They ave created this belief that all teacher are pedophiles, groomers, gay, evil member of our society that cannot be trusted with children. Then in the same thought, they think teachers should be armed to protect children. In the same thought process though teachers are incompitent because they allow books to come into the school. THe entire thing is a perfect example of "Doublethink" from George Orwell's 1984. If theywould have actually read this book, they would realize that they part of that novel.
The enemy is both weak and strong. Classic fascism thought.
Biden is both senile and a criminal mastermind.
Woah woah woah, 1984 is beyond a 3rd grade reading level. Can’t expect this crowd to be able to read it!
"They"?
I am listening to an absolutely fascinating podcast called "Teaching Texas" that interviews so many people and gets into a lot of explanation on how things got to where they are now. It doesn't make the conclusions for you, just lays out the situation.
Someone should do this but for Florida.
I mean, you pledge allegiance to the United States of America every morning. You’re indoctrinating the kids, just not in the way that he thinks.
I blew minds at the last family gathering when I told them that schools do the pledge EVERY day, because it is law. They are the type that spread the false info around the socials.
I’m always surprised when people lament the lack of the pledge of allegiance these days. Like clearly, you have absolutely no idea wtf you’re talking about.
Actually there is a supreme court ruling that we cannot force kids to stand for the pledge or recite it violates freedom of speech. I explain to my students that if there is anyone near you such as a veteran and they observe you ignoring the pledge they will be highly offended. You should know that and not just ignore the pledge out of laziness.Other than that, it's up to them.
I'm a veteran and would not be offended at all.
I ignore the pledge because It's creepy nationalism, and I've been doing it for more than 20 years. I've never "highly offended" a veteran.
My Bio-dad and I talked for the first time in a bit. He's gone off the deep end into the Far Right silliness. He told me that "All Democrats and Liberals are just Socialist-Communist Chinese agents who want to turn us into a Fascist state like China where anyone can be killed for expressing their beliefs. And that they should all be shot in the face rather than let any one of them vote." Another cherry line: "They \[Democrats\] also want to take money away from white people to give out five million dollars to every black person in the country, make all the children gay or trans, and make white people effeminate slaves that \[Fellatiate\] people of other races." Apparently the books taken out of Florida all have graphic depictions of white children performing oral sex on well endowed people of color among other things. He also hailed DeSantos as the savior of the working man who would "raise a tax on billionaires, cut war spending, improve the environment, raise minimum wage, provide universal healthcare, and make sure that every deserving American got food, shelter, and a decent living." (Granted he then explained what he meant "deserving" and it was rather... well, let's just say it referred to a *pale* imitation of "every American" and read that how you will). I.... I had no words.
My guess That dude likely saw some video of a teacher going off on TikTok which represents .0001% of teachers. The rest of us are too busy dealing with the chaos of children, teaching them to read and write whilst not being assholes and doing stupid shit like gulping noises or eating tide pods.
That's the problem. To these people, the woke agenda that they rail against is, bully anyone who is different than I am.
I’m so sorry. I was accused of this by a neighbors friend who I didn’t even teach. Man started screaming at me and telling me he would have my teaching license. I finally told my neighbor I wouldn’t be back and that I didn’t appreciate how I was treated. There’s no reasoning with people like that.
Oh man. I know a person who is convinced that kindergarteners are being to taught how to masturbate. I teach first grade, and told her that just isn't true. She doesn't believe me and insists it's happening everywhere.
🙈 our public school district in TX pulled books. Thank goodness we’re 41st in the country in 8th grade reading.
If I had the power to indoctrinate kids into any kind of agenda it would be whatever one made them do their homework and actually participate in classes.
If only people would worry about physical and mental health as much as fighting wokeness.
I hate my state government and those who blindly follow the ideology because there’s an R next to their name so much. I don’t give a fuck if I indoctrinate students that the holocaust was fucking horrifying and that the Nazis slaughtered Soviet civilians by the millions. They need to know the horrors of the wars that aren’t even a distant memory.
