Re ageism. Not really -- more a generational thing. The whole Soviet Youth thing is such a Cold War trope re children and politics. Can't possibly be thinking for themselves -- must have been brainwashed by Commies. And I recognize it because I'm probably about the same age as the PP and remember growing up with similar images (which, I think, were, in turn, supposed to remind us of Hitler Youth). Kind of ironic when you remember that, at the same time, we were seeing African-American children deeply involved in the Civil Rights Movement. Then again, according to some folks the CRM itself was a Communist plot.

Maybe I'm mistaken but I'd venture to guess that these are not the first set of images that leap to the minds of people born after 1970 when they think of kids and politics, which is why I suggested the PP's POV was the product of a particular era.

Confused?!?! ageist? 2300 and 1426 are clearly not on the same planet or same city as everyone else. At 8/9 yrs old, children are entrenched in politics and cultural issues. They live in DC for heavens sake, probably with political parents...left or right.

As a GDS parent, I'm not surprised that a 3rd grader would say that. GDS does do an exemplary job of teaching children about diversity, and embeds that very purposefully, thoughfully, and deeply into many aspects of its curriculum from the PK level onward. Combine the students' generally high level of articulateness, confidence speaking with adults, and the fact that many GDS children come from families where talk about politics and history are an everyday occurrence, and you will find 3rd graders talking knowledgably and proudly about their school's history.

Anonymous wrote:2300-you sound like a real racist and diehard antisemite!

Oh gawd, the "antisemitic" poster strikes again. Please, go away. I agree 23:00 sounds really cynical, but not because we know her views on religion or race, because we know absolutely nothing about her views on these things. She's just saying she finds it odd a young kid is interested in politics, period. This is cynical, but not in the way you're suggesting.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2300-you sound like a real racist and diehard antisemite!

[b]No she doesn't. Just someone who (a) is of a certain age and[/b] (b) doesn't really have a sense of how intelligent and politically engaged kids can be if they're treated as capable and encouraged to think critically about the world around them from an early age.

And, in the end, it doesn't matter. This poster wouldn't send her kids to GDS and the GDS third grader she meant will someday be old enough (and/or do something significant enough) to be taken seriously as a political actor, at which point the uninformed opinion of some random adult acquaintance is pretty irrelevant.

I think what the GDS kid said was sweet and what 23:00 said was cynical, but I also think that the last PP quoted is age-ist.

Anonymous wrote:2300-you sound like a real racist and diehard antisemite!

No she doesn't. Just someone who (a) is of a certain age and (b) doesn't really have a sense of how intelligent and politically engaged kids can be if they're treated as capable and encouraged to think critically about the world around them from an early age.

And, in the end, it doesn't matter. This poster wouldn't send her kids to GDS and the GDS third grader she meant will someday be old enough (and/or do something significant enough) to be taken seriously as a political actor, at which point the uninformed opinion of some random adult acquaintance is pretty irrelevant.

2300-you sound like a real racist and diehard antisemite!