When do students learn state capitals?

[Anonymous]

My kids in private school learned them, the two who have gone through public in VA have not. Don't think it is an SOL bullet point..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Never learned them. In 7th grade we had to learn and complete and map of the entire world from memory, so while I didn't learn the names of the state capitals, I did learn every country on earth, their national capital and all major geographical features. I also can still draw almost all the continents and countries freehand.

Thanks for letting me brag!

That makes sense. State capitals are bullshit.

PP here. The most interesting parts of the capitals is sometimes the story behind why they were chosen. Albany, not NYC for New York, so as to balance out the power between the rural and urban parts of the state as well as access to the Erie canal shipping industry. Or Sacramento- because of the entry points for workers during the gold rush and to prevent attacks by sea. I think if they taught them as a part of US history like that, they'd be a lot more interesting and worthwhile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know a kid who just graduated from Harvard who couldn't find Poland on a map.

We are in deep trouble in this country in so many ways.

Teach geography at home, OP. Play stack the states and stack the countries on the iPad. Kids will get them quick. We bought flash cards as well. We like to play with them during dinner.

My kids learned all about world geography in school. They know that stuff better than I do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know a kid who just graduated from Harvard who couldn't find Poland on a map.

We are in deep trouble in this country in so many ways.

Teach geography at home, OP. Play stack the states and stack the countries on the iPad. Kids will get them quick. We bought flash cards as well. We like to play with them during dinner.

And while I was in college, I had a geography or related major roommate who had tests that included assignments like - fill in every country on this entire blank map of Africa

I'm sure Harvard kid knows something about something else.

[Anonymous]

I never learned them in school. I probably know most now through osmosis. And I wen to TJ!!!

[Anonymous]

My 5th grader has a test on state abbreviations and capitals tomorrow, in fact! (Catholic school in SS)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a 6th grader whose teacher says they won't be learning state capitals until 7th grade. This seems very late - I remember learning them (in FCPS) in the 4th grade.

In addition, the 6th grade AAP classes are learning this. Why on earth aren't all the classes being taught something so basic? Once again, I guess I'll be teaching my child information at home that they should be getting at school.

Mine learned them in 4th grade, in music class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a 6th grader whose teacher says they won't be learning state capitals until 7th grade. This seems very late - I remember learning them (in FCPS) in the 4th grade.

In addition, the 6th grade AAP classes are learning this. Why on earth aren't all the classes being taught something so basic? Once again, I guess I'll be teaching my child information at home that they should be getting at school.

Mine learned them in 4th grade, in music class.

FCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a kid who just graduated from Harvard who couldn't find Poland on a map.

We are in deep trouble in this country in so many ways.

Teach geography at home, OP. Play stack the states and stack the countries on the iPad. Kids will get them quick. We bought flash cards as well. We like to play with them during dinner.

And while I was in college, I had a geography or related major roommate who had tests that included assignments like - fill in every country on this entire blank map of Africa

I'm sure Harvard kid knows something about something else.

Harvard kids have an app for that. Why should they have to be able to fill in a blank map with 54 African countries....pish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know a kid who just graduated from Harvard who couldn't find Poland on a map.

We are in deep trouble in this country in so many ways.

Teach geography at home, OP. Play stack the states and stack the countries on the iPad. Kids will get them quick. We bought flash cards as well. We like to play with them during dinner.

The "this is here" aspect of Geography is useless trivial. It teaches nothing about why, but merely attaches a label to little dots on a map. These trivial facts can be easily pulled up on a smartphone at a moment's notice. I know kids who were at a very young age taught to recite entire sections of the bible or Koran, without understanding the meaning of words. It's a cheap trick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Didn't you know that kids don't need to know anything, anymore? It's not what they know, it's how they think.

No kidding. It's unbelievable how many things schools expect parents to teach while they work on getting kids to think. Handwriting, typing, spelling, grammar, geography, vocabulary. The list goes on and on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn't you know that kids don't need to know anything, anymore? It's not what they know, it's how they think.

No kidding. It's unbelievable how many things schools expect parents to teach while they work on getting kids to think. Handwriting, typing, spelling, grammar, geography, vocabulary. The list goes on and on.

Depends on the teacher I guess. My kid's teacher explicitly told us not to correct his homework, so that she can know what he has trouble with. She said that we can have him do other problems of the same type to help him practice, but not to actually check and correct his homework.

[Anonymous]

Why does a student need to learn the state capitals, exactly? How is it critical info?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn't you know that kids don't need to know anything, anymore? It's not what they know, it's how they think.

No kidding. It's unbelievable how many things schools expect parents to teach while they work on getting kids to think. Handwriting, typing, spelling, grammar, geography, vocabulary. The list goes on and on.

Now a days, how they think is more important than what they know because you can google and read about almost anything. How does learning each state capital help them with "how they think"?

I think kids should know general US geography (where the states are), and world geography because it helps to understand history. But, how does knowing each state capital help them in the future? Memorizing state capitals is just rote regurgitation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn't you know that kids don't need to know anything, anymore? It's not what they know, it's how they think.

No kidding. It's unbelievable how many things schools expect parents to teach while they work on getting kids to think. Handwriting, typing, spelling, grammar, geography, vocabulary. The list goes on and on.

Depends on the teacher I guess. My kid's teacher explicitly told us not to correct his homework, so that she can know what he has trouble with. She said that we can have him do other problems of the same type to help him practice, but not to actually check and correct his homework.

What homework? My kid isn't taught any of these subjects at all.