Funny you should say this because it's ALL my kid learns in class. Every day, it's another lesson on the Civil Rights movement. I'm happy to see it but of course I'd like it to see other topics.
I think they've spent several days on MLK in our son's class.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
When you send your kid to a mass public district such as MCPS, you are going to get a core focus/curriculum and the teachers are not allowed outside of that. There is no creativity. Heck, my kids are 7 years apart and my younger one is doing THE SAME EXACT assignments that older one did. Each year, the school halls are lined with the SAME pictures/assignments/art work/ etc... This is the choice people wanted to push those test scores and say "MCPS is such a wonderful school district!!"

Yes that is a big part of the problem. There is very little in the state of MD to ensure that elementary school students are taught specific information about history and geography. And since there are no elementary school history tests, I have actually heard principals tell teachers that i they have any "fluff" that needs to happen (for example, birthday party celebrations) they should do it during the 15 minutes they have allocated in their schedules, to Social Studies. Because that instruction doesn't really "count" for anything serious.

First off, my school does not do anything for MLK. My child is in 4th grade and never once has done anything. Even a simple "I have a dream" assignment.

To the PP, I agree with how little anything but reading and math is pushed on our students. What I don't understand is why can't the teachers get creative and do readings of history instead of the beyond boring books they pick. Incorporate science and reasoning in math classes. How about keeping kids in classes based on their reading level instead of being politically correct and have reading groups in each class leaving kids doing boring "busy" work all the time. Ugh, I wish I could afford private school

Anonymous wrote:
When you send your kid to a mass public district such as MCPS, you are going to get a core focus/curriculum and the teachers are not allowed outside of that. There is no creativity. Heck, my kids are 7 years apart and my younger one is doing THE SAME EXACT assignments that older one did. Each year, the school halls are lined with the SAME pictures/assignments/art work/ etc... This is the choice people wanted to push those test scores and say "MCPS is such a wonderful school district!!"

Yes that is a big part of the problem. There is very little in the state of MD to ensure that elementary school students are taught specific information about history and geography. And since there are no elementary school history tests, I have actually heard principals tell teachers that i they have any "fluff" that needs to happen (for example, birthday party celebrations) they should do it during the 15 minutes they have allocated in their schedules, to Social Studies. Because that instruction doesn't really "count" for anything serious.

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, the same exact projects. Not each and every paper. Look, every year the teachers do hand out the same county-wide tests. My school is lined with the same art projects, every grade I know what is coming for the big projects. There is no creativity. Teachers are robots. How do you not see that?

If it's a good project, it's a good project. Why change something that works?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

When you send your kid to a mass public district such as MCPS, you are going to get a core focus/curriculum and the teachers are not allowed outside of that. There is no creativity. Heck, my kids are 7 years apart and my younger one is doing THE SAME EXACT assignments that older one did. Each year, the school halls are lined with the SAME pictures/assignments/art work/ etc... This is the choice people wanted to push those test scores and say "MCPS is such a wonderful school district!!"

Wait, what? How is it possible that your children seven years apart are doing THE SAME EXACT assignments, when Curriculum 2.0 appeared between your older child and your younger child and RUINED EVERYTHING?

(My kids are 4 years apart, and yes, sometimes they do THE SAME EXACT assignments. Sometimes I think, "Oh, not that one again." Sometimes I think, "Oh how nice, that one again!" I never think, "This assignment is bad because my older kid already did it.")

Yes, the same exact projects. Not each and every paper. Look, every year the teachers do hand out the same county-wide tests. My school is lined with the same art projects, every grade I know what is coming for the big projects. There is no creativity. Teachers are robots. How do you not see that?