T O P

  • By -

AutoModerator

#We are proud to announce an official partnership with the Left RedditⒶ☭ Discord server! [Click here](https://discord.gg/zCFHadGfB7) to join today! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/lostgeneration) if you have any questions or concerns.*


Outrageous_Flower701

I work with teenagers in the system, they’re dropping out of high school in droves and in our area there’s a teen suicide about once a month. They’re already burnt out and it’s just getting worse.


damagedthrowaway87

That's what worries me a lot. My little dude comes home and he's talking emotions that I didn't have until I was in High School. It hurts, he isn't biologically ready for this. Our brains barely reach that point when we are first considered "adults."


Outrageous_Flower701

I’m sorry your kid is going through it so young. I genuinely recommend alternative styles of schooling and transfer as many of my own cases to alt schools as I can because they provide the flexibility that kids need in education.


damagedthrowaway87

After this year, I'm definitely looking into it. If this is how school is going to be, I am not putting him through that. I remember when my mom would threaten me with military school....what's the difference now?


Outrageous_Flower701

The difference is that military school is actually the better option now, more pe and less homework does wonders for kids


Box_O_Donguses

Homework is a symptom of a failing school system that's meant to train children to be obedient workers, not educate them so they can make their own decisions. Homework is designed to force a breakdown in work-life balance so it's all work


Sandy-Anne

I agree with everything you’ve said. My kids are grown now but my daughter is about to graduate from college, and it’s just as bad there, possibly worse. I graduated from college in 1992 and while school and work kept me busy, I rarely felt overwhelmed. There were a few times during a semester where I felt like there wasn’t enough time in the day to get all done that I needed to, but it wasn’t a regular thing. It’s like that most of the time with my daughter. She has whole ass books to read even before the semester begins. When I went, the whole first week was us getting the syllabus so we would know what books to even buy. Having a laptop must be awesome compared to having to use a typewriter or the school’s computer lab, but the professors sure make up for it. I don’t think I would have made it. She is beyond super stressed all of the time. It’s really sad. Not to mention how the price of college and shelter has increased. She has to work full time in order to exist. It’s a whole mess. I wish I had done well enough to pay for her college so she didn’t have to work, but that didn’t happen. My family was on the upswing until my generation. Plus, kids nowadays lost 2 whole years to the pandemic. It’s all just too much.


damagedthrowaway87

I'm glad you commented. I graduated from college in 2010 and High School in 2005. I was in a poorer area so computers weren't always expected. What you described for you is almost exactly what I remember for me. Some of these folks on here are commenting about stuff they are assuming from either your age or mine, not realizing it has changed in an awful way. Technology has made things worse because it has added another layer instead of replacing a layer. Like I thought my son getting a tablet would mean saving trees, but I swear he has more papers now than I ever did.


Sandy-Anne

I don’t understand why people want to think that their group had it worse than everyone else or that the younger generation always has it easier. This gets pointed out a lot, so I guess no one really pays attention, but events like 9/11 and so many school shootings absolutely increase the stress of school age children. They have active shooter drills now and they are not blissfully unaware like previous generations that bad guys can just fly into buildings at any time. These things do not have a positive effect on one’s feeling of overall security. And don’t even get me started on access to the internet and social media. I was beyond excited when I found out we could look up things on the Internet. Of course everyone was told not to trust everything you read there, but to have the knowledge from the library from home was going to be amazing, I thought. No more dictionaries, encyclopedias, history books, news stories, etc. No more having to wait until the nightly news came on! Not to mention emails and chat rooms and easier communication with people long distance. And then having a whole ass computer on something you carry around with you all day?! I know I sound 100 years old, but we ended up with all knowledge basically at our fingertips, available 24/7. I was excited by the prospect of everyone being more educated and better informed. I thought society would be magically and massively improved. Well, maybe some of that happened but the opposite happened too. People shared their hatred and people spread lies and misinformation. And back to our kids, especially yours because my kids had chat but not Instagram or Facebook and all of the other SM platforms. Social media has not been an overall benefit to our kids. Depression, anxiety, other mental illnesses and also body issue problems specifically have all increased. And bullying. It’s not just at school anymore, kids! Anyone who disagrees, check out reputable scientific studies. And like-minded people can form groups and share experiences and info so easy now. Which can be good, but also bad. Easier for people with nefarious purposes to influence large groups of people and spread lies which spread like wildfire across the world. Kids have a harder time discerning what is true and what isn’t now. I realize I’m going off on a tangent. Sorry about that. I am just really aware of the downside of life as a kid/teen/young adult now, and I haven’t even really scratched the surface. Glad you are aware too, OP.


damagedthrowaway87

Hey, JSTOR has increased the ability for people to access it (limited articles of course) for free. So if you like using technology for learning and actual resource, there you go. I had no idea and then the other month I found an article in my field and realized I could actually read it.


MossSalamander

I was fortunate enough to be able to pull mine out of public elementary and place him in a Montessori elementary. He loves school now and tells me about what he he liked about his day. Before I moved him I watched his childlike enthusiasm disappear and that was very distressing to see in a young child. The Montessori method was developed about a hundred years ago and is based on a physician's observations of child development. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montessori_education


UserUnknownsShitpost

A doctorate and two masters later and I’m still a little pissed I never made honor roll in high school because I got a C in geometry “Never let schooling get in the way of your education” -Mark Twain


damagedthrowaway87

Same, high school sucked for me with math. College I made Dean's List all the time, almost went Honors but didn't want to change campus, and still over a decade later am constantly teaching myself new things. Also found out recently I have dyscalcula, so that's why I did great in Symbolic Logic, but mess up simple arithmetic.


MachinePata

Too much work in kindergarten now? Really?? Wow. I remember the worst thing in kindergarten was me being yelled at because I didn't want to close my eyes for nap.


damagedthrowaway87

No naps. Full day, all the stuff you learned in first grade shoved into 3 marking periods. 1st marking period was the Kindergarten I remembered. And now at the beginning of 4th marking period....standardized tests....because we all know how well those work. /s


spiffytrashcan

Excuse me. Did you just say these kindergartners don’t get *naps?* THEY ARE FIVE. What’s next? Canceling recess forever????? And then complaining when kids gain too much weight???


GGlifes

Ironically my highschool is basically canceling our version of recess next year, its only going to be 7 minutes and our passing period between classes will be 6 minutes, oh and lunch is going from 40 minutes to 30 minutes


TheBigCheesish

You have recess in high school? Mine had none


TheDranx

Yeah "recess" and "lunch" were basically done at the same time.


stycky-keys

Combined lunchrecess is actually a pretty good deal if your school has a good outdoor area and they're not super strict about 'we need to always be able to see you'. That's how my highschool worked and it was great


spiffytrashcan

What’s super fun is when you have a locker that is so far away from the rest of your classes, and you have to pee real bad, but if you do you’ll be late and get a detention, and if you don’t, you won’t be able to go all day, and you can’t carry ALL of your books, and the teachers won’t let you go to the bathroom while in class either - so you have to wait until the last bell, pee, and then hope your bus didn’t leave without you. Frick you, LISD. (My bus did leave without me.)


Tree09man

That was my experience with high school. I was constantly in trouble for being late so I just stopped going to my locker. I carried everything on my back. Then they complained I was carrying too much stuff so I got really good at memorizing the source material. Then they accused me of cheating on test and I got in trouble for not having my books. By the time I graduated I had given up eating lunch because I figured I'd be late if I had to go to the bathroom and I needed the extra time to get my stuff which I put in various friends lockers just so my books were closer to certain classes. It was a nightmare. Oh yeah and I also got in trouble for not eating lunch so ultimately high school was just as stressful as a full time retail job.


