Schools commenting on Trump

[Anonymous]

Honestly in the first week of the administration there were several made to order civics/history lessons. It would be educational malpractice NOT to be discussing them.

1) tik tok ban! Ahhh! What law was passed and why? What is an executive order? What is the role of the courts?

2) the 14th amendment, how does it work? When was it passed? What is reconstruction, what is the redemption, what was Dred Scott?Why do we always seem to circle back to our foundational wounds? Does it somehow not say what it seems to clearly say? Does it matter if a legal argument is made in bad faith?

3) who are inspector generals? If the order to dismiss them was not lawful, what can anyone do about it? What do you do when the president ignores little laws like 30 day notice to congress? Does it matter?

[Anonymous]

How weak is your child that they can’t hear opposing views.

My kids hear abortion is murder, gays are going to hell, the inability to understands vs gender, Jews are going to hell. Immigrants are criminals … etc

Your kids need to toughen up

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How weak is your child that they can’t hear opposing views.

My kids hear abortion is murder, gays are going to hell, the inability to understands vs gender, Jews are going to hell. Immigrants are criminals … etc

Your kids need to toughen up

And there is nothing wrong with student telling students this; however, teachers shouldn't tell students this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If teachers were telling the kids that we all should be praying to God, most parents here would be upset.

Teachers should not share their beliefs on politics or religion.

Sidwell is a religious school. They have religious services and rituals as often as the Catholic schools. If you don’t want your kid exposed to religion it’s not the school for you.

Not the original person who commented, however, this comment is partly false. Although Sidwell does meet weekly for what they call a "Meeting for Worship" they do not practice any religious activities during this time. At catholic schools they do read holy texts and talk about God, but at Sidwell they have silence for reflection and welcome people from all faiths. Catholic schools welcome people from all faiths but practice Catholicism. Sidwell is not pushing any religious ideas on to anyone (as a school), but Catholic schools are.

Silent reflection is a religious activity. Treating it like it's a trivial thing, and not as sacred as reading the Bible is weird.

Catholic schools are open to people of all faiths. They don't try to convert students.
They teach about their beliefs, in the same way that Sidwell teaches about their beliefs about silent worship, and pacifism. Both teach a great deal about their beliefs in service.

Saying all of this as someone with a great deal of experience in both Sidwell and Catholic schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If teachers were telling the kids that we all should be praying to God, most parents here would be upset.

Teachers should not share their beliefs on politics or religion.

Sidwell is a religious school. They have religious services and rituals as often as the Catholic schools. If you don’t want your kid exposed to religion it’s not the school for you.

Not the original person who commented, however, this comment is partly false. Although Sidwell does meet weekly for what they call a "Meeting for Worship" they do not practice any religious activities during this time. At catholic schools they do read holy texts and talk about God, but at Sidwell they have silence for reflection and welcome people from all faiths. Catholic schools welcome people from all faiths but practice Catholicism. Sidwell is not pushing any religious ideas on to anyone (as a school), but Catholic schools are.

That’s not true. Sidwell is a Quaker school. That happens to come with an emphasis on individual practice of religion but that doesn’t mean it’s not religious and they are still guided by “inner light,” spices etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If teachers were telling the kids that we all should be praying to God, most parents here would be upset.

Teachers should not share their beliefs on politics or religion.

This is a discussion about a private school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How weak is your child that they can’t hear opposing views.

My kids hear abortion is murder, gays are going to hell, the inability to understands vs gender, Jews are going to hell. Immigrants are criminals … etc

Your kids need to toughen up

My kids hear babies are just a clump of cells, it’s ok for kid’s to cut their penis off, and Jews don’t control the world.

They know all this is nonsense! Toughen up!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Education should foster critical thinking, not impose personal ideologies. When teachers discuss politics, it risks pressuring students to adopt their viewpoints, undermining the neutrality and integrity of the classroom. Private schools are chosen for their alignment with family values, not to subject children to the political opinions of educators.
Classrooms should be spaces for intellectual growth and mutual respect, not polarization. Teaching critical thinking equips students to explore ideas independently without bias. Political discussions belong at home or in broader society, not in the educational setting.
To preserve the trust of families and the integrity of education, teachers must remain focused on academic and personal development, not politics. Diversity of thoughts should be a thing too!

"Family values" are not objective, and not separate from politics.

IMO, if you go to a liberal school you should expect to hear liberal values not only espoused but explicitly taught. If you want only conservative values, go to a different school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS goes to Sidwell and he has had many teachers make comments about the new administration. I don't know how I feel about this because although I agree with the idea that this administration is doing things that are not good for our country, I do not think teachers should express their views on to students. I've heard at schools like GDS they have had assemblies where the principle has made comments about the election and Trump in a non specific way, but does this happen in other schools? And is it okay for teachers and administrators to talk about politics, rather than fostering discussions in unbiased way?

