Personally I wish all our schools focused more on education. These side issues are distractions equal to rearranging chairs on the Titanic when most high school seniors can’t read fluently. Until we get that fixed, the rest is inconsequential.
7 Likes
Another deflection from what is really ongoing in Florida. This has nothing to to do with reading levels.
10 Likes
Schools aren’t teaching trans/binary issues. You are conflating teaching students with accepting students.
The reasons why so many students are not proficient are complex. There are definitely things teachers and schools can do to optimize learning, but most of the causes don’t start in schools and are unlikely to be solved by schools.
6 Likes
I work in the state with the highest reading scores and our school has some of the highest scores in the state. So, do I really need to “focus more on education”, or perhaps, maybe we actually know what we are doing. Again, someone with what I’m assuming has no school experience making up what happens in schools. (Believe me, there are plenty of things I, as a professional that actually WORKS in schools, would change. Shutting down talk of these things you find “distractions” isn’t even in my top 100). Additionally, I’ve never seen any of the politicians or parents that want to pass these laws ever support anything that would actually improve learning outcomes. Instead, their bent seems to be that public school doesn’t work, so let’s destroy it. But until we do, you can’t teach anything we disagree with.
13 Likes
But I care, a lot, about reading levels. No one, regardless of whether they are trans,bi, gay, straight, pan or whatever, is equipped to thrive in the 21st century unless they can read fluently and not enough of our kids can. Their entire lives will be blighted by this. Unlike prior generations, when factory jobs may not have required strong reading, this generation needs it for everyone.
So while it is entertaining to discuss the esoteric and controversial among the privileged on CC, the entire discussion misses the elephant in the room. All our schools need to make reading education the top priority right now, even at the expense of any other issue. Nothing else is as important to the kids’ futures. If eliminating distractions or controversial subjects in schools helps achieve that goal, so be it. Read. And teachers should be the ones shouting this from the hilltops 24/7.
3 Likes
Maybe you should start a thread about reading levels. This isn’t that thread.
7 Likes
I teach high school English in Florida. Specifically, I teach seniors who have not met their reading test requirement to graduate ( the equivalent of a 480 on the SAT ). I promise you do not care about reading levels more than I do. I’m actually in the trenches.
Nothing about trans/ binary issues, and nothing you have stated in this thread, has ANYTHING to do with reading levels. It’s a complete red herring.
9 Likes
I wouldn’t dream of writing your syllabus. Just stating, as a taxpayer with an interest in future generations, what my support of your school depends upon. You are always free to ignore it, or any other public comment regarding the curriculum. Up to you. Presumably you will find enough other taxpayers/voters who agree with you to continue your present course. Increased public anger about such issues suggests that support may be dwindling. Your concern, not mine. Public schools rely upon support by the public:
1 Like
Do you know the suicide rate among trans students? Gay students? While your concern is all students need to read to thrive in the 21st century (and as I’ve pointed out, my students are able to do just that as well as deal with discussions about sexual identity), my concern is that dead students can’t learn to read, let alone thrive.
Lower reading scores are much more closely related to economic disparity and the education level of parents than they are with intervention. So rather than waste time arguing the point that forming relationships with students is “frivolous”, if you really care about reading levels, go out and do something to tackle economic disparity. I don’t see any corresponding legislation to fund poor districts going along with these “don’t say gay” type bills. The notion that children aren’t learning to read because they are allowed to talk about things that are important to them is ludicrous. If this is really about improving reading scores, why aren’t the same politicians insisting that schools be funded to implement The Science of Reading programs, funding reading specialists and requiring more testing for language based reading disorders?
These bills have nothing to do with increasing reading scores and everything to do with, at the risk of being “political”, playing to a shrinking base of extremists.
6 Likes
Why arent teachers lobbying for that?
Less than 50% of US adults of any political persuasion now trust public schools. That seems to be a foundational problem for you, even before adding in controversial issues.
They absolutely are. Again, a question from someone that doesn’t spend time in schools. The teachers fight for it. The unions fight for it. But in case you haven’t noticed, DeSantis and his ilk hate the Teachers Union (and any union beyond the police union) and would like for everyone else to as well. Part of his “greatest hits and lies about education in this country” always includes a swipe or two at the Teachers Union.
4 Likes
Huh? Teachers aren’t lobbyists. Teachers don’t set funding or curriculum.
In the state a Florida, going back 30 years +, when teachers make the case that students from disadvantaged backgrounds need more support, the phrase “bigotry” comes into play. The exact wording was the soft bigotry of low expectations.
Florida schools are literally funded by giving bonuses to schools with higher test scores . So where do you think the most talented and experienced teachers flock?
Teachers have been fighting this losing battle for decades.
5 Likes
Those same polls show parents trust their kids schools. There is a huge disconnect between what they see in reality and the picture painted for them about education as a whole.
6 Likes
Well, the Florida Educators Assn doesnt seem to include that as a prioity on its webpage, although it mentions teacher shortages, increased pay, and the “do not say gay” bill.
Just a guess, but it seems many of those appearing at school board meetings do indeed have kids in school and the parent is objecting to something at that same school not generic concerns about education in their state.
Please tell us your grand idea for raising reading levels and how that is inversely affected by any discussion of sexual identity.
1 Like
Not my job to come up with grand solutions. It appears whatever we are doing now isn’t working too well. Wish the FEA suggested some grand solutions.
Or the poster could move it to another thread and quit running interference on this thread.
3 Likes
That is a response to current proposed legislation.
I’m just curious. When is the last time you were in a public school classroom? Or examined the curriculum for reading in your school district? Or looked at the state standards for a social studies course? You seem so sure that there is something teachers are doing that consisted of teaching trans and gay issues instead of academics and dismiss the real life experience of teachers on this board and I’m still not sure what exactly that is and how this law addresses it.
5 Likes
I totally agree with you on the importance of reading education. (And math education, too… I’m REALLY not fond of how my daughter’s math teacher spends class time to rant and rave about politics.)
I just happen to think that when you ban discussion or mentions of certain topics that are very salient to kids, this itself can be a distraction to learning. It’s distracting to suppress discussion of things that are on kids’ minds.
8 Likes