I would have walked out of the bar after the beer comment. You never know when those people will go off.
That freakin song is always stuck in my head. I teach 7th grade. Save me.
It's killing me.
A never ending hellish loop. Thoughts and prayers lmao
That’s interesting. I teach in title I urban schools and I don’t see any bullying of gay people./students… we’ve actually had to keep fifth grade girls from making out in the bathroom lol 😆 anyway I’m glad I work where I work. I’m wondering if you teach in a predominantly white Christian area?
I teach at a DAEP, so my students are primarily POC, but the school district is predominantly white Christian. The girls are more openly bi or whatever, but the boys are huge homophobes. I figure it's just the age.
Kids are bullied for their sexuality everywhere. You can have to stop girls from making out and also have a problem with students being bullied. I'm in a pretty progressive area, also in Tile 1, urban schools (which is irrelevant), and we've had parents complain about all kinds of things related to supporting LGBTQ students. We've had all kinds of problems with kids being hateful towards LGBTQ students. We have a population of out kids and kids who are gender non-conforming but they're still bullied.
Kids can be super mean in general.. and of course we should stop all bullying I was simply saying it’s not a problem where I work that I have observed.. I’m Librarian I keep my books current on CRT,LGBTQ, Hispanic, Asian, etc. but I simply haven’t had any issues with parents or kids. I’m sorry that this is happening. America is definitely turning into a fascist country and schools are on the front line..
I will say that, although I don’t approve of it, necessarily a kid on the spectrum clocked a guy that was bullying him the other day and gave him a bloody lip and it was pretty awesome
I know someone who is subbing at her kids school to make sure “they aren’t teaching the kids what they teach them in California”. At least she’s helping with the sub shortage I guess
Do not even engage. They hold these entrenched positions in order to get attention.
I’m married to one :( He was always a bit on the conservative side but it has been really bad since Donald Trump and COVID. I was hoping it would get better as restrictions were eased and things came out about how Fox News was a-ok with misinformation. But it all can be explained away, even if the explanations are conflicting. It’s exhausting.
I don’t think I could do it.
I literally went no contact with my parents for this. I would have been divorced so fast if a partner had supported Trump. It's so horrifying.
Yeah he’s in for a bit of a surprise this week as I’ve got my own apartment and have been slowly moving out without him even noticing.
Congratulations! I hope your journey forward is freeing and full of happiness!
I have to wonder how these people handle real problems in their lives.
I mean… did he accept your answer? Or did his brain fizzle out after?
I met a lot of them. Imagine their shock when you tell them they can check the curriculum online and that its got none of that shit. Most of the time they discard that information and keep on ranting about how you're fucking up with the kids minds I'm not even woke, or am I ? What is woke ?
It hilarious that they think we have an agenda other than teach our real standards, not have any meltdowns, and everyone makes it home safely.
Hello, I'm from a latam country so I dont really know how things work in the US outside from news I read online occasionally and memes lol. I thought this genuenly was a problem in the US. I have seen videos of teachers explaining explicit sex to 4-8 year olds. Books talking about sexuality and rubbing penises inside vagina targeted to kids below 8. And trans people dressed and presenting to little kids. Were this extreme cases and not really the norm over there? Maybe my algorithm thinks I'm a 40 year old republican or something lol.
No, your algorithm must be feeding you stuff from some far right propaganda outlets, but none of that is happening. Sex ed for kids that young is them learning the words for the different parts of their bodies, and how to find and tell a safe adult if someone is abusing them. Nobody is talking to them about actual sex. Especially not what sounds like a very niche kind of sex act. There aren’t books with explicit sex or even non-explicit sex targeted for 8 year olds. That’s also a lie. There are books about sex in many libraries, but you have to be an adult to access them. There is a graphic novel about what it was like to grow up as someone who isn’t straight, but it’s not something that you will find in a school library unless you bring it in yourself. Again, you have to be an adult, with an I’d showing that you are 18 or older, have a library card as an adult, and present all that to a librarian in order to get access to it. Drag performers presenting to kids? There’s a thing called “drag queen story hour” where a drag queen dressed up, often as elaborately as a Disney princess, and reads a kid’s book (an actual kid’s book) to a group of parents and children. I remember a person dressed as a bunny reading a book in the children’s section of the library when I was a kid. It was fun. Same thing here. The kid’s laugh at the person in a costume, hear a story, go home.
what’s wrong with trans people presenting to little kids? they’re just people like anyone else?
