[Hayvok]

> We asked adults who say the public education system is going in the wrong direction why that might be. About half or more say the following are major reasons:

> Schools not spending enough time on core academic subjects, like reading, math, science and social studies (69%) > Teachers bringing their personal political and social views into the classroom (54%) > Schools not having the funding and resources they need (52%)

As someone who has lots of friends in conservative circles, these sentiments ring true. (I am surprised "health decisions / vaccine mandates" aren't in the list.)

A lot of my wife's friends are choosing to homeschool, and #2 on that list is their primary reason. They acknowledge its likely a minority of teachers engaging in that behavior, but their feeling is "it only takes one" to ruin the entire school experience for their kid, and create a ton of problems for them to deal with at home.

(Disclaimer: we homeschool for reason #1 and because my wife was homeschooled and it's a comfortable way for her to run our schedule and home.)

[AlotOfReading]

For many people, #1 and #2 are the same thing. They don't perceive certain topics (e.g. slavery, evolution, gender) as parts of the core academic subjects, but instead as teachers or schools bringing politics into the classroom.

[ThunderBee]

I grew up in the religious south and the amount of stuff considered political is extremely disconcerting. The list includes:

- Climate science

- Evolution

- Geology

- History

- Sex ed.

Essentially they believe in banning anything contradictory to their narrow religious beliefs.

[hobs]

And the question I have for conservatives is, then why doesn't that apply to cops?

Public sector job, unaccountable to the individual, has authority over people we care about, etc.

I have heard more conservatives complain about librarians (again, same deal, except they dont shoot anyone) than cops.

[skhunted]

It’s disconcerting that people who have no training on how to teach think they can do it well enough. Those same people generally seek out those with training to do things in other areas of their life. But when it comes to teaching they think they know better. Asimov’s famous quote on ignorance comes to mind.

EDIT: Do people generally use those without training to provide medical care, fix cars, cut hair, do electrical work, etc.? The answer is no. But when it comes to teaching science to k-12 students it’s ok to use someone with no training? It’s crazy.

[overrun11]

Did you go to college? If so you probably also learned from people with almost no training in teaching. Somehow every college professor in America teaches just fine without this supposedly crucial "training on how to teach."

I also hope you aren't learning online from people like Grant Sanderson (3Blue1Brown), Salman Khan (Khan Academy) who also have no formal training. Side note: I can't name a single popular online teacher that keeps from a typical teaching background.

[slothtrop]

If you consider what constitutes this training, you'll realize it doesn't matter, what matters is understanding the core topics and communicating well. Parents aren't teaching a class of 30 students, they can engage on a 1-1 level with their kids.

> But when it comes to teaching science to k-12 students it’s ok to use someone with no training?

That "someone" is you. Do you have any memory of gradeschool at all? Teaching is not complicated, it's just work.

[ndriscoll]

All of those things you listed are totally normal for people to DIY. It's kind of bizarre to me that you think otherwise. It's like when Randy on South Park teaches his kids to call the handyman to fix the oven door. Or there's a handyman on youtube who's talked about being called and charging people like $500 to push the button on a GFCI outlet. It's hard to believe he's serious. He's also talked about being called by millennials to change smoke alarm batteries.

[VS1999]

I don't need a degree in babysitting to watch my own kids. That's all teaching is.