“Rick” summer reading

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do think MCPS has gone very deep into many social justice/political topics in their choice of reading materials. As a contrast, I looked up the summer reading for incoming 6th graders in our old Brooklyn neighborhood. Much more innocuous than the mcps selections.

They don't even have to be innocuous. How about good books? These books are being assigned precisely because of their subject matter, not because they're well written or worth reading.

When i think of all the actual **literature** I read by the time I had graduated from MCPS, it just makes me want to cry. These assignments are a joke.

Rick got positive reviews from kirkus, school library journal and publishers weekly.

For the ideas it’s pushing, not the quality of the writing. How about some Hemingway instead?

Have you read the book to determine it's quality or are you just assuming that a book about LGBT issues couldn't be quality literature?

How about any high quality books written by an author who is still alive? 🤔

Why do they have to still be alive? We used to have must-read books that were the framework for our society -- the common denominators, the ones that made someone well-read, so that we were all on the same page, pun intended. Now it's just a random selection of books that come and go and are basically meaningless in two years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you look at the assignments/slides the school has with this book, there is a whole glossary of terms. How is my prepubescent little boy supposed to discern whether he is asexual (absent sexual feelings) or just a prepubescent child who is not developmentally at the point to feel those feelings yet? I am finding this to be unnecessarily confusing.

Correct answer: he is asexual. Hence the term "PREpubescent."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do think MCPS has gone very deep into many social justice/political topics in their choice of reading materials. As a contrast, I looked up the summer reading for incoming 6th graders in our old Brooklyn neighborhood. Much more innocuous than the mcps selections.

They don't even have to be innocuous. How about good books? These books are being assigned precisely because of their subject matter, not because they're well written or worth reading.

When i think of all the actual **literature** I read by the time I had graduated from MCPS, it just makes me want to cry. These assignments are a joke.

Rick got positive reviews from kirkus, school library journal and publishers weekly.

For the ideas it’s pushing, not the quality of the writing. How about some Hemingway instead?

Have you read the book to determine it's quality or are you just assuming that a book about LGBT issues couldn't be quality literature?

How about any high quality books written by an author who is still alive? 🤔

Why do they have to still be alive? We used to have must-read books that were the framework for our society -- the common denominators, the ones that made someone well-read, so that we were all on the same page, pun intended. Now it's just a random selection of books that come and go and are basically meaningless in two years.

DP. And you think that list of books shouldn’t have been updated at all in the last 50 years? That nothing of value has been written since about the 1940s? We can read old classics *and* incorporate more recent books of value.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do think MCPS has gone very deep into many social justice/political topics in their choice of reading materials. As a contrast, I looked up the summer reading for incoming 6th graders in our old Brooklyn neighborhood. Much more innocuous than the mcps selections.

They don't even have to be innocuous. How about good books? These books are being assigned precisely because of their subject matter, not because they're well written or worth reading.

When i think of all the actual **literature** I read by the time I had graduated from MCPS, it just makes me want to cry. These assignments are a joke.

Rick got positive reviews from kirkus, school library journal and publishers weekly.

For the ideas it’s pushing, not the quality of the writing. How about some Hemingway instead?

Have you read the book to determine it's quality or are you just assuming that a book about LGBT issues couldn't be quality literature?

How about any high quality books written by an author who is still alive? 🤔

Why do they have to still be alive? We used to have must-read books that were the framework for our society -- the common denominators, the ones that made someone well-read, so that we were all on the same page, pun intended. Now it's just a random selection of books that come and go and are basically meaningless in two years.

It sounds like this may be in significant part about your own ego and your own view of yourself as “well-read.” It sounds like you may find it threatening that someone might not consider you as well read if your reading hasn’t moved beyond your college reading lists from the early 90s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I and many other parents will not budge from the position that it is not the role of public schools to discuss sexuality with my kids. That is a parent’s job. Full stop. End.

As a separate issue, this creates risk. In high school I had a teacher discuss dating and relations with me, basically he was interested. Thank god my parents got involved. He dated a barely out of high school friend of mine later.

So we need to remove health classes from middle school, too?

There is a difference between discussing things in Health class (which families can opt out of) and forcing kids to read and identify their sexuality for English class.

Where do you see that they are forcing kids to identify their sexuality?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you look at the assignments/slides the school has with this book, there is a whole glossary of terms. How is my prepubescent little boy supposed to discern whether he is asexual (absent sexual feelings) or just a prepubescent child who is not developmentally at the point to feel those feelings yet? I am finding this to be unnecessarily confusing.

Agree. Again, not all kids develop at the same rate.

Also, none of this is necessary for the school to be discussing with our 11 year olds.

Because you want to free to tell them at home that cis-het is the only acceptable way, and don’t want them to ever get a different message.