This is not at all a reality at American schools. Politics aside, it’s a pretty deeply conservative culture when it comes to sexuality. But acceptance of trans teachers is a positive thing. Not by any means universal in the US, but a good thing when it happens. I’m not sure what you mean by trans people dressed and “presenting” to kids, like drag queens doing a performance? There’s a program called Drag Queen Story Hour. This is not at all about sexuality. It’s fun princess dress up and acceptance of difference, and storytime.
No, it's not actually happening the way some extremists are saying, Sure there are a few isolated cases, but that's nowhere near the "lgbt agenda" that homophobes/etc like to say is happening. Yes, some teachers do abuse their position, but it's the exception, not the rule
He didn’t believe anything you told him right?
[удалено]
You must not hang out with many people.
"As a teacher I work hard to make sure the kids don't turnout like you."
Cloward-Piven is happening…
My secret agenda is to get a new generation into comic books (not the movies, actual comic books) and not to get killed for being openly trans in public.
Sounds like you are a good teacher who is just trying to teach her kids. Wish all teachers were like that. Unfortunately, their are some that try to push agendas, both conservative and liberal. I have seen it both with my boys in elementary school in both California and now Tennessee.
Go on.
????……go on with what? Did you want the examples? I purposely left them out because I was simply giving this teacher praise, not trying to start a debate. Not trying to say that is what you are doing, but I find people are very quick to judge and argue on Reddit. Lol
I’d like to know the examples. Not to gaslight you, just to know the real examples. I hear horrific, definitely unacceptable stories on YouTube or podcasts, but then friends and family tell me those are not widespread. I don’t know what to believe. I have 1 year old and choosing school for him in couple years is really anxiety provoking for me. I don’t want my kid indoctrinated or keep secrets from me under the instruction school teachers or staff.
Well first off I would say not to be too worried, most teachers we have come across just want to teach their students and make it through the day. And also have open conversations with your kids about their day, they pretty much tell you everything with far greater detail than you want. Lol In California which is where we are originally from, my dons 5th grade teacher started the school year with the kids going around and giving their pronouns. They had a boy in their grade who wore a wolf tail and identified by his “wolf self” (whatever that means) and the kids were instructed by their teacher that they needed to use his preferred pronouns because people can be whatever they identify as. They had a few gay pride and trans flags hung in the class but, stuff like that. Other little examples but I don’t want to make this too long. Feel free to message if you want. In Tennessee it’s the opposite, my son had a teacher going on about Easter and why we celebrate it, felt like a mini sermon. Sons say the teacher talks about church a lot, little things like that. Now full disclosure, we are Christian so the church stuff doesn’t bother us, but I feel like, if I wouldn’t want someone in authority talking to my kids about their beliefs like they were fact, then I don’t think it should be cool the other way around just because I agree with it. School should be a place for learning.
How dare they have pride flags to show students who are gay that they matter! School is a place for learning and one of the things that we learn is empathy.
So you cool with them flying the Christian flag or the Ten Commandments on the wall, what about a Maga flag? How about an all lives matter flag? If you want personal or political statements to be made you have to allow it for everyone. Or we could just focus on the learning.
[удалено]
How's that workin' out for ya ?
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[holds up mirror]
So?
Viewpoints like empathy, understanding, and acceptance rather than bigotry? How awful.
Thinking that every teacher is doing it is dumb. Thinking that no teachers are doing it is dumb.
No, thinking this is happening at all because Tucker Carlson told you so is dumb. That’s the end of the statement.
If you have one option and present it as boring and uninteresting and heap attention on children who choose the other option you will get some children to switch options for the attention. In [this classroom](https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1653879932026781697) who do you think will get more attention/praise/encouragement?