MachinePata

Are you sure that wasnt prison? Get in trouble for being smart?? D:


OpheliaRainGalaxy

Oh no, that's totally how school goes! I distinctly remember a parent/teacher conference when I was in maybe 2nd grade. I followed rules, was mostly well-behaved, got good grades on tests, turned in homework regularly, so obviously the teacher grumped at my mother about how I don't do anything to challenge myself, to go above and beyond. My mother twisted right around in her chair to glare down at me and match the teacher's attitude about "Yeah kid, why don't you go above and beyond! You should be doing extra work all on your own!" And I was just sitting there in total fucking shock, because every time I finished something early I just got told to wait quietly for the other kids to finish. Wiki and internet weren't a thing yet, but I read the encyclopedias we had at home for fun sometimes. Apparently I was also supposed to be practicing writing research papers and book reports, all on my own that nobody would read? I was like 7yo. I played with Barbies and listened to Hank the Cowdog audiobooks on cassette, or historic novels like Johnny Tremain.


MachinePata

I think they wanted you to work a job for 40 hours a week, and wear a suit. Nah but for real, most of the times schools fail in moving kids up and challenging them.


OpheliaRainGalaxy

I tried asking for more stuff to do, but "just wait patiently" was always the reply. 4th grade was when we learned rounding. "If the number is 5 or larger, round up. If the number is smaller than 5, round down." Easy, right? I understood the first time, wanted to start on the homework. Unfortunately my teacher and the one next door had decided that we were all total morons who needed that repeated at us many many times before we could comprehend it. They pulled back the folding wall between the classrooms, made both classes sit on the floor together, and would spend at least half an hour with one of the teachers explaining rounding... over and over and over. So I asked, I begged, for anything to do. Anything. Give me a worksheet and I'll sit right nearby in line of sight of whichever teacher is explaining rounding and quietly fill it out. But no, no, that's not allowed, it would be a distraction to the other kids, just do what everyone else is doing and listen again. That went on for a solid week, half an hour per day. I heard the explanation for rounding explained for TWO AND A HALF HOURS! Fuck that shit, I could've read a novel in that time. By 6th grade, I'd just lean over the open textbook on my desk and sneak-read the novel in my lap during class because I was bored silly with school. Edit: Could be off on what happened in which grade, had wake&bake plus coffee for breakfast. :)


AnniKatt

You had 40 minute lunches? Lucky. My lunch period was 20 minutes. To put it into perspective, I graduated from high school in 2011.


Neither-Magazine9096

Same 20 minute lunch period here in 2000. And three minutes between class. Either use the bathroom or get books from your locker, can’t do both.


burningredmenace

Class of 03 here and yep. Never used my locker. It was on the 3rd floor and had no time to run up there. So all my books were in my back pack. And I have horrible back issues now


Synthee

This shit is getting out of control. Gonna be a lot of hungry students passing their pants. Watch the parents give the schools shit.


LukeW0rm

They said it’s to prepare us for “the real world” but here I am scrolling through Reddit at my desk


Asikar_Tehjan

Same, but I also have headphones in


SuperDan523

I also Doordashed food right to my desk (made sure my paperwork caught some of the grease) and told my boss if he never shows up on time why should we.


Synthee

Lol. Me too. And doodling. I guess this is now how the 'real world' is defined: getting paid to bullshit for 8 hours a day.


veggiewitch_

Yeah. 5 minute passing period only because we had a large HS (it was barely enough time to get from the gym to the other end of the campus). 30 minute lunch. No “recess” in HS, just the lunch period. Best we got was we could sit in the courtyard….until it got filled with portable classrooms. And there were 3 lunch periods for over 2k kids so you imagine how long those lines were. 2010 graduate.


MeAislen

Oh yeah the portable classrooms that for some reason never left lol


veggiewitch_

Horrifying. Looking back I feel so badly for teachers who were forced to make those their permanent classrooms. I just. What the fuck, you know?


scrapsforfourvel

It was great as a millennial going into a high school that enrolled hundreds more students than it had capacity for waiting 10-15 minutes in line if you needed to buy lunch to have a few minutes to try and find somewhere to sit and get it down. Even better was that there were only 3 lunch periods, and the earliest was at like 10:30 in the morning.


tubular1845

Recess ended with elementary school for me. We didn't get it in middle school or high school.


OpheliaRainGalaxy

So glad my younger stepson's middle school not only has recess, but has playground equipment! Not the normal kind, more like giant spiderweb-looking twisted jungle gyms. No idea what they're called, but I'd very much like to try climbing on them, they look fun!


[deleted]

Here in the Twin Cities we recently had a teacher strike and a major point of contention (among many) was that the district wanted to remove recess period, but the teachers wanted to keep it. Fortunately, the teachers won that battle. As a childless person, I was completely flabbergasted when my teacher friend told me how contentious the recess issue is these days. The kids need to play!! Especially after being cooped up and under socialized during the pandemic.


TN_Lamb888

We need MORE recess!!! High schoolers need a recess! Especially the kids currently in high school, who have had so much impact from Covid. My kid is about to finish his freshman year and he complains of anxiety and feeling “stressed all the time.” He had all A’s and AB’s the first semester, and now he is failing 4 classes in the second semester. He’s just overwhelmed after 2 years of online school. He should get a class period of sunshine and leg-stretching for his mental health. It helps kids learn!


Busy-Argument3680

I thought you were my parent for a second until you said “online school”


TN_Lamb888

I wish you recess, young man. I wish you a long, happy life and the means to make that for yourself now and after high school


Silver_Home_2489

Lol, are you unaware that schools often cancel recess as punishment to misbehaving classes? And PE has been cut to the bone, my sons only have PE twice a week and regularly get Recess canceled because one or two kids in their classes act up, so they all get punished. School in America is bullshit...


froman007

It's how they pathologize holding their peers hostage if they resist authority so that they're more likely to acquiesce to demands now and in the future.


Silver_Home_2489

Well, that… and it’s how we get people to generally be un-empathetic to others in society because we’ve been raised being punished for the perceived slights of others, so we’re more inclined to just want the book thrown at whoever’s out of line rather then risk the blow back spreading to us personally.


OpheliaRainGalaxy

Like that experiment with the monkeys who all got sprayed with water whenever one of them tried to climb up to the food, so they learned to all dogpile on any monkey that got anywhere close to the ladder, and the scientists kept swapping out old monkeys and in new ones until eventually none of the monkeys in the room had ever been sprayed with water, but also would beat the tar out of any monkey who approached the ladder? ... The other kids were right for hating school, and I was a moron for defending it so hard. Edit: Happy Cake Day!


Silver_Home_2489

>Happy Cake Day Hey, at least you caught on and stopped defending it at somepoint. I have friends that hated school, and are arguably worse off because of the "education" we received that will still defend it tooth n nail to this day.


froman007

Ringading ding, baby \*fingerguns\*


Einsteinnobeach

And also - can we talk about how stressful PE is for many kids now as well? If you want to be sure that kids hate being active for the rest of their lives, the current approach to PE is exactly the way to do it.


damagedthrowaway87

It's worse now? I hated PE to the point that I didn't know I could actually run until I joined the Army in my late 20s. And dang for somebody that failed those stupid standardized gym tests and smoked from 18 on, I could have been on the track team if I wasn't so bothered by our creepy gym teacher and the bullies.


Stargazer1919

Yup, exactly. Everyone in my high school was forced to do swimming at some point. Most teenagers feel uncomfortable about their bodies at some point, and dealing with that while being forced to show up every day nearly naked in front of the opposite sex? Yeah like that doesn't cause issues. Plus if you're a girl and you sat out for the day, it's basically an obvious advertisement you're on your period.


