Any momentum to lobby the state to make health a 1/2 year again?

[Anonymous]

I'm the OP, and I'm not a MCPS hater generally. I'm usually pretty supportive. But my kids complain about the Health Ed ALL THE TIME -- it's their least favorite class and they think they learn nothing. The teaching seems to be, at best, wildly uninspiring. I actually think mental health issues, healthy eating habits, and general health knowledge are really important. But these classes do not seem to actually impart any of that education, and the kids aren't receptive to it in this format. It just seems like sort of a waste of time. Maybe if they could find teachers that were passionate about the subject matter it would be better, but it seems like the spot where they put all the teachers who don't really want to teach anything else.

I feel like maybe there could be a test-out option -- if you can pass a test that shows you know the content already, you don't have to take the class.

When I was in HS, my state did mandate a semester of health ed (combined with a semester of financial literacy). For complicated reasons, I took it by correspondence course, and the only course I could find was a college level college course. It was great! It was designed as the entry level courses for nursing students, and it was really substantive. But I feel like the MCPS class is just a full year of "Don't do drugs--eat more vegetables and less fat and sugar -- if you feel depressed, call this hotline." I don't know the value in just saying that over and over again. (And some of the nutrition advice is just actually outdated or inappropriate for the age level.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the OP, and I'm not a MCPS hater generally. I'm usually pretty supportive. But my kids complain about the Health Ed ALL THE TIME -- it's their least favorite class and they think they learn nothing. The teaching seems to be, at best, wildly uninspiring. I actually think mental health issues, healthy eating habits, and general health knowledge are really important. But these classes do not seem to actually impart any of that education, and the kids aren't receptive to it in this format. It just seems like sort of a waste of time. Maybe if they could find teachers that were passionate about the subject matter it would be better, but it seems like the spot where they put all the teachers who don't really want to teach anything else.

I feel like maybe there could be a test-out option -- if you can pass a test that shows you know the content already, you don't have to take the class.

When I was in HS, my state did mandate a semester of health ed (combined with a semester of financial literacy). For complicated reasons, I took it by correspondence course, and the only course I could find was a college level college course. It was great! It was designed as the entry level courses for nursing students, and it was really substantive. But I feel like the MCPS class is just a full year of "Don't do drugs--eat more vegetables and less fat and sugar -- if you feel depressed, call this hotline." I don't know the value in just saying that over and over again. (And some of the nutrition advice is just actually outdated or inappropriate for the age level.)

Some of the nutritional information is outdated.

Most of it including the mental health content is not trauma-informed. No value-added and sometimes causes harm.

I agree that these are essential topics. The delivery is awful.

[Anonymous]

Can riding 9th graders take this online in summer school to get it over with?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After 3 years of MS health ed plus 1/2 a year, what on earth are they discussing? Every year MS health ed is the same thing.

From what I could tell, Montgomery County health was about sex-ed, drugs, and a little bit of mental health.

When I went to school elsewhere, our health class covered sex-ed and drugs, but it also covered nutrition, body systems, diseases, and first aid (including the Heimlich and CPR certification). Admittedly, there wasn’t much focus on mental health.

If the extra semester of health means they actually learn more about health than safe sex, avoiding drugs, and mental health issues, it sounds like it would be beneficial.

So, you don't have kids in MCPS and know nothing about it but advocate for it. They did all those things in MS. Then, they do them all in the one semester of HS. Now, doing something like financial literacy makes sense. Another health education doesn't. Every semester its the same thing. Enough with the mental health non-sense. Talking about it in general terms isn't helping anyone. Parents need to step up and help and get their kids help with true mental health issues. Between student support/advisory and health ed, so much time is wasted repeating the same information vs. giving our kids a good well rounded education.

Pp you quoted
My kids are recent graduates of MCPS. One of them even took “Honors Health” as she was interested in a health career and was hoping for a more rigorous health class, which she didn’t get. You seem to be agreeing with me that the repeated semesters of health focusing on mental health is insufficient. That’s why they need a semester with useful content.

I agree that MCPS wastes a lot of time on fluffy topics when instructional time would be better served focusing on academic content and/or development of specific skills. I think instruction on financial literacy is also a good idea. It could be folded into existing math/economics classes (although with the current problems with math instruction, I hate to divert time/focus from main topics) or stand alone. Maybe we should just have a life skills class that includes financial literacy, practical health, and other miscellaneous general information that people need in life but usually just fumble through by themselves.