In the classroom where they do this kind of stuff one week per year? Are you also worried that during black history month, all the students are going to want to be black? I think you should worry about more important things.
~~1. Pride month is only a week long now?~~ Edit: fixed. 2. You think [this person](https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1637925374121132034) is keeping the indoctrination/attention/praise to one month per year?
1. Did you watch the video that you yourself linked in the previous comment? The teacher literally says "pride week" 2. I have no idea, literally never seen that person before. I won't assume and neither should you. 3. I hardly think attention, praise and indoctrination are the same thing and you shouldn't use them interchangeably. 4. If it was that easy to change someone's gender identity or sexuality, you'd think there wouldn't be any gay or trans people around since that shit's been taboo up until very recently and arguably still is in lots of places. The presence of gay people in societies where that kind of thing is basically a death sentence should tell you that you don't have to worry about previously straight people being turned gay. Unless they were already gay to start with of course, in which case I would say "right on!"
I'm sorry, I was mistaken about week/month. I'll fix that.
there were no “options” presented in that video that indicate “choosing” a gender/sexuality though. do you think wearing a rainbow bracelet or having a pride flag means someone is gay?
What? Who is out there turning kids gay? Lmao
Probably more likely scenario is encouraging someone in their trans identity and they get medical procedures done too young, although I doubt it really would happen since parents have to consent to that anyway Edit: Easy with the downvotes, fellow liberals. To be clear I don’t care at all what medical decisions parents make for their own kids. Just explaining how those who do put their nose where it doesn’t belong are thinking. Sheesh 🤷
I have students in my building who are on hormone suppressants, with some as young as 14 on them.
And I’m 100% for parents making those choices for their own kids. Not my kid, not my decision. It’s weird how so many extreme rightists like to act so concerned about other peoples’ kids lol
Wow that is messed up
I mean, not really. Puberty blockers are easily reversible. No harm done if they want to take a minute to figure out who they really are before puberty happens.
Except that it doesn’t. There is no study on its safety. Also high testosterone on girls cause many medical issues and high estrogen in men can cause cancer. It’s not safe. How do I know? Personal experience. I have PCOS and have high testosterone level for woman. I battle with insulin resistance, infertility and other issues like weight, acne, and high risk for heart disease. It’s crazy to me that we are administering testosterone to healthy girls and tell them it’s completely safe. It’s not.
Same token most of one of my classes is on antidepressants and mood altering drugs. Can I be concerned about the number of teens being my prescribed these drugs? Do they have serious side effects? Yes to both. But at the end of the day, that’s between them and their parents and their doctors.
> Also high testosterone on girls cause many medical issues and high estrogen in men can cause cancer. It’s not safe. Puberty blockers aren't testosterone or estrogen.
This is true.
This is not happening. No minor is being prescribed hormones. I’m sorry that this makes you feel personally upset in the light of your own issues, but that doesn’t make any of these things true. You need to step back and realize that you’re falling into echo chambers of reactionary hysteria that are not based on reality. And also that this is none of your business.
Okay then. I'm sure when they start committing suicide you'll pretend it had nothing to do with your child mutilating religion too
That’s what happens when you tell kids they can’t be anything but what you told them they are. You’ve got it backwards.
Your post history also shows antivax fearmongering and anti-gun control nonsense, so I’m not sure your views on anything else are to be taken seriously.
Yes. I prefer reason over being told what to think. None of that has to do with your desire to give children drugs, and lie to them about the effects. Go tell the folks over at /r/detrans they're not to be taken seriously. I'm sure they'll love that lol
You are so far from reason it can no longer be found on any map. Nothing more to say to you.
So?
