Unpopular opinion: young children should be taught what to think

[Anonymous]

We are Dems, send kids to a classical school for under 20k a yr. Lots of direct instruction and memorization through fun songs, chants, etc. The point is to lay a foundation of historical/literary/scientific content that they draw on in later years as they learn more logic, argumentation, and rhetoric. So yes, they are sort of told more what to think relative to public, but there’s a purpose— the self expression is thought to come more later. They still get lots of free play and outdoor time, which is great for imaginative play, teamwork, etc…all of the “soft” but very important skills. No tech till middle school then very very tech light.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are Dems, send kids to a classical school for under 20k a yr. Lots of direct instruction and memorization through fun songs, chants, etc. The point is to lay a foundation of historical/literary/scientific content that they draw on in later years as they learn more logic, argumentation, and rhetoric. So yes, they are sort of told more what to think relative to public, but there’s a purpose— the self expression is thought to come more later. They still get lots of free play and outdoor time, which is great for imaginative play, teamwork, etc…all of the “soft” but very important skills. No tech till middle school then very very tech light.

Yes. After all, you have to know SOMETHING. As Charlie Munger put it, your education is a latticework on which to hang your ideas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Creativity is all well and good, but it should be combined with spelling. It’s a lot easier to spell “said” correctly if you haven’t got muscle memory of writing “sed” in the first place.

This is where they should be using technology. Have the child tell a story to their screen to exercise creativity. Then let the computer translate it to something spelled correctly that the student can copy to practice spelling.

Anonymous wrote:^^but that being said, I agree that elementary school spends too much time on weird video clip "brain breaks" and ipad games in early elementary. i'm glad it's being rolled back in our kids school. however, telling kids to be kind when reading eachother's work is not a bad thing. we DO want to encourage reading and writing. imagine if your kid wrote a paragraph and his friend said "this is stupid. i cant even tell what these words are supposed to spell anyways.". Would that encourage a sensitive child to write better, or to not write/ write less/ use only words they are positive they can spell, therefore discouraging the use of larger more complex words and sentence structures? some kids would take that sort of feedback as a challenge at age 7, sure. But not most.

A 7 year old who is spelling “said” as “sed” is not doing it at 17. Relax.

As someone who gets emails from the general public, you're wrong. I see spelling like that all the time.

That’s not because schools are choosing to let creativity thrive freely in the early years. Most of us do learn to spell well enough but some don’t. My son spells phonetically even though he has always been three grades ahead in reading skills. Hopefully the current students will be able to easily use spellcheck and not ignore the red line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I taught my kids to read, write and do math at home, OP. Mostly over the summer, every year, and a little bit during the school year. I assigned classic children's lit for them to read.

Private school wasn't for us because one of my kids has special needs and really benefited from the accommodations public school could provide, and my other was able to get gifted services. This is why I will never hate MCPS. They do something for the kids at the extremes. I just filled in whatever school did not teach that I wanted my kids to know. I do not expect any school to parent my child. A parent is a child's main teacher.

Having grown up in a different country where teaching is highly respected and better compensated, I will say I've struggled with this as a parent in the US. Parents really are expected to provide more instruction at home which I don't think many are prepared for or equipped to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Creativity is all well and good, but it should be combined with spelling. It’s a lot easier to spell “said” correctly if you haven’t got muscle memory of writing “sed” in the first place.

This is where they should be using technology. Have the child tell a story to their screen to exercise creativity. Then let the computer translate it to something spelled correctly that the student can copy to practice spelling.

Anonymous wrote:^^but that being said, I agree that elementary school spends too much time on weird video clip "brain breaks" and ipad games in early elementary. i'm glad it's being rolled back in our kids school. however, telling kids to be kind when reading eachother's work is not a bad thing. we DO want to encourage reading and writing. imagine if your kid wrote a paragraph and his friend said "this is stupid. i cant even tell what these words are supposed to spell anyways.". Would that encourage a sensitive child to write better, or to not write/ write less/ use only words they are positive they can spell, therefore discouraging the use of larger more complex words and sentence structures? some kids would take that sort of feedback as a challenge at age 7, sure. But not most.

A 7 year old who is spelling “said” as “sed” is not doing it at 17. Relax.