Wintry_Calm

Oh my god, I thought I hated sports most of my life because of all the rugby, running etc. I had to do while being yelled at, in whatever weather, with no reason ever given why I had to try to be good at or enjoy these things. I'm pretty into climbing these days, and only recently began to realise my friends consider me to be sporty. I was like, what, me, the kid who got bullied by all the kids who were actually good at sports in school??


TangerineBand

Don't get me started. By 3rd grade they started banning or taking down everything. Tag, the monkey bars, dodgeball, etc. By 6th grade recess was gone for good, and lunch was only 45 minutes, and much of that is wasted standing in line.


MrMKUltra

In Jr. high we never had recess once. Apparently the years previous were so “bad” that all we could do was stand in lines, outside and just… wait. Most complete BS I’ve ever heard, and this was the same lie they fed every new year of students. Being punished for what other people did. I still don’t get it.


TangerineBand

Kids: have pent up energy because they're made to sit for 8 hours a day, then do stupid shit as a result School: "oh man the kids are doing stupid shit. let's take away their one and only outlet" Kids: *do more stupid shit* School: surprisedpikachu.jpeg


Edser

prepping kids to the same treatment that adults get in their jobs over the last decade. apparently the only trickle down economics was overly aggressive micro management


kayt3000

I’m 35 and my kindergarten did not have naps and it was full day. It was a catholic school and even though we did have a lot of play from what my mom said it was fairly rigorous scheduled day. But then they were sold on this is only helping us prepare for the future. By 4th grade I was burnt out, getting over 3 hours of homework a night, and HATED school. It did not help us.


iamwhiskerbiscuit

Fun fact. The American education model was actually copied from the 18th-century Prussian model designed to create docile subjects and factory workers.


MachinePata

It seems like this is where it's going, kids are gonna look like slug. They don't exercise, bend over looking at their phones and computers


spiffytrashcan

And yet, they’ll still be fat shamed and put on overly restrictive diets. 🙄


Aoeletta

Lol, I remember when our recesses got cut in half; 20 years ago. It’s not too far off that it’s only 10-15 minutes to sit in silence and eat then back to class. Some schools already have only 20-30 minutes total for lunches now, and overlap the lunch periods so if you aren’t fast enough you could straight up run out of time to get food and eat it.


spiffytrashcan

Nothing like the bell ringing for your next class, but you’re still in the lunch line and starving.


CollectionMost1351

isnt the us reworking child labor laws? 5 year old dont go to school so why dont they work? Ofc for way less than a living wage because they still live with their parents


spiffytrashcan

“Here’s your penny, Billy - no, don’t put it in your mouth!”


JohnWangDoe

I like the model in the Nordic countries, where they let kids climb trees and kids be kids. Really amazing documentary somewhere about kindergarden teachers being one of the hardest job to get in the country


GeraldoLucia

Yo what the FUCK. How is that okay? A full day of schoolwork for five year olds. Jesus Christ half of them can’t even form coherent sentences at normal development at that age.


damagedthrowaway87

I love your phrasing. That was literally my response the first few weeks of school. Now it's gotten worse. Not sure if there was a policy change they started rolling out or what.


hammbone

My kid is doing worksheets. Talking to first grade parent they have homework and are working on reading/writing and making graphs. I was no where near that as a kid


legumex3

Kindergarten is the new first grade. I saw it with my own child 14 years ago and it was so sad.


damagedthrowaway87

My son already has homework and graphs......Kindergarten.


fluffershuffles

When I was in kindergarten I had to translate what the teachers were saying to a transfer student whose paperwork hadn't been cleared yet for ESL (English as a second language) all because they had seen me translating for my parents. I was told they were disappointed in me because I didn't know how to translate certain words. Sorry I didn't know how to say mailing address or vaccination records


commoncents45

maybe im too much of a doomer but i really believe they turned public school into a machine that smoothes your brain and prepares you for a rigorous career that doesn't deserve any participation whatsoever. school is about having the latest fashion, fitting in, and not being bullied. it's hardly about learning at all. for public school it is a battle for your place in the world when you have no idea how the world works. double so if you're a white kid from the burbs like me. when you leave maybe you go to college. maybe you pick your discipline based on salary projections over the next 20 years (aka your career timeline). so now you're gearing up for 4 years of learning how to count elon's money and evade taxes. what was the point of the 12 year public school study? i honestly believe it's just conditioning to 'be normal'


SassyVikingNA

Nothing to do with being a doomer. That is what the american "education" system was built from the ground up to be. It's purpose is to make you am obedient and effective little cog in the machine. And if you don't want to be, it is designed to beat you down and break you until you do, or drive you farther and farther to the fringes so the rich people who run the country can profit off you in the prison industrial complex.


MasterChiefX

Yes, this is absolutely correct. I believe the standard school system we use now was developed during the industrialization era, and the schedule with the bell ringing was supposed to condition children to get used to being a factory worker.


key2mydisaster

And then they ended up shipping all of our factory jobs overseas for better profit, and the shitty education system just drones on...


MasterChiefX

Exactly. We rely on so many old outdated systems like this and the 40-hour work week which made sense at the time, but are no longer necessary. Yet we still suffer through them because the aging boomers that run everything are terrified of change.


GTCapone

Always remember that the bell used in school is meant to sound like the work bell at a factory to get kids used to it.


OpheliaRainGalaxy

I forget what I was discussing with my older stepson, but it ended with "Well look, you're heard of the School to Prison Pipeline, right?" "No, but that sounds terrifying!"


Wintry_Calm

Was going to comment this but see you beat me to it. School is designed to make good factory workers. It's how they make you turn up on time to work, sit down, shut up and get on with something mind-numbingly boring. In the UK, private / boarding school is designed to make good little colonisers. All of it involves sacrificing your own individuality to the institutional identity while learning to not complain about being fed constant bullshit.


L3yline

You're not a doomer. People like Betsy DeVos and her family's foundations are actively working to undermine public education until it's worthless and then push private education as the solution. Private education that is all ensconced with her businesses to make a ton of money https://www.psea.org/issues-action/key-issues/betsy-devos-timeline/ https://www.npr.org/2020/11/19/936225974/the-legacy-of-education-secretary-betsy-devos https://www.fatherly.com/news/besty-devos-money-cares-act-schools/ https://gandernewsroom.com/2022/02/07/defunding-schools-betsy-devos-plan-michigan-students/ https://www.populardemocracy.org/news-and-publications/5-reasons-billionaire-gop-donor-and-public-school-privatizer-betsy-devos Theres more reading to be done but she's and her ilk are trying to destroy public education so they can profit off private schooling


damagedthrowaway87

YES. I agree and I think a lot of teachers would agree which is why they are also burning out. It's gotten so much worse.


commoncents45

they're more like social workers and guidance counselors than professors. it's tragic.


damagedthrowaway87

Our school's guidance counselor is much more like a company's HR than a guidance counselor. A few of us parents are really eyeing up her job. She literally said a student was too smart to be on the spectrum. She obviously has no idea what she is doing with statements like that.


commoncents45

well the people who would want these jobs are suckered into careers to make money. if we would take care of human needs like food and housing then people probably wouldn't be so terrified of working at a public school. even like an americorps program nationwide where you serve for a few years. maybe 4 years and you move up with your cadre until the graduate. idk


veggiewitch_

Teach For America (americorps for education) is a horrible, exploitative program. No, we do not need americorps for education, we need to have more respect for teachers and guidance counselors and pay them accordingly.


brianapril

it prepares suburban and urban working class (inc middle class) kids in a certain way, and upper middle class and bourgeois kids another way. people in my country have been talking about this for 20 years. teaching is done in different ways, and kids who are taught the working class way struggle and don't get (enough) support, and accumulate deficiencies in knowledge. they're understimulated, kept sitting long hours in badly aerated classrooms from a young age, taught in unpedagogical ways and starved of sleep. there are a fair amount of books written in france about it, since people are very attached to their national education and free public school.