If he's in my DS's class, the kids (boys) are giving it right back to these teachers.

Gross

Super gross. I feel bad for these teachers dealing with these entitled brats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If teachers were telling the kids that we all should be praying to God, most parents here would be upset.

Teachers should not share their beliefs on politics or religion.

Sidwell is a religious school. They have religious services and rituals as often as the Catholic schools. If you don’t want your kid exposed to religion it’s not the school for you.

I highly doubt Sidwell kids go to Mass every day like my kids. But anyway…

I have no problem with private schools doing this. It isn’t like it’s a secret going in the administrations of these schools are far left progressives. It’s one reason we didn’t apply.

Our school has open discussions and teachers from all perspectives. I find that healthier in general (and my boys are smart enough they know which teachers reward a good debate and which ones want to hear their own views reflected back, and craft their assignments accordingly).

I think we’re at the same school.🤣

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Education should foster critical thinking, not impose personal ideologies. When teachers discuss politics, it risks pressuring students to adopt their viewpoints, undermining the neutrality and integrity of the classroom. Private schools are chosen for their alignment with family values, not to subject children to the political opinions of educators.
Classrooms should be spaces for intellectual growth and mutual respect, not polarization. Teaching critical thinking equips students to explore ideas independently without bias. Political discussions belong at home or in broader society, not in the educational setting.
To preserve the trust of families and the integrity of education, teachers must remain focused on academic and personal development, not politics. Diversity of thoughts should be a thing too!

"Family values" are not objective, and not separate from politics.

IMO, if you go to a liberal school you should expect to hear liberal values not only espoused but explicitly taught. If you want only conservative values, go to a different school.

I think there is a difference from a school publicly saying and teaching something than teaching facts about something. A school saying and teaching that abortion is wrong is a political view that students should be allowed to and given the space to decide what they think is right. However, saying that a fetus is not a baby is a fact and that 100% should be taught in school and teachers should tell students that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If teachers were telling the kids that we all should be praying to God, most parents here would be upset.

Teachers should not share their beliefs on politics or religion.

Sidwell is a religious school. They have religious services and rituals as often as the Catholic schools. If you don’t want your kid exposed to religion it’s not the school for you.

I highly doubt Sidwell kids go to Mass every day like my kids. But anyway…

I have no problem with private schools doing this. It isn’t like it’s a secret going in the administrations of these schools are far left progressives. It’s one reason we didn’t apply.

Our school has open discussions and teachers from all perspectives. I find that healthier in general (and my boys are smart enough they know which teachers reward a good debate and which ones want to hear their own views reflected back, and craft their assignments accordingly).

I think we’re at the same school.🤣

What school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS and DD go to St Johns. At least from what I've heard from them are that teachers were told to not talk about politics, much less their own opinions. What this has created is a lot of kids that have the same views as their parents, but are not educated at all about these views. An example was my DD told me that her friend was saying how Trump is saving America by deportations and making immigration very hard illegally. What her friend failed to see is Trump's policies about ending birth right citizenship, which is unconstitutional, seeking asylum, and refugee immigration. When kids are only exposed to one view point they do not try to understand and create their own view point, they just follow the norm. That is a big issue because then our kids really are not educated on politics, just having views with nothing to back them up.

DC are at SJC - they don’t hear much political expression from teachers. They have a lot of friends who think very differently.!They have all agreed to listen to each other, but not judge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS goes to Sidwell and he has had many teachers make comments about the new administration. I don't know how I feel about this because although I agree with the idea that this administration is doing things that are not good for our country, I do not think teachers should express their views on to students. I've heard at schools like GDS they have had assemblies where the principle has made comments about the election and Trump in a non specific way, but does this happen in other schools? And is it okay for teachers and administrators to talk about politics, rather than fostering discussions in unbiased way?

If he's in my DS's class, the kids (boys) are giving it right back to these teachers.

Genuinely interested to hear more about this. Are you saying that boys are expressing support for Trump in class? How old are they? I'm curious as to the balance of student opinion at Sidwell, how other kids respond, what kinds of arguments these boys make, etc.

PP again. DS is in the upper school. He said last fall that, if they were old enough to vote, 85-90% of the boys would have voted for Trump. That is certainly true from what I have seen from his friends, even those with liberal parents. This is not true of the girls there. If you know anything about young males, you know that Trump was very popular with this age group across the country. It's simply consistent with that.

Like anything else with strength in numbers, when you know that you have friends in the class who will support you, it makes it easier to speak up and to challenge or question points that teachers make in the classroom.

[Anonymous]

We chose our kids school, in part, for the diversity, including the diversity of thought. So we welcome discussion of these topics. Teachers can express a view as long as it is presented as a view. We teach our kids how to tell the difference between fact and opinion and put them in a place where they will hear different views and be able to form and defend their own.