We as teachers have a tremendous power over our students and position of privilege But, I posit two things: what could someone have said to 12 year old you that would have made you become and remain gay. Not experiment; full out switch sexualities. Who was more important to you: your fellow middle school peers or your teacher regarding approval? The second thing I offer is: There's more of a chance of kids whose parents are normal and just encourage their gay or trans child to be themselves serving as walking happiness advertisements than me who harps on people about not wearing their hoods up for encouraging people. Certainly there are people out there who use their position poorly. We actually heard about articles of the anti Biden woman talking to her students about that. But.... Those people aren't convincing anyone. Students just talk about that former crazy person.
>But, I posit two things: what could someone have said to 12 year old you that would have made you become and remain gay. Not experiment; full out switch sexualities. I don't know the exact words, but the answer is yes it is possible. You don't need a lifelong study where you try to convince a kid to be gay to see that this is possible. You can just compare national rates versus rates in certain schools or communities. If it weren't possible the rates would be the same. Also, nice try pretending this is only a problem for 12+ and not a problem for younger children too. Slick. I teach many different ages and even in the early teens there are some kids that care more about their peers and some that care more about my approval. For instance there was a student who let me know that other students had cheated on a quiz despite knowing it would have social consequences and there would be no consequences for saying nothing. Like I said in another comment earlier- "If you have one option and present it as boring and uninteresting and heap attention on children who choose the other option you will get some children to switch options for the attention. In [this classroom](https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1653879932026781697) who do you think will get more attention/praise/encouragement?"
>I don't know the exact words, but the answer is yes it is possible. You don't need a lifelong study where you try to convince a kid to be gay to see that this is possible. You can just compare national rates versus rates in certain schools or communities. If it weren't possible the rates would be the same. No, the rates wouldn't be the same. But that's not because the schools in more gay-accepting areas are 'making' students gay. The number of students who are gay is the same in both gay-accepting and non-gay-accepting schools. However, in order for a gay student to self-report as gay, they need to know they would not be beaten and abused for saying they were gay. They would need to know that it was ok to admit that the feelings of attraction they have towards members of the same sex were not sinful and shameful, but part of the human experience. In many areas in the country, those students have reason to be afraid and ashamed, and so would not admit they were gay, even if they were. Those students in open areas weren't 'made' gay. Gay students in bigoted areas were 'made' to be silent about it.
I wish one teacher, just one, had been a hundredth as supportive of LGBTQ+ people existing as that teacher is. I grew up somewhere that not being straight got you bullied and beaten up. I was absolutely convinced that I was straight, after all, I liked women, had girlfriends, looked masculine, still got the crap beaten out of me from 6th through 12th. Pushed my bisexuality down so far I didn’t even realize that I was bi until I was 44. All the time I spent hating myself for stray thoughts or random dreams because I had been raised to hate gay people. Then years of not understanding where those thoughts and dreams were coming from. If one person had said, “Look, I understand that you have to hide who you are because it’s not safe, but here are some things that gay and bi people have said about what kinds of thoughts and feelings and crushes they had as a teenager,” I’d have seen myself in their stories and would have had a much healthier and happier time growing up. A flag? A button? A wristband? A lapel pin? A brief moment of positivity from a teacher? In exchange for spare change for a suicide prevention hotline for LGBTQ+ kids? How can you be so threatened by someone being supportive to all their students, not just the ones that are straight and cis?
This is the take. “To those accustomed to disproportionate privilege, any move toward equality seems like an assault”
Using the national rates for this... Ok. Let's do that with left handedness. 13% of people in the United States are left handed, compared to say 4.7% in China or 9.63% in Spain. Since 12% of the world is left handed... That's statistically higher in America. Maine and Vermont have even higher populations of left-handedness still. So, if we compare world rates to US rates and then note that particular communities have statistically more left handed people even still... We can concluded people are forcing or indoctrinating people into left handedness. If it weren't happening and possible, the rates would be the same.
The difference in rates is due to the difference in parents and community acceptance of those kids coming out. It doesn't mean those kids don't exist in other places. Not everyone is hateful as you are.
"Woke-ness" is just a pejorative term for anti-bullying, so I hope every educator is teaching that.
thinking wokeness is even a thing beyond a conservative monster in the closet is legitimately a symptom of fuckinmornitis. you might wanna get tested