How do you ensure your kids to get a balanced view of culture war issues discussed at school?

[Anonymous]

Aren’t families discussing these issues at home, before they ever come up at school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
My 11 and 16 year olds have not received anything of note from MCPS.

They are level-headed kids with dual nationalities and relatives all over the world with varied political and religious belief systems, and are used to evaluating situations for themselves.

I have a hard time understanding why it is that this topic exercises DCUM posters so much. Is it just a few trolls faking concern? Because this is really so minor. What would you say to my monarchist grandmother or my communist cousin, I wonder. Or my extended family in Egypt with strong restrictions on women's freedoms... My point is, there are far worse things out there. Why don't you tackle those.

Whoever is repeatedly posting about this is just making sh*t up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Aren’t families discussing these issues at home, before they ever come up at school?

That would require thoughtful, engaged parenting.

So, no.

[Anonymous]

Why was my post about Kendi being a respected academic deleted?
But all the racist posts are still here??
Wondering about that, really wondering!

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Why was my post about Kendi being a respected academic deleted?
But all the racist posts are still here??
Wondering about that, really wondering!

Because the post to which you replied was deleted. Not all the racist posts are still here. Half the thread is gone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
My 11 and 16 year olds have not received anything of note from MCPS.

They are level-headed kids with dual nationalities and relatives all over the world with varied political and religious belief systems, and are used to evaluating situations for themselves.

I have a hard time understanding why it is that this topic exercises DCUM posters so much. Is it just a few trolls faking concern? Because this is really so minor. What would you say to my monarchist grandmother or my communist cousin, I wonder. Or my extended family in Egypt with strong restrictions on women's freedoms... My point is, there are far worse things out there. Why don't you tackle those.

Because we live here in the US.

I have family in the Middle East and am pretty outraged by how women are treated there. However, the crazy rhetoric found in MCPS affects my kids more and this is an MCPS discussion board.

You should definitely discuss women’s freedoms in other countries. And I would love to see the US take a more vocal stance against the atrocities in places like these horrible deaths in Qatar.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/feb/23/revealed-migrant-worker-deaths-qatar-fifa-world-cup-2022

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My middle school kids seem to always be getting assignments that focus on highly politicized current events and topics. The school seems to be emphasizing one point of view. I would like them to understand that many people outside of the “DC Bubble” do have different viewpoints.

Slightly different take:

We are a liberal household but the overwhelming amount of information in the curriculum and other types of assemblies (virtual) about systemic racism, etc. has really turned off my kid. I've been battling this for the entire year, trying to tone down the school message and make it more practical (and less personal) for him because I don't like where his opinions are headed. And of course, at 13, he's beginning to develop opinions that differ from mine. So that's a bit scary to me.

OK, yeah, I guess that's his white fragility. And I'm not an educator or a psychologist. So I don't know the best way to present this information in a way that doesn't alienate some white kids. (and my son isn't the only kid having this reaction). It's not just his being defensive. It's also his learning, or I should say his takeaway is that Black people can't advocate for themselves, that they are victims of everything. And no matter what choices they make in life, they will be beaten down by racism. Instead of having my son become more introspective about systems and how they may negatively impact people of color, he's beginning to see Black people as inferior. Helpless. And it's killing me. It really is. And if it's turning off some (of course not all, maybe not even a significant number) of kids from liberal homes, imagine what it's likely doing to kids in conservative homes. (I'm not putting down conservative beliefs; just that I know they are generally more focused on personal agency of people of color to get ahead and not on systems).

You might want to introduce your son to Coleman Hughs. You has a regular program on YouTube and I find him to be very thoughtful on issues of race. I’m not sure exactly what they are teaching at middle school in mcps but your child’s interpretation is not surprising to me - given current rhetoric.

[Anonymous]

We are conservatives. We send our kids to a progressive independent school.

I think this is great training for corporate America, frankly. Respectable society is fairly woke, and my kids can learn to make nice in that environment and also think independently by what they learn at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My middle school kids seem to always be getting assignments that focus on highly politicized current events and topics. The school seems to be emphasizing one point of view. I would like them to understand that many people outside of the “DC Bubble” do have different viewpoints.