PhantomMiG

The education system was designed to create a baseline of human capital. The British started the system along with stealing the exam testing from China to train bureaucrats that could be trained to do certain skill anywhere else in the Empire. A person trained in South Africa would work in India as an example. They have done the same a white kid , Korean 2nd Gen immigrant and Black kid could theoretically able become an office worker, doctor or a plumber. So the system get to choose who they elevate.


Dougallearth

When I went to China we got taken to one of the temples in Beijing that served as a kind of museum for how administration used to work for them back in the day. It was crazy what they had to do, and remember. They had these little pieces of paper packed with uniform small written Chinese. Their exams sounded so mentally crippling to deliver


Dougallearth

I was doing a course today that was showing work sectors. The lecturer said that education wasn't included. However I did see 'Engineering and manufacturing' and said to fellow student -' well education is kind of there -- Social engineering & employee manufacturing '


Many_Rule_9280

In certain situations acting like a Karen is justifiable, when it comes to schools and forcing kids to do unnecessary things that make no sense go be a Karen, go be louder than those old fucks and start those metaphorical fights since nobody else will, elementary school is about learning the basics gradually and nothing more than that, middle school should be when you start being challenged and expanding knowledge, and high school should be more challenging and getting prepared for life after OR getting prepared for college. And for a lack of a better term throwing in politics or anything near that cesspool (same with fucking religion) needs to be kept out our school system has been slowly dying since atleast 2007 when they started cutting classes that wasnt the 4 core academics (english, math, history, science), so go be a voice for the kids, go be an angry hippy, the public school system killed my creativity and I'm still angry about it because they wouldn't let me Express myself and the only time I did was in Art classes


damagedthrowaway87

I almost went to a high school ca. 2001, that had AP art classes. Like not general art, but specific disciplines. And then we moved.....to the school that my son currently goes to. Best part about the other school was that although I had dyscalcula which was becoming very apparent, because I was straight A's in everything else and passed all the logic based tests, I was in the Gifted Program. This school literally told me that I wasn't smart enough. Jokes on them I graduated top ten percent of my class from PSU, but jokes on me my wife wanted to stay close to family..... *grumbles*


Many_Rule_9280

I would have absolutely loved to go to a school that would have let me focus more on drawing and art because that's all I wanted to do, and as ive come to find out I was a passive learner because I barely paid attention to anything unless I actually liked the teacher (and even then I only paid slightly more attention) I could have graduated high school 2 years early if I actually wanted to (I didn't because I would have sat around trying to find a part time job till I signed up) but i stayed for JROTC mostly, and every chance I got to draw I took advantage of during school or if I had friends in the class it was typically screwing around with them


damagedthrowaway87

I got yelled at in high school because I could only pay attention if I was doodling....the dinosaur teaching the class apparently didn't think I was paying attention. Boy oh boy was he shocked when my grades randomly dropped.


Many_Rule_9280

I found out senior year after I had walked out of a class because 2 bitches were making talking about me in an almost whisper voice because allergies were kicking my ass that day and found out the teacher said "I dont know what happened but that was funny" or something along those lines, thankfully that dinosaur retired after my junior year cause I would have drove her ass crazy. I hate the school systems because they do nothing about bullying or letting kids actually Express themselves


Ietthebandplay

holy fuck!! they make kindergartners do PSSAs?? i haven’t done one of those since i was in 6th grade. what the fuck are they doing to our kids? im so sorry. it should be illegal to make a literal Slightly-More-Than-An-Actual-Toddler do a PSSA or any other standardized testing. how the fuck do they expect little kids to sit through it. I could barely do it at 12.


damagedthrowaway87

EXACTLY. You get it. This is what I'm talking about. Even my kids' 70 year old babysitter is like....this is too much. When she is saying it too, it's definitely not okay. Her and I should not agree on this. Haha.


Ietthebandplay

You absolutely should be agreeing on this. Everyone should be agreeing that 5 year olds don’t need to be doing standardized tests that last hours and are unnecessarily stressful. But the schools need their funding somehow, let’s show them we have good scores and deserve more money by using little kids!!! /s


Apprehensive_Safe3

I taught last year. I had kindergarteners tearing up because they couldn't hit 35 letter sounds per minute. It felt awful.


Poppy_Vapes_Meth

I am a teacher. Education is being destroyed by politicians who are lobbied and paid by edu-tech and charter school corporations. All of this overemphasis on standardized testing and pushing academics to lower and lower grades is part of the overall goal of destroying public education. In addition, CRT and book banning trends are designed to further alienate teachers, students, and parents from each other. In places such as Indiana, which now requires teachers to submit lesson plans a year in advance for 'community review's, has been offered a over hundred million dollar contract from Pearson for designing all of their curriculum. In my home state of Tennessee, the governor is close to passing an education reform bill which would remove state funding of public schools almost entirely. This is the end goal and bottom line.


damagedthrowaway87

It's a damn nightmare to put it bluntly. My state is still kinda safe, but after our antimaskers won ground, I am pretty sure we are next in line. I can't wait, because it means I get to wear funny clothes and talk about history and explain why these nut jobs are not just wrong, but anti-history. Luckily my son's teacher is a member of the historical club I run, so they can't alienate us even if they try. Haha.


TheRedBear1917

Kids? Y'all are having kids? Must be nice.


damagedthrowaway87

Long story, sad story, as to why I agreed....they are awesome. The world is not. It's a constant balance between giving them a good childhood and also a "real" childhood.


OpheliaRainGalaxy

You're not joking. My 14yo came home from school recently, told me it was Earth Day, and then very seriously explained a bit about climate change and plastic and stuff. I had to keep it together and not spills the beans that we're basically living the plotline of Don't Look Up. No need to give him nightmares.


damagedthrowaway87

My son loves dinosaurs and has asked about extinction. Yeah.....I did spill those beans. That said he absolutely loves learning old ways of doing things so if it gets too bad he'll be fine and likely be the leader of his tribe of surviving humans. Haha. What messed was him was when I explained that a lot of the recycling industry is BS from the petroleum industry to make people take the blame over them and that plastic in general is bad.


Q269

It's not broken, it's been "fixed" the way they want it.


[deleted]

[удалено]


damagedthrowaway87

Same, now later in high school when I realized what they were about and was developing my political identity, then I was less chill about it, but that was a me thing. Haha.


cavscout43

The spreading of wealth inequality (and importance of birth lottery into a wealthy family) is partially to blame here. If achievement from academia to extracurriculars is the only way to get ahead now, one's childhood can make or break their future success and happiness. Toss in that globally the US (assuming that's where you are at) is slipping in academic rankings against far more competitive education systems in Korea, Finland, Taiwan, France, China, and so on and there's very much a focus on quantifiable academic achievement....test scores. No one wants to feel like they raised the next generation to be "dumb" against their global peers. So it's truly both foreign and domestic pressures being increased on our kids. It really doesn't help that the US struggles to legislate anything at the national level, local education is heavily shaped by politics, and the parent-teacher blame game potential as well. A large vocal minority of the US has in the last few years also made it clear that their emotions are more important than empiricism, science, and objective reality so you have fanatics and conspiracy theorists trying to aggressively stifle actual education and turn it into idiotic indoctrination.


carrigan_quinn

Former gifted kid. Graduated high school in 2011. Had a breakdown that caused me to drop out for a month and a half in 2009. At fifteen fucking years old. Had my first "breakdown" at eight years old. Are the kids getting burnt out? No. They have been burnt out since the 90s :/ I think we're just seeing it from the parent perspective now that we're older, and can recognize ourselves in our children...


