Harriet Tubman 10 years in a row

[Anonymous]

Honestly if there has to be one person your kid learned about every year, that’s a damn fine choice. That woman was an inspiration. Her life was amazing. An American hero. And not just for her work on the Underground Railroad. She was a spy in the war too. You should go to the museum on the eastern shore.

[Anonymous]

In two more years, it'll be 12 years a slave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid complained that every book was a different version of a coming-of-age struggle usually involving race or occasionally gender. She pined for just one sci fi option.

I do not remember any Harriet Tubman.

Yep, my kid has said the same thing- last 6 books in a row. These kids aren't stupid , they are being played and they know it.

Same with my kid. I'm very worried the saturation of such messages is going to backfire. And make people more bigoted rather than more accepting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is why those in a recent Yougov poll estimated that the U.S. population is 41% black, despite it only being 12%. Those complaining that our schools do not cover African American history are not familiar with the social studies content for the last 25 years.

https://today.yougov.com/topics/politics/articles-reports/2022/03/15/americans-misestimate-small-subgroups-population

Interesting.

[Anonymous]

Many years ago, an African American mom & son (student in elem school) spoke at a PTA meeting at our MCPS elem school and complained that the Black History Month readings are always about the same 2-3 people, including Tubman. The family urged our school to realize there are other black leaders in American history.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is why those in a recent Yougov poll estimated that the U.S. population is 41% black, despite it only being 12%. Those complaining that our schools do not cover African American history are not familiar with the social studies content for the last 25 years.

https://today.yougov.com/topics/politics/articles-reports/2022/03/15/americans-misestimate-small-subgroups-population

PP is being a little disingenuous here. It turns out Americans are absolutely terrible at estimating the population of literally any group. In fact, Black Americans are one of the groups that folks overestimated the least, at only 350%. Compare that to the overestimation of Jewish Americans at 1500%.

"When people’s average perceptions of group sizes are compared to actual population estimates, an intriguing pattern emerges: Americans tend to vastly overestimate the size of minority groups. This holds for sexual minorities, including the proportion of gays and lesbians (estimate: 30%, true: 3%), bisexuals (estimate: 29%, true: 4%), and people who are transgender (estimate: 21%, true: 0.6%).

It also applies to religious minorities, such as Muslim Americans (estimate: 27%, true: 1%) and Jewish Americans (estimate: 30%, true: 2%). And we find the same sorts of overestimates for racial and ethnic minorities, such as Native Americans (estimate: 27%, true: 1%), Asian Americans (estimate: 29%, true: 6%), and Black Americans (estimate: 41%, true: 12%)."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why those in a recent Yougov poll estimated that the U.S. population is 41% black, despite it only being 12%. Those complaining that our schools do not cover African American history are not familiar with the social studies content for the last 25 years.

https://today.yougov.com/topics/politics/articles-reports/2022/03/15/americans-misestimate-small-subgroups-population

PP is being a little disingenuous here. It turns out Americans are absolutely terrible at estimating the population of literally any group. In fact, Black Americans are one of the groups that folks overestimated the least, at only 350%. Compare that to the overestimation of Jewish Americans at 1500%.

"When people’s average perceptions of group sizes are compared to actual population estimates, an intriguing pattern emerges: Americans tend to vastly overestimate the size of minority groups. This holds for sexual minorities, including the proportion of gays and lesbians (estimate: 30%, true: 3%), bisexuals (estimate: 29%, true: 4%), and people who are transgender (estimate: 21%, true: 0.6%).

It also applies to religious minorities, such as Muslim Americans (estimate: 27%, true: 1%) and Jewish Americans (estimate: 30%, true: 2%). And we find the same sorts of overestimates for racial and ethnic minorities, such as Native Americans (estimate: 27%, true: 1%), Asian Americans (estimate: 29%, true: 6%), and Black Americans (estimate: 41%, true: 12%)."