You mean you want your kids to be taught that truth and lies are equal?

Just because Fox says it and a bunch of people in this country fall for it because they don’t know why Rupert Murdoch is lying to them, doesn’t mean i will tolerate my kids being taught lies.

I want right wing garbage OUT of my schools.

My kids will be taught truth, ideas that come from educated smart people that care about democracy.
And they will be taught that a huge rightwing media machine lies to half of America and tries to get that half of America to hate the other half for Murdoch’s political advantage.

I’m done tiptoeing around conservative lies and Republican liars. All I have to say today is: Get. Out.

[Anonymous]

There is no "culture," because hating and devaluing people who are different from you isn't a "culture." It's just ignorance and hatred.

So you're either OK with perpetuating racism, homophobia, sexism, classism, transphobia, xenophobia, etc., or you're not. There's no "culture" involved.

[Anonymous]

Coleman Hughes is funded by rightwing billionares and his career was built via those billionaires at the Manhattan Institute. His ideas lost in the marketplace, and we only hear about them because billionaires find him politically useful to achieve their agenda. Wealthy funders are the reason he’s part of public debate.

That’s a long way of saying: Don’t be fooled. Hughes has been selected by the wealthy to deceive you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

You might want to introduce your son to Coleman Hughs. You has a regular program on YouTube and I find him to be very thoughtful on issues of race. I’m not sure exactly what they are teaching at middle school in mcps but your child’s interpretation is not surprising to me - given current rhetoric.

Coleman Hughes retweets Ben Shapiro. Nobody who does that is thoughtful.

[Anonymous]

Lol at the passive aggressive dig at MCPS. Just talk to your kids. But you knew that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a (white) liberal dem and also a teacher. I am not sure about my feelings on what I have to teach. A lot of it comes off as very vague focusing on identity and feelings rather than discussing merits of the issues. I can imagine this being very frustrating for a lot of students. Unfortunately, I also think there is a perception building that the opinions of minorities are of higher value than of other students. Because of the hot and cold thinking of adolescents, this has led to the feeling that unless you are minority your opinion doesn’t matter in the discussions. I hope I am wrong about this, it but seems to explain how I perceive the participation I see in the middle schools.

I agree that this is absolutely the case at my kids Middle School during the discussions regarding BLM/Stamped.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My middle school kids seem to always be getting assignments that focus on highly politicized current events and topics. The school seems to be emphasizing one point of view. I would like them to understand that many people outside of the “DC Bubble” do have different viewpoints.

Slightly different take:

We are a liberal household but the overwhelming amount of information in the curriculum and other types of assemblies (virtual) about systemic racism, etc. has really turned off my kid. I've been battling this for the entire year, trying to tone down the school message and make it more practical (and less personal) for him because I don't like where his opinions are headed. And of course, at 13, he's beginning to develop opinions that differ from mine. So that's a bit scary to me.

OK, yeah, I guess that's his white fragility. And I'm not an educator or a psychologist. So I don't know the best way to present this information in a way that doesn't alienate some white kids. (and my son isn't the only kid having this reaction). It's not just his being defensive. It's also his learning, or I should say his takeaway is that Black people can't advocate for themselves, that they are victims of everything. And no matter what choices they make in life, they will be beaten down by racism. Instead of having my son become more introspective about systems and how they may negatively impact people of color, he's beginning to see Black people as inferior. Helpless. And it's killing me. It really is. And if it's turning off some (of course not all, maybe not even a significant number) of kids from liberal homes, imagine what it's likely doing to kids in conservative homes. (I'm not putting down conservative beliefs; just that I know they are generally more focused on personal agency of people of color to get ahead and not on systems).

My kid is not White, but I see this as a problem also.

My MSer read The Pact in English Class. Decent message, I guess? And it ends well, but is is possible that this book sends some negative stereotypical messages about how young black boys grow up? Because certainly, not all young black boys grow up that way.

When my kid was younger, DC read The Stories Julien Tells and loved that series. Read them in school and got the rest from the library. Not saying all books have to be positive, but if we’re going to only have the kids read books like Stamped and The Pact, which portray Black people as ‘victims’, is that really the best idea?