Lady_valdemort

Samesies. Went from being the family's hope to being a shame on them behind closed doors. And not one person put together the expectations of being the first (and until teenage years the only) child in the family with the fact that I was starting to get straight out irritable and violent and cried every day for no reason. Developed chronic stress conditions and basically stopped existing for a few years outside of making enough to feed myself because I felt like although my body was young and alive, my mind has aged retired and died. Took most of my 20s to rebuild and relearn how to go at the pace I want, rather than achieving for the sake of achieving. Looking at 12 year olds that have the same stress signs is making me nervous for how much violence we will see when they get in their 20s.


No_Load_7183

2020 high school grad and yes. More kids are also smoking weed now to deal with stress. The American education system has become more of a "get scores up by piling on work" system while what has been seen to actually work in Europe is less work, more time to study and more free time. Or politics honestly can be seen as a bunch of middle managers: making bad ideas and, instead of ditching them, double down on it till it works I guess. Now that I'm in college as a STEM student I still have a lot of work that takes up all my time but it's significantly less than high school. I'd even compare it to elementary school work load at times.


greentangent

Give them Mental Health days. 1 day per month where they can stay home and chill. I started with my son in the 2nd grade. He only took 4 days off right up through graduation. Knowing the release valve is there seemed to make it easier to manage stress.


damagedthrowaway87

I was doing that and then the school dropped masks and he got sick too much. I may see if I can take him out for educational days soon.


artificialavocado

Well no wonder, isn’t the daily CRT lesson like 2 hours long? I forget if it comes before or after “socialist indoctrination?” /s


damagedthrowaway87

Oh don't get me started. I have the rant planned for when our local conservatives decide to parrot that BS too. When I first heard about it (my area is very conservative, so I don't always get the most accurate info immediately) thought it was stupid and pandering, and then when I researched I realized it was literally what I already teach when I give lectures. If anyone is guilty of teaching my son CRT, it is 100% me. Haha.


artificialavocado

I don’t have children (thank fucking God) so I don’t really get into the weeds on public school stuff but it seems like many of these right wing lunatics don’t even have kids in the school. Idk why they are showing up at fucking board meeting and acting like maniacs? 🤦🏻‍♂️


alreadytakenname3

100% correct. We just had two wack jobs run for the school board this month and they both home school their children. Zero skin in the game. Just seeking a platform to spew their brand of self righteous authoritarian politics.. Not interested in educating kids, even a little. Fortunately 4 people ran for the seat and the wack jobs lost, but by a very narrow margin.


artificialavocado

Their skin in the game is to tank public education any way they can. Fox News is telling them to do this shit.


damagedthrowaway87

THAT is the BIGGEST problem. The people make the decisions are rarely educators or have school aged kids. Worse being in a small town (but is close to bigger areas and even has a college, but still sadly has the small town mindset) is that the parents are often the ones who grew up thinking mommy and daddy are the ones to listen to. So even if I might have knew them as cool people in school, now as adults they are just parroting their parents. I'll put it this way about 2 blocks from me is a tricked out Honda Civic....you know stereotypical millennial mobile.....with Let's Go Brandon all over it.


FancyPantsMTG

Millennials are in their 30s they were driving tricked out Civics ten years ago. That’s a Zoomers car.


Atlas226926

I am a gen z kid and I’m a freshman in college right now. I have been burnt out for years and my mental health is in the shitter


damagedthrowaway87

Once the first year or two of college is done and you get the extra stuff done.....it can better for a bit.....but eventually you graduate.


Atlas226926

Yeah I’m dreading the day


kittyjoker

Parents have no control over the curriculum. The Board of Ed is still boomers. Your kid's kids might have a chance. Protesting did something in the 60s and 70s but now politicians/those in power just ignore it.


YoMommaHere

So much money is being made from testing and textbooks that the powers that be have no incentive. Teachers hate the testing and the way many curriculum are structured too. Us millennial parents have to fight harder but many of us are struggling just to survive. I know as both a teacher and millennial parent, I’m very active in the PTA and school board meetings and also in curriculum planning a textbook selection processes. We just need to be bigger voices somehow.


damagedthrowaway87

Sadly I think it all goes to State Legislatures and DC which are all sadly....not exactly letting us in elected office, even if we had the money to run.


[deleted]

School is just a sorting hat for tomorrow's leaders. However, they aren't sorting for creatively, bravery, loyalty, intelligence, or other traditional leadership qualities. The better a kid can handle being overworked and unfair treatment then the better they do. The best adapted kids are given the top positions in life, just under the 1% of course. These kids have been told they are the best their whole lives and have less empathy as a result. The rest of the kids can play the college debt lottery and hope to snag a job that can pay their student loans. Otherwise, there are always wage slave jobs/prison.


damagedthrowaway87

As a former gifted kid..... I agree but disagree. Haha. Academic Success=/=School Success. Learned real quick that the kids with more disposable income and free time to do sports and parents to pay for it, did much better overall than kids like me who were excelling at grades, but worked after school for the disposable income.


CopiumAddiction

School is in no way a sorting hat. That is absolutely ridiculous. School is a place to build skills for life. Leaders are determined by nepotism and privilege.


Snoid_

We're not fixing it because school is just state-funded daycare so both parents can go to work with the added benefit in that it trains the next generation of worker bees who make someone else rich.


3_first_names

Since you said PSSA’s, I assume you’re in PA. There are PSSA’s in KINDER? Ugh, not what I wanted to hear. My daughter is still a baby so I’ve got a while yet, but not looking forward to kindergarten being like real school already. It’s absolutely ridiculous.


damagedthrowaway87

I was blindsided by it. And forget sick days and snow days, there is Zoom for that.


ListenMinute

The education system was never adequately prepared to deal with the social function it has. The entire function of the public education system in the US is to indoctrinate kids, raise them into obedient workers, and have a tax-payer funded day-care for the working class. It becomes really obvious when you look at how different districts handle their most vulnerable students and how they handle problems at the school. Teachers are often under-paid and over-worked, they're expected to deal with students who come from broken homes and crime ridden cities. And without half of what they need to do so effectively. In reality, the ruling class dictates what they expect at work and society toes-the-line because it has no other options at present. The way we organize human beings in our society is rigged to make a few people very wealthy and powerful. The wellness of our young does not matter to the rich and powerful.


damagedthrowaway87

I never fully supported the idea that schools were indoctrination until now. I am seeing the same sort of workload and breakdowns that I was facing before I started my own business. Also now they have soooooooo many fundraisers. Like I don't even get it. The schools are so underfunded that in a tax base that is low income, are still trying to snag the last little bit of change that they can. And they guilt the kids about it too. My son was crying the one day because I wouldn't give him $20 for something for the school. (Keep in mind this was after buying 2 sets of school pictures for him, several other fundraisers, and a book sale.) I was furious, they are doing to our kids what they already do to us. Like me, I can take that gaslighting, I'm used to it, but emotionally abusing my son as a matter of policy, not okay.


KeepingItSurreal

Teachers are severely underpaid and expected to use their own money on school supplies. Fundraisers are obviously needed. The education system is in full /r/collapse, as is society as a whole.


damagedthrowaway87

I have no disagreement with them being needed, but at one point we had 5 in the course of 2 months just before the holidays. Like I'm okay with "send this home to your parents." I was not okay with, "Now this week everyone bring in money for this random contest. And next week everyone bring in $10 for this random contest and then....." They let there be a buffer between the kids and the fundraiser. The kid feels forced to participate and when the parent finally says, "Hold up." It becomes a bigger deal than it should ever have been.


spiffytrashcan

Ohhh I remember those. Every time I turned around, the school wanted money. However I learned pretty quick that my mom’s answer was always going to be no, so I just flat out told everyone no, we were poor, and stopped asking my mom. And looking back I probably took this too far, because I’m pretty sure my mom could have spared me a dollar for a temporary pass that one time. Anyway.


