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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have a voracious reader and still agree with OP - she doesn't really *know* anything, and sometimes strikes me as deeply incurious. I remember FCPS science units on "Mystery Powders" - which taught the scientific method and basic chemistry - and "Batteries & Bulbs", both of which had to be before 5th grade when I switched school systems. My current AAP 4th grader has done nothing close to these, and in fact I'm not sure she's even had a real science unit yet outside of insect lifecycles (x3). The reading choices she had outside of Benchmark last year had no historical fiction options, and of course Benchmark itself is trivial little excerpts/short texts. History/Social Studies is just reviewing a series of Google slides. She hasn't had to research anything independently, write a book report, do a take-home project...it really does seem like we're just passing kids along from year to year and as long as they meet basic math and reading benchmarks it's good enough.[/quote]

My oldest had to do her first research project in 5th. Only the teacher expected the group (it was a group project, and the final project was a website) to understand not only the concept of a thesis, but of how to make a supporting argument. She had never even taught them how to do that, and neither had any prior year teacher. I had to sit and patiently explain at home how each paragraph had to have a subject sentence showing how it supported the thesis, then make an argument, then sum up the argument. Since no other kid had any clue how to do this, I think DD tidied up everyone's paragraphs herself, since she's the kind of kid who does the bulk of the group project.

We switched to private a couple years later. Second child was clearly instructed in 5th - but it was review for the kids who had been at the school - how to construct an argument in a basic essay. They even taught it to her before expecting her to actually write a research paper![/quote]

Public school has become a woefully bad education. So much of the day is wasted  So many things I learned in elementary i.e. geography, cursive, writing, spelling, science, history, critical thinking are not tught. We are truly raising a generation of idiots. Educatuon will soon become a class issue where only the well off can afford a good one.  [/quote]
Just because you are not experiencing this at your school does not mean this is the case everywhere. My current MCPS mid elementary schoolers have done all of these so far (cursive is in 3rd).[/quote]

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