Everyone takes honors health. There is no on-level option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After 3 years of MS health ed plus 1/2 a year, what on earth are they discussing? Every year MS health ed is the same thing.

From what I could tell, Montgomery County health was about sex-ed, drugs, and a little bit of mental health.

When I went to school elsewhere, our health class covered sex-ed and drugs, but it also covered nutrition, body systems, diseases, and first aid (including the Heimlich and CPR certification). Admittedly, there wasn’t much focus on mental health.

If the extra semester of health means they actually learn more about health than safe sex, avoiding drugs, and mental health issues, it sounds like it would be beneficial.

So, you don't have kids in MCPS and know nothing about it but advocate for it. They did all those things in MS. Then, they do them all in the one semester of HS. Now, doing something like financial literacy makes sense. Another health education doesn't. Every semester its the same thing. Enough with the mental health non-sense. Talking about it in general terms isn't helping anyone. Parents need to step up and help and get their kids help with true mental health issues. Between student support/advisory and health ed, so much time is wasted repeating the same information vs. giving our kids a good well rounded education.

Pp you quoted
My kids are recent graduates of MCPS. One of them even took “Honors Health” as she was interested in a health career and was hoping for a more rigorous health class, which she didn’t get. You seem to be agreeing with me that the repeated semesters of health focusing on mental health is insufficient. That’s why they need a semester with useful content.

I agree that MCPS wastes a lot of time on fluffy topics when instructional time would be better served focusing on academic content and/or development of specific skills. I think instruction on financial literacy is also a good idea. It could be folded into existing math/economics classes (although with the current problems with math instruction, I hate to divert time/focus from main topics) or stand alone. Maybe we should just have a life skills class that includes financial literacy, practical health, and other miscellaneous general information that people need in life but usually just fumble through by themselves.

We had that class. It was called home economics. I don't know why we did away with it.

Home Ec is cooking and sewing. I prefer to teach my kids all this and let them take useful things.

That wasn't what my home ec class was. We had cooking, sewing, financial planning (budgeting) and some cleaning and organizing built into our curriculum.

DP. Home ex for me was also just cooking and sewing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They just need a Wellness requirement that is worth 2 credits and is broken up as 1/2 a credit each year. It would cover PE in 9th, Psychological in 10th, Financial in 11th, Seminar Society and Culture.

This would cover all the things that students need to learn, force school to create quality 1/2 credit electives for students to explore in Junior/Senior year and likely help the stress and mental health of all students by providing them with a useful class that encourages dialogue, but that is not as intense as say AP whatever.

Those may all be great, but when are they learning things like:

First Aid - the Heimlich, CPR, basic wound care, recognizing and treating frost bite and heat stroke, signs of a heart attack and stroke, what to do for someone going into shock, etc.

Nutrition - what specific vitamins and minerals do and what foods they’re found in, information on diseases caused by malnutrition, diabetes, safe food handling practices

Disease - types of diseases, how they’re transmitted, why vaccines are important, why antibiotics don’t cure everything

They've done all that in MS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can riding 9th graders take this online in summer school to get it over with?

In theory, yes. In practice, it's a little complicated. This summer, like last summer, they are only offering Health A during summer school. Will they offer Health B in future summers? One would hope, but who knows. So you could take the first half in summer, but then be stuck with an awkward semester long class that you'll have to take later in the regular school year. It's also a little challenging if your kid has any summer commitments, as it's a pretty long class, and you can pick either an online night version, or an online afternoon version, but then you have to be there every day. One of my kids did it a couple of years ago (when it was only a semester commitment). I looked for the other one and our planned summer vacation knocks out both sessions, so he just can't do it. I think it would also be hard for a kid with a summer job or that is doing any sleep away camp.

My kid that took the Health A over summer school HATED it -- it was a LOT Of work that she said was all basically repetitive busy work. They take all the meaningless homework assignments that kids have to do over the whole 5 month semester, and crunch it into 3 weeks, so you're doing multiple busy work assignments per day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can riding 9th graders take this online in summer school to get it over with?

In theory, yes. In practice, it's a little complicated. This summer, like last summer, they are only offering Health A during summer school. Will they offer Health B in future summers? One would hope, but who knows. So you could take the first half in summer, but then be stuck with an awkward semester long class that you'll have to take later in the regular school year. It's also a little challenging if your kid has any summer commitments, as it's a pretty long class, and you can pick either an online night version, or an online afternoon version, but then you have to be there every day. One of my kids did it a couple of years ago (when it was only a semester commitment). I looked for the other one and our planned summer vacation knocks out both sessions, so he just can't do it. I think it would also be hard for a kid with a summer job or that is doing any sleep away camp.