Exactly but still some people love to feel aggrieved and persecuted so they will continue to complain about teaching of any inspirational minority...

[Anonymous]

This is why I liked AP courses in high school. There was an actual curriculum, and an actual book! It was varied and interesting.

My youngest has a class project about role models every week. I think it's wonderful, but so far not one role model has been white- and it's April! My kid opined (and wasn't being sarcastic) that white men have been at the top for way too long because they've never invented or done anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is why I liked AP courses in high school. There was an actual curriculum, and an actual book! It was varied and interesting.

My youngest has a class project about role models every week. I think it's wonderful, but so far not one role model has been white- and it's April! My kid opined (and wasn't being sarcastic) that white men have been at the top for way too long because they've never invented or done anything.

You should tell him about Ron Popeil. He invited a ton of stuff like vegomatic!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Me to my 7th grader , who is holding a book on Harriet Tubman - "Hey, looks like you are learning about Harriet Tubman."
DS - "Yea, for the 10th year in a row."
Me- "Are you learning anything new?"
DS - "eh"

He goes to a MCPS

Can we mix it up a little?

Your kid hasn't been in public school for ten years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why those in a recent Yougov poll estimated that the U.S. population is 41% black, despite it only being 12%. Those complaining that our schools do not cover African American history are not familiar with the social studies content for the last 25 years.

https://today.yougov.com/topics/politics/articles-reports/2022/03/15/americans-misestimate-small-subgroups-population

PP is being a little disingenuous here. It turns out Americans are absolutely terrible at estimating the population of literally any group. In fact, Black Americans are one of the groups that folks overestimated the least, at only 350%. Compare that to the overestimation of Jewish Americans at 1500%.

"When people’s average perceptions of group sizes are compared to actual population estimates, an intriguing pattern emerges: Americans tend to vastly overestimate the size of minority groups. This holds for sexual minorities, including the proportion of gays and lesbians (estimate: 30%, true: 3%), bisexuals (estimate: 29%, true: 4%), and people who are transgender (estimate: 21%, true: 0.6%).

It also applies to religious minorities, such as Muslim Americans (estimate: 27%, true: 1%) and Jewish Americans (estimate: 30%, true: 2%). And we find the same sorts of overestimates for racial and ethnic minorities, such as Native Americans (estimate: 27%, true: 1%), Asian Americans (estimate: 29%, true: 6%), and Black Americans (estimate: 41%, true: 12%)."

Nothing disingenuous at all. It means that when we spend all of our time trying to make sure that minorities have special months, celebrations, lesson plans and TV shows, it leads to a distortion in people's perceptions. The same is true of all those other minorities as well. If we planned to spend 12% of the curriculum on African American heritage, that would be great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is why I liked AP courses in high school. There was an actual curriculum, and an actual book! It was varied and interesting.

My youngest has a class project about role models every week. I think it's wonderful, but so far not one role model has been white- and it's April! My kid opined (and wasn't being sarcastic) that white men have been at the top for way too long because they've never invented or done anything.

You might be disappointed when you get to most AP courses. Coverage of white men tends to be pretty negative in many of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sometimes they just try too hard. When my kids were in ES, every single song the chorus sang was in another language. We get it. There are lots of languages and cultures. Could we have one song where we all understood the words?

LOL! This is so true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sometimes they just try too hard. When my kids were in ES, every single song the chorus sang was in another language. We get it. There are lots of languages and cultures. Could we have one song where we all understood the words?

That sounds like the kind of thing someone wearing a MAGA cap would say. What do you have against other cultures?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is why I liked AP courses in high school. There was an actual curriculum, and an actual book! It was varied and interesting.

My youngest has a class project about role models every week. I think it's wonderful, but so far not one role model has been white- and it's April! My kid opined (and wasn't being sarcastic) that white men have been at the top for way too long because they've never invented or done anything.

What my kids learned at school from his teachers - white people suck