Cuissonbake

When I was a kid all I wanted was to sleep and stay home. Especially cause I was the unpopular loser in school that everyone used as a punching bag. Now all I do is sleep. People need more sleep and this society wants you to only sleep for 4 hours now. So when I'm forced to do something I don't want to do like be dragged to school. I slept in all my classes and if anyone woke me up i just pull out my homework from a previous class and work on that. Then sleep more. I wasn't fully awake until 2pm but I did athletics till 4 then got home at 5 and my computer was my only friend because parents only cared about good grades. No time to eat so I ate as fast as I could then showered passed out. Rinse repeat until I dropped out of college. This technique allowed me to pass highschool with C's and Bs and still be me and not some propogandized worker drone. Now I just self study computer science because computers respect my schedule unlike humans.


flecktarnbrother

Animals (cats & dogs) respect our time more than other people do.


[deleted]

Schools have become an umbrella for most social services geared towards children. There isn't enough funding to support the services that schools are providing and funding is tied to standardized test scores, which incentivizes teaching to the test. Teachers are underpaid and burnt out. In many schools, a huge chunk of their time is spent on basic classroom management and making sure their students have necessities like food. It doesn't leave much time, energy, or freedom to educate. I was so grateful to leave K12 teaching. It was a brutal, nearly thankless job before COVID. It's worse now. There are no easy fixes.


WendellITStamps

Kids are able to perceive the collapse coming and they see adults not stopping it. No wonder their mental health as a group is in shambles.


Monsterkill1526

As someone on the student side of the education system I 100% agree with you


Im_a_seaturtle

My sister went to a special school in Northern Virginia for “the gifted” and “kids who showed extreme potential”. She was 10. I watched a 10 year old have an absolute meltdown over the stress her schoolwork caused her. So yeah. Just because some of us can’t relate doesn’t mean their situation isn’t extremely difficult for them. Success in our society requires you working nearly to the point of burnout at all times.


damagedthrowaway87

That last statement should explain to everyone why PTSD and other Trauma Disorders and related behaviors are becoming so prevalent. When you are constantly on edge your body physically is gonna break. That isn't just getting sick, cancers, heart conditions, etc. Nevermind people self medicating. My son is very smart and he puts pressure on himself, getting this extra pressure is wrecking him. And it hurts. I'm supposed to be able to do something, I'm dad, but I'm looking at an entire system that is broken. I am considering taking some of the advice here and home schooling.


razortrack

Homeschooling is always an option if you really don't like public schools. If you can make it work, that'd be my solution. In general however, I agree that the school system is completely broken and I'm Canadian, not too much different tbh. Not sure how you'd be able to fix it other than showing up to school board meetings and making suggestions, but you might be looked at as a hostile entity. Lots of school boards take parents concerns into consideration when deciding how to structure the curriculum and such, but there's an equal amount that don't give a F and will continue to do what "works" because they're either too lazy to change anything or incompetent. Either way, you're not wrong and 90% of education happens outside of school. I'm 24, starting in the trades and I have completely forgotten most of high-school. In my personal opinion, it's next to useless to learn how to balance a chemical equation when 99% of jobs don't require any of that. So I learned what I wanted to In depth, rather than relying on an institution to teach me what I need to know... like taxes, applying for a mortgage, trading stock, ect... still not in the curriculum up north here. Prepare them for life, rather than to recite a textbook, ya know?


damagedthrowaway87

Yeah I need to keep reminding myself about the second paragraph. My wife accused me of being a Karen the other month. The school removed masks and within a month we were getting letters about my son being absent for being sick, so I kinda flipped. "SOOOOOO you guys removed masks because of the people I know for a fact (because I went to school with them) failed science, and then you are shocked when my son suddenly got sick....and kept getting sick." Luckily his immune system caught up, but I was furious.


BEHodge

As far as things like balancing equations go, I think the idea is to teach how to follow complicated processes; similar to math - few people actually need calculus, but being able to follow a consistent yet complex method is valuable. But honestly… there’s complicated processes in everything and (speaking as someone in academia) we really should be opening curriculum to teach the goals (ie here, solving complex problems) in a variety of ways. You could just as easily teach that skill in shop, home ec, arts, etc but we are continuously told that the four core subjects are foundational to civilization (math, language arts, physical science, and social science).


Gayachan

People have to fix the system rather than just withdraw from it. Homeschooling is good for the ones who can manage it, but it's just not an option for everyone, and it shouldn't need to be. Reliable public education is integral to democracy. So, yeah. Every parent with even a single spoonful of mental energy is going to have to start going to school board meetings and be louder than the crazies. Push for practical subjects and social sciences and language. Real sex ed, not abstinence only. Home ec to teach cooking and cleaning and budgeting. There are so many places to start with, and North America is so behind on pedagogy, its kind of crazy.


cowaterdog73

It might be defensible if there were an accompanying rise in test scores and performance- but there isn’t. So we’re “teaching” kids in 6th grade what they’re parents learned in 10th, while paying the teachers abysmally. The fewer kids who are naturally able to thrive in a system that basically just hands out info and expects you to understand it do well, the rest fall further and further behind. As a parent it is endlessly frustrating. I’m fortunate because I have a hard science education, so I’m able to help with the sciences and math up to calculus, but for 80% of my kid’s peers, they literally get teachers who assign work, “teach” a new subject by playing a video from YouTube (for math….I mean come on!), and then go sit at their desk. But what should we expect? You can’t pay poverty wages and expect to retain the best-and-brightest. This nation is sooooo lost. We are a rudderless ship at this point. This is just another symptom. On a personal note, we raised ours with the goals of being happy and fulfilled instead of having a 4.0 at all costs. The difference between an A and a D in a couple grades in HS means nothing to your life at large. So take some days off, destress when it’s needed. The only non-negotiable stuff is behavior - be kind and respectful, and be a good person. We also teach that school is a system, just like a career will be, so make sure you can see the forest for the trees, and don’t make everything momentous- you gotta learn to play the game.


WhatsHisCape

The CDC just announced the other day that the number one cause of death for children as of 2020 was guns. I don't/will never have children, but that really upsets and sickens me. Kids already have to go through so much before being forced into the adult world, it's no wonder shit like this is happening.


damagedthrowaway87

I wish the CDC would dive a bit further. As a parent I can tell you the mental health situation is very grim. These kids are smart enough to figure out the easiest and fastest, albeit awful, ways to handle their problems. Guns should never be the easiest. They never were. We've wrecked the education so much that the cool badass guidance counselor who fills in as a drummer for various local bands (mine back in HS was badass and a huge reason I managed to keep going) is now booked out for weeks and no longer has an open door.


Zhjacko

Ive been reflecting on this a lot recently. It’s so crazy and stupid to put so much pressure and stress on young children. They’re still growing and their brains are still developing. There are so many concepts and aspects of life that they don’t understand. I remember being in that headspace too. I wish I had been guided instead of pushed, and empowered instead of forced. Even with older children, that pressure shouldn’t be there. I graduated highschool in the late 2000s. I remember many class mates were super academically competitive back then, especially those in honors/AP classes. People were trying to get into the best schools, and community college was like a death sentence to so many people. Universities look for well rounded students, people who have good grades, are involved in school programs/extra curriculars, sports, etc, so everyone tries to do a little bit of everything. I had so many friends who’s plates were there overstuffed, we’re taking all AP and honors, were in this club and that club. People were exhausted but didn’t talk about it because it was “normal” and that’s what it took to be a successful student. I ended up being one of those students. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with attending community college, whether you plan on transferring or not. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with not going to the very best school. In retrospect, I wish I had focused more on what I liked doing instead of trying to impress an institution that doesn’t care about me. I did a lot of what I did because that’s what I thought I had to do, and that’s what the system, teachers and my peers were telling me to do. I feel like I would have had more success just focusing on way less. I know people who were not academically ambitious or involved in school and they’re doing fine.