My kid that took the Health A over summer school HATED it -- it was a LOT Of work that she said was all basically repetitive busy work. They take all the meaningless homework assignments that kids have to do over the whole 5 month semester, and crunch it into 3 weeks, so you're doing multiple busy work assignments per day.

I get that the state had good intentions, but this stuff never works. They will gloss over anything remotely useful in life and basically just make this into an exercise in gratuitous cruelty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can riding 9th graders take this online in summer school to get it over with?

In theory, yes. In practice, it's a little complicated. This summer, like last summer, they are only offering Health A during summer school. Will they offer Health B in future summers? One would hope, but who knows. So you could take the first half in summer, but then be stuck with an awkward semester long class that you'll have to take later in the regular school year. It's also a little challenging if your kid has any summer commitments, as it's a pretty long class, and you can pick either an online night version, or an online afternoon version, but then you have to be there every day. One of my kids did it a couple of years ago (when it was only a semester commitment). I looked for the other one and our planned summer vacation knocks out both sessions, so he just can't do it. I think it would also be hard for a kid with a summer job or that is doing any sleep away camp.

My kid that took the Health A over summer school HATED it -- it was a LOT Of work that she said was all basically repetitive busy work. They take all the meaningless homework assignments that kids have to do over the whole 5 month semester, and crunch it into 3 weeks, so you're doing multiple busy work assignments per day.

I get that the state had good intentions, but this stuff never works. They will gloss over anything remotely useful in life and basically just make this into an exercise in gratuitous cruelty.

Yup and as awful as it is they’ll never get rid of it.

[Anonymous]

It would have made more sense to add a half-credit financial literacy requirement than more health.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It would have made more sense to add a half-credit financial literacy requirement than more health.

I'm all for making that optional for kids who might benefit, but mine don't need it. They wind up spending half the class explaining how to balance a checkbook or something else that isn't useful or can be presented to most people in 15 minutes. All these silly reqs take time away from academic classes. If they do this nonsense at least let people with a modicum of common sense test out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They just need a Wellness requirement that is worth 2 credits and is broken up as 1/2 a credit each year. It would cover PE in 9th, Psychological in 10th, Financial in 11th, Seminar Society and Culture.

This would cover all the things that students need to learn, force school to create quality 1/2 credit electives for students to explore in Junior/Senior year and likely help the stress and mental health of all students by providing them with a useful class that encourages dialogue, but that is not as intense as say AP whatever.

Those may all be great, but when are they learning things like:

First Aid - the Heimlich, CPR, basic wound care, recognizing and treating frost bite and heat stroke, signs of a heart attack and stroke, what to do for someone going into shock, etc.

Nutrition - what specific vitamins and minerals do and what foods they’re found in, information on diseases caused by malnutrition, diabetes, safe food handling practices

Disease - types of diseases, how they’re transmitted, why vaccines are important, why antibiotics don’t cure everything

These can all be covered at a basic level between middle school health and the HS Wellness classes suggested as well as Biology. Other places =CubScouts/Girls Scouts, AHA/Red Cross first aid and CPR class, Nutrition class, Health Science classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After 3 years of MS health ed plus 1/2 a year, what on earth are they discussing? Every year MS health ed is the same thing.

From what I could tell, Montgomery County health was about sex-ed, drugs, and a little bit of mental health.

When I went to school elsewhere, our health class covered sex-ed and drugs, but it also covered nutrition, body systems, diseases, and first aid (including the Heimlich and CPR certification). Admittedly, there wasn’t much focus on mental health.

If the extra semester of health means they actually learn more about health than safe sex, avoiding drugs, and mental health issues, it sounds like it would be beneficial.

So, you don't have kids in MCPS and know nothing about it but advocate for it. They did all those things in MS. Then, they do them all in the one semester of HS. Now, doing something like financial literacy makes sense. Another health education doesn't. Every semester its the same thing. Enough with the mental health non-sense. Talking about it in general terms isn't helping anyone. Parents need to step up and help and get their kids help with true mental health issues. Between student support/advisory and health ed, so much time is wasted repeating the same information vs. giving our kids a good well rounded education.

Pp you quoted
My kids are recent graduates of MCPS. One of them even took “Honors Health” as she was interested in a health career and was hoping for a more rigorous health class, which she didn’t get. You seem to be agreeing with me that the repeated semesters of health focusing on mental health is insufficient. That’s why they need a semester with useful content.