Well that's not true in our household. We are accepting and I am politically liberal, FYI. I just think a lot of what a child learns should be up to the parents to teach, not the school. I have had my kids come home telling me things from "Health" that I absolutely DO NOT agree with, regarding relationships and other things that are frankly none of the school's business to be teaching them. One teacher told my 5th grader a story about how she met and married her DH and I was like, OMG, don't ever do that, there are SO many red flags here!! Why would a teacher be informing MY child about how to date and marry? So ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you look at the assignments/slides the school has with this book, there is a whole glossary of terms. How is my prepubescent little boy supposed to discern whether he is asexual (absent sexual feelings) or just a prepubescent child who is not developmentally at the point to feel those feelings yet? I am finding this to be unnecessarily confusing.

Agree. Again, not all kids develop at the same rate.

Also, none of this is necessary for the school to be discussing with our 11 year olds.

Because you want to free to tell them at home that cis-het is the only acceptable way, and don’t want them to ever get a different message.

No. Why would you assume that? I don’t care if my kid is gay or straight. But I don’t want the school teaching my pre-pubescent kid about these topics.

What are you afraid will happen if they do? You are clearly worried about something. If you don’t want to tell us what that is here, on an anonymous board where no one knows who you are, perhaps that’s a sign you should examine your own motivations here.

I know what I'm afraid of. I'm afraid that they will be messed up by being exposed to things before they're ready. I don't care if they're gay or straight. I teach my kids sexuality is like a sliding scale and some people are all the way on one side and some are all the way on the other, but most people are clustered around the middle and move back and forth throughout their lives but sort of settle for one or the other label and stick with it. I teach them that having a gay dream doesn't mean you're gay, and wanting to be straight doesn't make someone straight. FYI. There is room in our household for them to be whoever they are when they figure it out.

That's my job, not the school's job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you look at the assignments/slides the school has with this book, there is a whole glossary of terms. How is my prepubescent little boy supposed to discern whether he is asexual (absent sexual feelings) or just a prepubescent child who is not developmentally at the point to feel those feelings yet? I am finding this to be unnecessarily confusing.

Agree. Again, not all kids develop at the same rate.

Also, none of this is necessary for the school to be discussing with our 11 year olds.

Because you want to free to tell them at home that cis-het is the only acceptable way, and don’t want them to ever get a different message.

Well that's not true in our household. We are accepting and I am politically liberal, FYI. I just think a lot of what a child learns should be up to the parents to teach, not the school. I have had my kids come home telling me things from "Health" that I absolutely DO NOT agree with, regarding relationships and other things that are frankly none of the school's business to be teaching them. One teacher told my 5th grader a story about how she met and married her DH and I was like, OMG, don't ever do that, there are SO many red flags here!! Why would a teacher be informing MY child about how to date and marry? So ridiculous.

Telling a story is hardly telling a student HOW to date and marry. You might be politically liberal, but you are living your actual life as super conservative person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I and many other parents will not budge from the position that it is not the role of public schools to discuss sexuality with my kids. That is a parent’s job. Full stop. End.

As a separate issue, this creates risk. In high school I had a teacher discuss dating and relations with me, basically he was interested. Thank god my parents got involved. He dated a barely out of high school friend of mine later.

So we need to remove health classes from middle school, too?

There is a difference between discussing things in Health class (which families can opt out of) and forcing kids to read and identify their sexuality for English class.

Where do you see that they are forcing kids to identify their sexuality?

Slide 13: “After creating your identity chart and responding to the reflection questions about gender identity, please choose one of the following questions to discuss…”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you look at the assignments/slides the school has with this book, there is a whole glossary of terms. How is my prepubescent little boy supposed to discern whether he is asexual (absent sexual feelings) or just a prepubescent child who is not developmentally at the point to feel those feelings yet? I am finding this to be unnecessarily confusing.

Agree. Again, not all kids develop at the same rate.

Also, none of this is necessary for the school to be discussing with our 11 year olds.

Because you want to free to tell them at home that cis-het is the only acceptable way, and don’t want them to ever get a different message.

No. Why would you assume that? I don’t care if my kid is gay or straight. But I don’t want the school teaching my pre-pubescent kid about these topics.

What are you afraid will happen if they do? You are clearly worried about something. If you don’t want to tell us what that is here, on an anonymous board where no one knows who you are, perhaps that’s a sign you should examine your own motivations here.

I know what I'm afraid of. I'm afraid that they will be messed up by being exposed to things before they're ready. I don't care if they're gay or straight. I teach my kids sexuality is like a sliding scale and some people are all the way on one side and some are all the way on the other, but most people are clustered around the middle and move back and forth throughout their lives but sort of settle for one or the other label and stick with it. I teach them that having a gay dream doesn't mean you're gay, and wanting to be straight doesn't make someone straight. FYI. There is room in our household for them to be whoever they are when they figure it out.

That's my job, not the school's job.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I and many other parents will not budge from the position that it is not the role of public schools to discuss sexuality with my kids. That is a parent’s job. Full stop. End.

As a separate issue, this creates risk. In high school I had a teacher discuss dating and relations with me, basically he was interested. Thank god my parents got involved. He dated a barely out of high school friend of mine later.

So we need to remove health classes from middle school, too?

There is a difference between discussing things in Health class (which families can opt out of) and forcing kids to read and identify their sexuality for English class.

Where do you see that they are forcing kids to identify their sexuality?