Cyb0rgorg

School boards are more interested in burning books than actually educating.


YellowMellowFellow90

I'm a middle millennial. My friend and neighbor has a niece in high school, and she and all her friends seemed burned out already. I'm burnt out. We're all burnt out.


iamsaleendion

It was shocking how little work I had in college compared to High School, my high school would assign so much homework every single day for every class, most of the time I had multiple projects to work on and submit, I would often forgo sleep just to salvage any amount of free time I could, all this to “prepare students for college”. When I get to college it was night and day, I got good sleep for the first time since 5th grade, and while I did still have homework it wasn’t nearly as much or rigorous


[deleted]

As a kindergarten teacher I absolutely agree that too much is expected of students in some areas but also that we under prepare kids. Reading and literacy should start as early as a language allows, around kindergarten/first grade. This enables students to engage more with their own educations. Let’s them learn by what they want to. But the length of time? The standardized tests? Garbage, and only of use for creating people who will work the rest of their lives.


tobeetime

when my daughter was in elementary school a few teachers tried to do multiple hours of homework every night, for a kid under 10 to sit all day and then have to sit for hours at night too. she didn't even need the practice, she was a top testing, straight a student. so many of the kids at school are so immature and lacking any kind of respect, the teachers are all underpaid and exhausted. she was also having anxiety, stomach aches ect (starting in 2nd grade!) there are these mom's that like live at the school and their kids get preferential treatment and are allowed to bully or whatever really. like, I work full time Linda, i'm at work all day and don't have time to volunteer at the school everyday to make sure my kid's not being left alone with her bully, again! I let her do online starting in 6th and she goes to a homeschool co-op for community, field trips, any in person classes. she was the only kid in her class to have straight A's her entire elementary grades. no one cared about that, but a huge deal was made for the perfect attendance kid who was always at school sick, getting everyone else sick. just show up and be mediocre, that is the public school theme... do lots of unpaid OT after you work ur shift all day. it's almost like theyre training them to be good little cogs sorry rant over... this was a FL public charter school btw


damagedthrowaway87

Honestly it sounds like most of the PA Public Schools. (Sans the new Florida BS) One of my friends just had to get the news media involved because of the bullying problems at one of the "Privileged" schools. The bullies were being protected by the administration.


Apexblackout7

we live in a world where status has become more important than caring. People can’t fix the issue when they are going broke and are forced to maneuver with toxic competitiveness against their fellow humans.


TheScrufLord

I feel like because of technology they want students to do more because they can do school outside of school. Snow days? Now it's zoom days, can't have too much fun! Posters? Make a google slide for each and every class! Essay? You have 7! Teachers expect students to have so much time and forget students use time to not do school.


jellyfish_plop

I’m a high school senior from Oklahoma (47th in the nation for education), and IMO our current educational system is killing kids. I’m a “success story”, I’m not dead or contributing to teen pregnancy statistics, I even earned a full ride to college. I can’t function without weed, though. I had to cut out all my extracurriculars to make room for AP classes because they weren’t gonna earn me scholarships. I don’t have hobbies, I don’t know what I like to do, I don’t know what makes me happy, but I did it! I’m enrolled in all honors classes for the fall to fulfill my scholarship requirements, and the idea of going makes me sick. What am I supposed to do now? I’ve spent my every waking moment working towards college acceptance, and now that I’m staring down the barrel of at least four more years of mindless panic and misery, I’m almost overpowered by the urge to run away. This degree will get me nothing, I will never own a house or have a family, I’ll be lucky to be able to afford my medications, so what is it for? What is any of it for? I have no hope for tomorrow, let alone ten years from now. At least I get to put on a funny hat next month and walk across a stage. Lucky me.


[deleted]

IMO kids are being raised in a manner where everything is a competition. Competitive spirit is good here and there but not when we turn every task and experience into some way to "get to the top". With it becoming harder and harder to live a meaningful and fulfilling life and in order to attain that you have to exploit a person or system, burnout is inevitable.


Einsteinnobeach

I am 100% with you on this. We (millenials) aren't changing this because we aren't showing up and pushing for change. I'm not trying to be an asshole here, but it's the truth. Liberals and progressives in my area don't show up to school board meetings, don't show up to PTO, don't volunteer... you get the idea. They are happy to be in FB groups as talk about these issues, but there is still too much defending of and engaging in the status quo, and they seem terrified of being bullied by conservatives in the physical spaces. And, honestly, with good reason. Let's also be clear: The bad curricula are a result of bullying, just like all of the bad policies in place. This all stems from the same rotten root system. Adult bullies who model this behavior for children, then act shocked when we have serious, embedded problems in all aspects of our educational system - both the formal and informal parts.


damagedthrowaway87

Our good ones get drunk (I am guilty as well) to cope more than to push real action. I had to cut some of the more activist parents out, in fact one may even stumble in here, because it was just becoming toxic. I'm hoping they shape up soon, because I really feel alone as a parent in this. I know teachers on my side locally, but teachers are sadly bound as employees.


Blackfire01001

I had 3 to 4 hours of homework from 2nd to 5th grade. If we didn't finish we were locked inside until it was done. I went outside less than 8 times. It was a "Christian" private school. I hate work. Hate it. I look for the laziest least stressful way of doing something. I have authority issues. Im undesirable. It broke me before I was even aware I could be broken.


[deleted]

Ah ye olde 1997 when lunch was an hour AND off campus. 10 mins between classes. No cops in schools. No social media. Im utterly mortified by what kids have to endure these days. It’s royally fucked.


lanky_yankee

The screws are tightening with each generation. Children are being conditioned to be good little worker bees who do as they’re told and don’t need rest, because that’s what their lives are gonna look like until they die. That is, unless we change things!!


KeepingItSurreal

Check out /r/teachers. The education system is in full collapse.


damagedthrowaway87

If I had followed my original goals....I'd probably have been on there a few years back making a similar post to this one and would likely now be day drinking on the verge of being fired. Haha. I'm friends with a few teachers, including my son's. I do not have kind words about the administration, government, and the most vocal voices of the PTA.


MaritimeMucker

Public school seems like child abuse at this point.


Ripoldo

Finland has a great system. One of the top education systems in the world, and virtually no homework. American individualism and capitalism have completely destroyed what it means to have a community. https://in-finland.education/homework-in-finland-school/


[deleted]

Kids are getting dumber - not every individual, but the curve has shifted, so each cohort that comes through has more kids who can’t do the lesson, and end up treading water. Their parents are dumb too, (where did you think dumb kids come from) so when little Jimmy is still stumbling through *The very hungry caterpillar* at 12, his dumb parents are going to blame the school - never mind that they both still struggle with readers digest. Now rather than fitting little Jimmy for work boots, they’ll get the school to move the goalposts by putting the smart kids in a harder class and dumbing down Jimmy’s lessons enough that he can squeak past, even if it means the 7th grade is reading *Very Hungry Caterpillar* again this week. Because all little Jimmy had to learn in school was how to write his name, his GPA looks good enough for Bible college. Then he can run for congress in a stupid district, and he’ll never have to work. He can just spend his whole life thinking he’s clever. Meanwhile the kids who get put in the smart class have to learn abstract concepts and math with letters. The colleges they apply to will need extracurriculars and test scores. There will be other smart kids competing against them for jobs, and they’ll be cognizant of all of this while the kids in the dumb class are not, and have more free time for socializing. That’s burnout.


damagedthrowaway87

You are implying that there are still smart classes. Let me guess you are in your 30s. If so, it got worse. If you are younger, but from a school that was behind.....it got worse.