As someone who gets emails from the general public, you're wrong. I see spelling like that all the time.

Yeah, I've even seen elementary teachers misspell pretty common words. Spelling is not being explicitly taught anymore.

[Anonymous]

This is such a distillation of politics now. I know OP says she's liberal, but who can argue about anyone having agency? Even your own children. That is seriously whack. So on brand for MAGA. Sorry OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I taught my kids to read, write and do math at home, OP. Mostly over the summer, every year, and a little bit during the school year. I assigned classic children's lit for them to read.

Private school wasn't for us because one of my kids has special needs and really benefited from the accommodations public school could provide, and my other was able to get gifted services. This is why I will never hate MCPS. They do something for the kids at the extremes. I just filled in whatever school did not teach that I wanted my kids to know. I do not expect any school to parent my child. A parent is a child's main teacher.

This is what a lot of parents do, if they aren't in survival mode.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are Dems, send kids to a classical school for under 20k a yr. Lots of direct instruction and memorization through fun songs, chants, etc. The point is to lay a foundation of historical/literary/scientific content that they draw on in later years as they learn more logic, argumentation, and rhetoric. So yes, they are sort of told more what to think relative to public, but there’s a purpose— the self expression is thought to come more later. They still get lots of free play and outdoor time, which is great for imaginative play, teamwork, etc…all of the “soft” but very important skills. No tech till middle school then very very tech light.

What exactly is a classical school? And when you write about a foundation in history, what are they teaching exactly? When they teach the Cold War, for example, do they teach the atrocities of the Soviet Union but leave out the US atrocities like CIA coups putting brutal dictators like Marcos, Pinochet and many other fascist leaders because of the US fear of socialism and communism.

When the students only have “very light tech” will they be overwhelmed when they find the work place isn’t impressed with their cursive writing they want them completely tech savvy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Creativity is all well and good, but it should be combined with spelling. It’s a lot easier to spell “said” correctly if you haven’t got muscle memory of writing “sed” in the first place.

This is where they should be using technology. Have the child tell a story to their screen to exercise creativity. Then let the computer translate it to something spelled correctly that the student can copy to practice spelling.

Anonymous wrote:^^but that being said, I agree that elementary school spends too much time on weird video clip "brain breaks" and ipad games in early elementary. i'm glad it's being rolled back in our kids school. however, telling kids to be kind when reading eachother's work is not a bad thing. we DO want to encourage reading and writing. imagine if your kid wrote a paragraph and his friend said "this is stupid. i cant even tell what these words are supposed to spell anyways.". Would that encourage a sensitive child to write better, or to not write/ write less/ use only words they are positive they can spell, therefore discouraging the use of larger more complex words and sentence structures? some kids would take that sort of feedback as a challenge at age 7, sure. But not most.

A 7 year old who is spelling “said” as “sed” is not doing it at 17. Relax.

As someone who gets emails from the general public, you're wrong. I see spelling like that all the time.

Yeah, I've even seen elementary teachers misspell pretty common words. Spelling is not being explicitly taught anymore.

If the teachers are about 30 years old and older they were explicitly taught spelling. And a misspelled word happens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are Dems, send kids to a classical school for under 20k a yr. Lots of direct instruction and memorization through fun songs, chants, etc. The point is to lay a foundation of historical/literary/scientific content that they draw on in later years as they learn more logic, argumentation, and rhetoric. So yes, they are sort of told more what to think relative to public, but there’s a purpose— the self expression is thought to come more later. They still get lots of free play and outdoor time, which is great for imaginative play, teamwork, etc…all of the “soft” but very important skills. No tech till middle school then very very tech light.

What exactly is a classical school? And when you write about a foundation in history, what are they teaching exactly? When they teach the Cold War, for example, do they teach the atrocities of the Soviet Union but leave out the US atrocities like CIA coups putting brutal dictators like Marcos, Pinochet and many other fascist leaders because of the US fear of socialism and communism.

When the students only have “very light tech” will they be overwhelmed when they find the work place isn’t impressed with their cursive writing they want them completely tech savvy?

