News 4: Since when was it the school's responsibility to teach kids how to tie their shoes?

[Anonymous]

On News 4 this morning, one of the anchors pretty much blamed teachers and schools for the fact that some first graders didn't know how to tie their shoes this year after the pandemic. It showed a school in Alexandria that was helping students to tie their shoes.

Since when was it the schools' responsibility to teach this? Teaching kids how to tie their shoes is a parent's job. Kids were home at that time and parents didn't teach their kids how to do this? This shouldn't be blamed on the schools.

[Anonymous]

When you care about children, you just do the hard work. Fewer and fewer adults really care anymore about children.

[Anonymous]

Tie shoes are our biggest problem?

[Anonymous]

Teachers have been teaching kids to tie shoes since velcro shoes were invented. Also how to tell time on am analog clock, since they all have digital watches now.

Has been going on for at least 15 years, as my now 20 year old was the only one out of 26 kids in their class that could tie shoes and tell time.

[Anonymous]

I think it sounds silly when you pick a single example like this, but everyone working in ECE or 1st grade with kids who missed school last year knows this is a bit of an issue.

This is what “learning loss” looks like for kids who did virtual K or PK. Alongside literacy and some very basic math, most of what kids learn in ECE are basic life skills. Tying shoes, putting on and taking off clothes, cleaning, how to stand in line, how to wait your turn, how to choose between a menu of activities, sharing, experiencing disappointment, following a schedule, communicating clearly with adults, etc.

Yes, parents can and should teach their kids these things. But the process is slower and more uneven when kids learn them at home. School is like magic fir acquiring these skills, because school has major advantages over parents. They can utilize peer learning, since kids can watch each other. Seeing a child their own age perform a skill is much more useful to them than watching an adult do it. Kids are also often more open to learning these skill at school— at home they are more likely to resist or refuse, or lean on having a parent do things for them. ECE teachers have training and experience in overcoming those things, plus also tend to have a special kind of authority with the kids that is hard to replicate at home. ECE classrooms also often introduce skills and then let parents know so they can reinforce at home. It’s a collaborative approach and it works really well.

Kids who didn’t get that last year are at a distinct disadvantage, because these are skills schools build on as a child advances to another grade. If 90% of your class doesn’t have some of the basic skills they should have learned previously, you are going to have to take time that would be spent on literacy and other academics, and dedicate it to life skills. And 1st grade teachers have less experience teaching these things and may be less effective.

This is why “they’ll catch up, it’s not a big deal” was an irresponsible position last year, especially for ECE and early elementary. And anyone teaching these grades knows it. They do catch up, but some kids may slip through and there may be consequences to these delays.

[Anonymous]

Never, but I gotta say, my parents were going through a divorce when I was in first grade and I had four siblings (still do, btw), and teaching me how to tie my shoes was low in their list of priorities. My first grade teacher took pity on us and taught me. I’m 38 and that kindness is still a cozy memory for me.

But that said, teachers aren’t there to make cozy memories, so it’s obviously okay for them to not do it.

[Anonymous]

Why does a 1st grader really need to know how to tie a shoe in the age of velcro and boas (those spin wheels that my kids prefer even as teens)? Mine would never have chosen tie shows at that age. Eventually, third grade or so, they get cleats or hiking boots for camp or some other specialty shoes, and they need to tie them. At that age, you show them once or twice and they have it learned. It’s like the people who spend months potty training an 18 month old vs the people who spend three days potty training a 3 year old. It’s your choice, but it’s not really necessary to teach things before the kid is interested.

[Anonymous]

We learned to tie shoes in K. Half day Kindergarten and the teacher had time to make sure everyone learned. All my siblings learned in K too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

On News 4 this morning, one of the anchors pretty much blamed teachers and schools for the fact that some first graders didn't know how to tie their shoes this year after the pandemic. It showed a school in Alexandria that was helping students to tie their shoes.

Since when was it the schools' responsibility to teach this? Teaching kids how to tie their shoes is a parent's job. Kids were home at that time and parents didn't teach their kids how to do this? This shouldn't be blamed on the schools.

Schools refused to open for a year and a half. Of course it’s their fault that kids don’t know how to do tasks they learn at school.

[Anonymous]

I taught my oldest but at 8, he's still in size 2 shoes which are somehow 90% still the velcro ones so it's a skill he's still not very good at because he gets very little practice. His main laced shoes are cleats which are not daily wear.

[Anonymous]

I chuckled when I learned that my K-er in MCPS covered shoe tying in PE. It does kind of belong there (or at home). They covered crossing the street too.

[Anonymous]

I learned how to brush my teeth in PK. I also learned at home. It is very normal for skills like this to be taught at school, and one of the tasks of a school is to teach them, even if just reinforcing what kids learn at home. Do you think Kers spend 7 hours a day working on phonics? This is literally what Kindergarten is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We learned to tie shoes in K. Half day Kindergarten and the teacher had time to make sure everyone learned. All my siblings learned in K too.

1980 was a wonderful year!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I learned how to brush my teeth in PK. I also learned at home. It is very normal for skills like this to be taught at school, and one of the tasks of a school is to teach them, even if just reinforcing what kids learn at home. Do you think Kers spend 7 hours a day working on phonics? This is literally what Kindergarten is.

Shoe tying is not a standard and is not part of the curriculum. It hasn't been probably since the 80s. Maybe some private schools do it because they can handpick the students they want to attend. They have the time since they have bright kids only with interested parents.

[Anonymous]

I think it sounds silly when you pick a single example like this, but everyone working in ECE or 1st grade with kids who missed school last year knows this is a bit of an issue.

This is what “learning loss” looks like for kids who did virtual K or PK. Alongside literacy and some very basic math, most of what kids learn in ECE are basic life skills. Tying shoes, putting on and taking off clothes, cleaning, how to stand in line, how to wait your turn, how to choose between a menu of activities, sharing, experiencing disappointment, following a schedule, communicating clearly with adults, etc.

Yes, parents can and should teach their kids these things. But the process is slower and more uneven when kids learn them at home. School is like magic fir acquiring these skills, because school has major advantages over parents. They can utilize peer learning, since kids can watch each other. Seeing a child their own age perform a skill is much more useful to them than watching an adult do it. Kids are also often more open to learning these skill at school— at home they are more likely to resist or refuse, or lean on having a parent do things for them. ECE teachers have training and experience in overcoming those things, plus also tend to have a special kind of authority with the kids that is hard to replicate at home. ECE classrooms also often introduce skills and then let parents know so they can reinforce at home. It’s a collaborative approach and it works really well.

Kids who didn’t get that last year are at a distinct disadvantage, because these are skills schools build on as a child advances to another grade. If 90% of your class doesn’t have some of the basic skills they should have learned previously, you are going to have to take time that would be spent on literacy and other academics, and dedicate it to life skills. And 1st grade teachers have less experience teaching these things and may be less effective.

This is why “they’ll catch up, it’s not a big deal” was an irresponsible position last year, especially for ECE and early elementary. And anyone teaching these grades knows it. They do catch up, but some kids may slip through and there may be consequences to these delays.

News 4 chose the issue. Tell them they're silly, not me.