Can’t school do both? Like turn home room into the “learn to do basic things like taxes and figuring out wtf deductables and donut holes are in health insurance!” Then you still have math and language arts and whatever the devil else, but students still learn things their parents may not be able to teach them.

thepolkadottedteacher:

ohsnix:

Last night I was at school until 7pm talking with some co-workers in the parking lot. We watched as some of our students roared out of the lot with their trucks, not even stopping at the stop light.

“You don’t know what you don’t know” my co-worker said thoughtfully. “And that’s still even true for me. I can’t know what I don’t know. But man I wish I could tell them.”

I live in a house full of teachers in different contexts. In some ways we all try to integrate practical things into our classes. But students most often don’t know what they don’t know, and telling them often doesn’t help.

If we taught a tax accountancy class in high school, it would be outdated information by the time most kids needed the complicated parts. My point in writing that post is this: what you are doing in school matters. Even when it doesn’t seem like it.

I often see posts online that talk about how school creates robots and automatons, but the truth is that if we switched to some “practical skills only” model, we’d actually be doing you a disservice. Learning to read what is implied in texts, evaluate sources, and think critically will enable you to handle everything that is coming your way. You don’t know that, but it is true.

And if you are more prone to anxiety or have crap parents, there is probably a teacher out there willing to be a resource and talk to you about it. They’re doing what they’re doing because they love you. Just ask. ❤❤❤

“They’re just doing what they’re doing because they love you. Just ask.” ❤️