Yes boo they go into this in elementary

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are Dems, send kids to a classical school for under 20k a yr. Lots of direct instruction and memorization through fun songs, chants, etc. The point is to lay a foundation of historical/literary/scientific content that they draw on in later years as they learn more logic, argumentation, and rhetoric. So yes, they are sort of told more what to think relative to public, but there’s a purpose— the self expression is thought to come more later. They still get lots of free play and outdoor time, which is great for imaginative play, teamwork, etc…all of the “soft” but very important skills. No tech till middle school then very very tech light.

What exactly is a classical school? And when you write about a foundation in history, what are they teaching exactly? When they teach the Cold War, for example, do they teach the atrocities of the Soviet Union but leave out the US atrocities like CIA coups putting brutal dictators like Marcos, Pinochet and many other fascist leaders because of the US fear of socialism and communism.

When the students only have “very light tech” will they be overwhelmed when they find the work place isn’t impressed with their cursive writing they want them completely tech savvy?

Np. How old are you? Sometimes I see people make similar comments about AI, and I wonder how someone could think this—that it takes so long for kids to be computer savvy, that they must begin young. Is this a generational divide? Are you older or younger?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are Dems, send kids to a classical school for under 20k a yr. Lots of direct instruction and memorization through fun songs, chants, etc. The point is to lay a foundation of historical/literary/scientific content that they draw on in later years as they learn more logic, argumentation, and rhetoric. So yes, they are sort of told more what to think relative to public, but there’s a purpose— the self expression is thought to come more later. They still get lots of free play and outdoor time, which is great for imaginative play, teamwork, etc…all of the “soft” but very important skills. No tech till middle school then very very tech light.

What exactly is a classical school? And when you write about a foundation in history, what are they teaching exactly? When they teach the Cold War, for example, do they teach the atrocities of the Soviet Union but leave out the US atrocities like CIA coups putting brutal dictators like Marcos, Pinochet and many other fascist leaders because of the US fear of socialism and communism.

When the students only have “very light tech” will they be overwhelmed when they find the work place isn’t impressed with their cursive writing they want them completely tech savvy?

Classical Ed, https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/03/opinion/public-schools-politics-democracy-minnesota.html

This guy was classically educated (and homeschooled). Vp at Nvidia now, seems to be doing fine with tech. He’s the oldest kid of Jesse wise, who co-wrote the well trained mind book that is popular in classical homeschool circles. (My kids aren’t homeschooled, but are at the tech lite classical school. There are plenty of parents in stem and tech/ai who are there to purposefully avoid tech until kids are much older) https://magazine.wm.edu/online-exclusives/2026/bob-wise-86-to-speak-at-wm-april-23.php

Nytimes also did a feature on parents in tech sending their kids to tech free Waldorf schools. Maybe theyre on to something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are Dems, send kids to a classical school for under 20k a yr. Lots of direct instruction and memorization through fun songs, chants, etc. The point is to lay a foundation of historical/literary/scientific content that they draw on in later years as they learn more logic, argumentation, and rhetoric. So yes, they are sort of told more what to think relative to public, but there’s a purpose— the self expression is thought to come more later. They still get lots of free play and outdoor time, which is great for imaginative play, teamwork, etc…all of the “soft” but very important skills. No tech till middle school then very very tech light.

What exactly is a classical school? And when you write about a foundation in history, what are they teaching exactly? When they teach the Cold War, for example, do they teach the atrocities of the Soviet Union but leave out the US atrocities like CIA coups putting brutal dictators like Marcos, Pinochet and many other fascist leaders because of the US fear of socialism and communism.

When the students only have “very light tech” will they be overwhelmed when they find the work place isn’t impressed with their cursive writing they want them completely tech savvy?

Np. How old are you? Sometimes I see people make similar comments about AI, and I wonder how someone could think this—that it takes so long for kids to be computer savvy, that they must begin young. Is this a generational divide? Are you older or younger?

Computers are user friendly but not all of the programs are. It’s also a matter of being fast and efficient. Learning to type correctly is ten times faster than two finger typers. Writing memos, emails, letters, planning reports will get tedious fast if your typing skills are nonexistent. Employers have complained that recent graduates have beginner skills with necessary programs but very few are intermediate or advanced.

The only generational divide I might wonder about is the older parents who can’t let go of cursive writing. It’s an old relic that had its day and now has no real use. But it upsets the GenX people I think.