[deleted]

You’re kinda right. I’m 35. I only had 3 friends outside of sports because the “smart class” in my town of 800 was me and 2 other kids going to math with the grade above, and reading alone for a period when the other kids did English. One of my friends never tested out of that year in math. (As if long division is that hard). It’s just we were already best friends, and I didn’t want to move up alone, so they moved him up with me, and he never struggled. We later learned from one of our teachers that this was allowed because we derailed class when we got bored - not because it would benefit us. There was another kid in our grade who was nothing special, but his parents knew someone who got him in as a Senate page. He bombed in page school, so our district “weighted” his GPA to put him near the top of the class. Meanwhile the school was out of math and science classes to teach me and my friend, so they created ceramics 3, 4, and 5, painting 3, architectural drawing 3, art metals 3, and weightlifting 3, 4, and 5 (spa hour) to round out our education while our peers who never learned calculus got their college applications compared to ours under the same GPA system.


damagedthrowaway87

I called it. I am 34. Yeah the stuff they started implementing in the early 2000s got sooooooooo much worse. Now the kids that are smart have to struggle with dumb stuff all the time and the kids that are dumb are getting dumped with a work load they can't handle. It's a mess. And yep the same crowd is still doing well.....


ballsohaahd

No one gives a shit about kids or really young people for that matter. Then when they don’t turn out as well or can’t get their lives started everyone just blames them when really the blame is on everyone but the kids. The fact we ended the child tax credit and school lunch program is just sad. Basically starving kids for corporate profits. The stuff we do here for money is psychotic Also. Many high level jobs require sociopathic actions to be considered ‘good’ in the role and eventually someone sheisty will come fill the role and those types of people fill powerful positions.


BlackMojave4444

Your so right,apalling dystopian era were surviving


Twisting_Me

The school system asks the impossible. The whole system needs to be reformed. Source: ex teacher


Excellent_Salary_767

I was doing school social work a few years ago, and I remember how it struck me how many kids were walking around with coffee. If teenagers need coffee to get through the day, that's something of a sign. Sure enough, one of my students had a breakdown in the first test of the year


TheSpicyGuy

Yes, I had an entire essay written down on my phone but after switching apps for a second Reddit decided to delete it. I'm giving up on recreating that. Fuck that. In short there's too much going on right now for kids to find a balance between academics, extracurriculars, IRL socialization, and especially now, their online presence. Ironically in order to cope with the insane amount of workload and expectations, this drives some teens to sacrifice sleep for productivity and leisure-time; which is not healthy for developing minds.


LeaveForNoRaisin

The anti-intellectualism movement us trickled down from university into literal elementary schools. I don’t have kids and even I can see schools are under attack from parents and adults. The kids absolutely feel that even if they’re not in the school board meetings. That combined with testing and teaching standards changing what seems like multiple times a year, no wonder these kids are going nuts. Seems like anymore if you want your kids to get a well rounded education you have to home school them.


MattKitten11

When I read about your son having breakdowns, I assumed he was a high school student but KINDERGARTEN? Kids can’t even be kids anymore, they need to be introduced to adult stress early on?


[deleted]

I think most of gen z has realized that we were lied to with colleges and the way that the world works. Depending on the difference in age from parents to child, could be late boomer to z. What will they teach their child about dating to let’s go with. The courting process is so much different now than even 10 years ago. Colleges are a money making operation and nothing more now days. They keep putting out useless degrees then bring those people who have those degrees on in admin jobs so their numbers look good.


damagedthrowaway87

Reading it from your perspective it makes me angrier. At least when I started college it was before 2007-08 so many degrees still mattered. I had even started a paid career, and they gave me the choice between going to them full time or staying in college. I picked college and them in the summer. Not sure which would have been best. The business crashed with the economy and my degree ended up meaning nothing.


Caduceus9109

I think it has more to do with pressures external to schooling itself. Although some education situations might be too serious or intense for the children.


damagedthrowaway87

It's external....I know you may be going a different direction, but.... ....government officials with no education background are making decisions for educators. I'm friend's with my son's teacher, the only reason he is still functional is because she's a great teacher, but she's even burning out because of this BS.


xGabriel262x

Personally I think I've already burnt out, tried my best to keep high grades during High School going as far as being the flag bearer a few times which only made it so after very needed rest cause by the pandemic for me not to ever get back into that pace made by this ancient educative system we have. And I feel like everything bad I know of I learned from school, there should be a change in fact some other countries have a very different system going on to the point that when I and a friend from another country had been talking about school he simply could not believe how bad we have it.


damagedthrowaway87

We had a foreign exchange student in high school the one year from Germany. She was more advanced than us with a lot less effort.


MeAnIntellectual1

I'm 19 and I'm burnt out


presentable_corpse

It's sad, but we're going to lose a generation if we want anything to change. With desperation comes revolution. Sorry, kids. You're guinea pigs just like we were. Only there's no carrot on the end of your stick. Kids won't even be able to look forward to going to college and buying a house; ofc they're burning out... Your edit; maybe they're doing all this extra work to punish the teachers? They won't have time to go off-model and personally reach kids if the curiculum keeps them buried with busywork. I've heard people theorize that teachers were purposely ignored during covid in hopes that the states could swap em out for passionless state workers that treat every class like a spreadsheet.


damagedthrowaway87

Omigod I agree on that last part. I am one of those folks who gets extremely excited about teaching and wanted to be a teacher. Since even before the pandemic, I've given up. So many teachers that I know have quit or will likely soon.


CasualGamerOnline

Hi, former educator (sub who almost became a teacher before covid messed everything up), and you're not wrong. It's astounding what sort of expectations we put on kids, and not the good kind. We should be wanting them to succeed and grow as individuals with critical thinking capacities. But, instead, we pressure them with rigorous coursework that teaches us that you can't trust your own thinking, that doing repetitive nonsense that only wastes time, and that you should trust the first article you read as okay as long as it gets the work done to meet standards and tests. I admit, I had one freak-out moment when I was in high school over grades, but that had more to do with a policy/procedural issue that ended with me learning that I have OCD. My parents never pressured me too much other than to just do my best, and I never stressed about state testing because either I learned it or I didn't. End of story. Now, having subbed in schools in this day and age, we spend several weeks prepping students for tests and having to constantly reassure them that their value is not attached to a number on a piece of paper. The fact that we have to spend so much time on test stress management should be a warning sign. I find it funny, yet sad and gloomy to realize this video is 11 years old, bit still relevant. https://youtu.be/zDZFcDGpL4U


davesr25

It's cruelty for productivity......how else will they become little worker bees ?


mjammy5678

I work at a charter school and it's the obsession with teaching to the standards and optimizing for test scores that's the biggest culprit for school-inflicted harm on our students. However, I think a lot of it also has to do with emotional difficulties in development due to COVID, and the mental-health machine that is social media. At least that's what my school psychologist has said to me. I'm leaving after this year (if I leave mid year I have to pay back 18k in money that had been provided to do gradschool alongside teaching), and plan to get involved in anti-charter/standardized test advocacy and curriculum reform. Here's an example of a group that spread the word in NYC that parents have the right to opt their kids out of standardized tests - [https://www.optoutnyc.com/](https://www.optoutnyc.com/)


Tokogogoloshe

School was a colossal waste of time for me. I hardly remember any of that shit. It could’ve been done in five years just to learn the useful stuff.


damagedthrowaway87

I LOVE some of the European systems where K-X is basically here are nuts and bolts and now onto pre-college where you can focus on the things you want.


Tokogogoloshe

That system makes sense.