I agree that MCPS wastes a lot of time on fluffy topics when instructional time would be better served focusing on academic content and/or development of specific skills. I think instruction on financial literacy is also a good idea. It could be folded into existing math/economics classes (although with the current problems with math instruction, I hate to divert time/focus from main topics) or stand alone. Maybe we should just have a life skills class that includes financial literacy, practical health, and other miscellaneous general information that people need in life but usually just fumble through by themselves.

Everyone takes honors health. There is no on-level option.

gotta love MCPS and their inflated GPA's!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After 3 years of MS health ed plus 1/2 a year, what on earth are they discussing? Every year MS health ed is the same thing.

From what I could tell, Montgomery County health was about sex-ed, drugs, and a little bit of mental health.

When I went to school elsewhere, our health class covered sex-ed and drugs, but it also covered nutrition, body systems, diseases, and first aid (including the Heimlich and CPR certification). Admittedly, there wasn’t much focus on mental health.

If the extra semester of health means they actually learn more about health than safe sex, avoiding drugs, and mental health issues, it sounds like it would be beneficial.

So, you don't have kids in MCPS and know nothing about it but advocate for it. They did all those things in MS. Then, they do them all in the one semester of HS. Now, doing something like financial literacy makes sense. Another health education doesn't. Every semester its the same thing. Enough with the mental health non-sense. Talking about it in general terms isn't helping anyone. Parents need to step up and help and get their kids help with true mental health issues. Between student support/advisory and health ed, so much time is wasted repeating the same information vs. giving our kids a good well rounded education.

Pp you quoted
My kids are recent graduates of MCPS. One of them even took “Honors Health” as she was interested in a health career and was hoping for a more rigorous health class, which she didn’t get. You seem to be agreeing with me that the repeated semesters of health focusing on mental health is insufficient. That’s why they need a semester with useful content.

I agree that MCPS wastes a lot of time on fluffy topics when instructional time would be better served focusing on academic content and/or development of specific skills. I think instruction on financial literacy is also a good idea. It could be folded into existing math/economics classes (although with the current problems with math instruction, I hate to divert time/focus from main topics) or stand alone. Maybe we should just have a life skills class that includes financial literacy, practical health, and other miscellaneous general information that people need in life but usually just fumble through by themselves.

We had that class. It was called home economics. I don't know why we did away with it.

Home Ec is cooking and sewing. I prefer to teach my kids all this and let them take useful things.

That wasn't what my home ec class was. We had cooking, sewing, financial planning (budgeting) and some cleaning and organizing built into our curriculum.

I took "independant living" in additional to cooking ad sewing. It included finances and taxes, fire safety, general first aid, resumes and interviews..probably other topics I do not remember. This was Jr High

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After 3 years of MS health ed plus 1/2 a year, what on earth are they discussing? Every year MS health ed is the same thing.

From what I could tell, Montgomery County health was about sex-ed, drugs, and a little bit of mental health.

When I went to school elsewhere, our health class covered sex-ed and drugs, but it also covered nutrition, body systems, diseases, and first aid (including the Heimlich and CPR certification). Admittedly, there wasn’t much focus on mental health.

If the extra semester of health means they actually learn more about health than safe sex, avoiding drugs, and mental health issues, it sounds like it would be beneficial.

So, you don't have kids in MCPS and know nothing about it but advocate for it. They did all those things in MS. Then, they do them all in the one semester of HS. Now, doing something like financial literacy makes sense. Another health education doesn't. Every semester its the same thing. Enough with the mental health non-sense. Talking about it in general terms isn't helping anyone. Parents need to step up and help and get their kids help with true mental health issues. Between student support/advisory and health ed, so much time is wasted repeating the same information vs. giving our kids a good well rounded education.

Pp you quoted
My kids are recent graduates of MCPS. One of them even took “Honors Health” as she was interested in a health career and was hoping for a more rigorous health class, which she didn’t get. You seem to be agreeing with me that the repeated semesters of health focusing on mental health is insufficient. That’s why they need a semester with useful content.

I agree that MCPS wastes a lot of time on fluffy topics when instructional time would be better served focusing on academic content and/or development of specific skills. I think instruction on financial literacy is also a good idea. It could be folded into existing math/economics classes (although with the current problems with math instruction, I hate to divert time/focus from main topics) or stand alone. Maybe we should just have a life skills class that includes financial literacy, practical health, and other miscellaneous general information that people need in life but usually just fumble through by themselves.

Everyone takes honors health. There is no on-level option.

This is not true (or maybe only at some schools)