Slide 13: “After creating your identity chart and responding to the reflection questions about gender identity, please choose one of the following questions to discuss…”

Here is the entire prompt. it doesn't ask the student to share anything with the school, and it doesn't ask the kid to identify themselves. it also doesn't even mention sexuality.

"After creating your identity chart and responding to the reflection question about gender identity, please choose one of the following questions to discuss with a friend or family member about gender identity.

What aspects of people’s identities might stay the same for their whole lives? What aspects might change?

What aspects of people’s identities might always feel very central to who they are? What aspects might be less important in different situations?

What aspects of people’s identities might be labels that others put on them? "

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you look at the assignments/slides the school has with this book, there is a whole glossary of terms. How is my prepubescent little boy supposed to discern whether he is asexual (absent sexual feelings) or just a prepubescent child who is not developmentally at the point to feel those feelings yet? I am finding this to be unnecessarily confusing.

Agree. Again, not all kids develop at the same rate.

Also, none of this is necessary for the school to be discussing with our 11 year olds.

Because you want to free to tell them at home that cis-het is the only acceptable way, and don’t want them to ever get a different message.

Well that's not true in our household. We are accepting and I am politically liberal, FYI. I just think a lot of what a child learns should be up to the parents to teach, not the school. I have had my kids come home telling me things from "Health" that I absolutely DO NOT agree with, regarding relationships and other things that are frankly none of the school's business to be teaching them. One teacher told my 5th grader a story about how she met and married her DH and I was like, OMG, don't ever do that, there are SO many red flags here!! Why would a teacher be informing MY child about how to date and marry? So ridiculous.

Like what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do think MCPS has gone very deep into many social justice/political topics in their choice of reading materials. As a contrast, I looked up the summer reading for incoming 6th graders in our old Brooklyn neighborhood. Much more innocuous than the mcps selections.

They don't even have to be innocuous. How about good books? These books are being assigned precisely because of their subject matter, not because they're well written or worth reading.

When i think of all the actual **literature** I read by the time I had graduated from MCPS, it just makes me want to cry. These assignments are a joke.

Rick got positive reviews from kirkus, school library journal and publishers weekly.

For the ideas it’s pushing, not the quality of the writing. How about some Hemingway instead?

Have you read the book to determine it's quality or are you just assuming that a book about LGBT issues couldn't be quality literature?

How about any high quality books written by an author who is still alive? 🤔

Why do they have to still be alive? We used to have must-read books that were the framework for our society -- the common denominators, the ones that made someone well-read, so that we were all on the same page, pun intended. Now it's just a random selection of books that come and go and are basically meaningless in two years.

It sounds like this may be in significant part about your own ego and your own view of yourself as “well-read.” It sounds like you may find it threatening that someone might not consider you as well read if your reading hasn’t moved beyond your college reading lists from the early 90s.

LOL got me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I and many other parents will not budge from the position that it is not the role of public schools to discuss sexuality with my kids. That is a parent’s job. Full stop. End.

As a separate issue, this creates risk. In high school I had a teacher discuss dating and relations with me, basically he was interested. Thank god my parents got involved. He dated a barely out of high school friend of mine later.

So we need to remove health classes from middle school, too?

There is a difference between discussing things in Health class (which families can opt out of) and forcing kids to read and identify their sexuality for English class.

Where do you see that they are forcing kids to identify their sexuality?

Slide 13: “After creating your identity chart and responding to the reflection questions about gender identity, please choose one of the following questions to discuss…”

You left out some pretty key elements, like what is in the identity chart, what the reflection questions about gender identity are, and which question they have to choose from after that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you look at the assignments/slides the school has with this book, there is a whole glossary of terms. How is my prepubescent little boy supposed to discern whether he is asexual (absent sexual feelings) or just a prepubescent child who is not developmentally at the point to feel those feelings yet? I am finding this to be unnecessarily confusing.

Agree. Again, not all kids develop at the same rate.

Also, none of this is necessary for the school to be discussing with our 11 year olds.

Because you want to free to tell them at home that cis-het is the only acceptable way, and don’t want them to ever get a different message.

No. Why would you assume that? I don’t care if my kid is gay or straight. But I don’t want the school teaching my pre-pubescent kid about these topics.

What are you afraid will happen if they do? You are clearly worried about something. If you don’t want to tell us what that is here, on an anonymous board where no one knows who you are, perhaps that’s a sign you should examine your own motivations here.

I know what I'm afraid of. I'm afraid that they will be messed up by being exposed to things before they're ready. I don't care if they're gay or straight. I teach my kids sexuality is like a sliding scale and some people are all the way on one side and some are all the way on the other, but most people are clustered around the middle and move back and forth throughout their lives but sort of settle for one or the other label and stick with it. I teach them that having a gay dream doesn't mean you're gay, and wanting to be straight doesn't make someone straight. FYI. There is room in our household for them to be whoever they are when they figure it out.

That's my job, not the school's job.

Uh, you've already exposed your kids to sexuality. The school isnt going to do anything to "mess that up" by showing kids being different is okay and teaching kids acceptance. The hysterics are ridiculous.