Parents of Reddits what are the biggest changes you noticed in education nowadays to when you where in school?

22 comments

  1. The boldness and aggressiveness of Moms4Liberty types. They were always trying to ban stuff but now they’re becoming greater in number, scope, and threat.

  2. This might be an apples to oranges comparison because I’m living in a different state than where I grew up 30 years ago.

    Almost no focus on history/geography in elementary school. Lots more on math and reading. There’s a lot less focus on memorization and performance but more on testing. The teachers seem a lot more flexible though.

    My kid hasn’t gotten to middle/high school yet, so I don’t really have a good frame of reference there yet.

  3. Better, more educated, and engaging teachers.

    I just mentioned here how it was so awesome getting to overhear my kid’s lessons during the pandemic. My youngest was learning in 7th grade, stuff that I learned in highschool. Well, or should have learned.

    I didn’t really love school learning until college. My kids’ experiences in high school were a bit like mine in college. Mine was reading along with textbook that was mind numbing. Every class my kid takes he’s like – Oh I had no idea the revolutionary war was so interesting. He like English and history and Physics and Biology – just because of great teachers with engaging lessons. We’ve got experiments going on at home and reading Salinger together.

    And it feels like more of a “let’s help them succeed” situation instead sink or swim.

    If I had my kid’s experience I might have not struggled so much and so aimless after high school.

  4. I’m 35 and my son just turned 7 last month.

    It’s technology.

    Computers were more common than a luxury, but still not expected. At most, they were a useful study tool.

    Today, the kids can’t even participate without one.

  5. I don’t have school aged kids yet but my mom is a teacher at my old elementary school and I’ve helped in her classroom occasionally the past few years, plus talked to her a lot.

    There’s been a big change in how reading is taught. I grew up with lots of focus on sight words, reading strategies (ie reading from context clues), and spelling. We did a little phonics (reading by sounding things out) but it was only a small part in k-1. Now phonics is 80-90% of reading instruction all the way through third grade.

    When I was growing up we had 30 minute rotations that were PEx2, library, music, and computers/keyboardingx2. Art was a classroom activity. We also had a gifted/talented rotation for kids that were ahead while middle group of kids did self-guided activities and teachers could work in small groups with anyone who needed extra help. Now they can’t find a gifted teacher or a music teacher, so rotations are 45 minutes of PE (only x1), library, art, and keyboarding. In class art activities are pretty rare because of extra testing/more state curriculum requirements.

    We only used computers in the lab twice a week. Now every student has a Chromebook and uses it at least 60 minutes a day. Some teachers try to go paperless even in the youngest grades.

  6. The amount of homework. My kids go to a private school and they’re already running a curriculum ahead of the public schools. On top of that, the amount of homework they get in elementary school is ridiculous. We have raised the issue, citing studies that show it’s NOT beneficial to young students, but they keep at it.

  7. That the power is in the hands of the difficult children and the rest have to put up with it!!!

  8. There is much greater of awareness of, and concern over, school shootings.

    I never, ever had a “shooting drill” while growing up, despite spending time in five different school districts. They just weren’t a thing *anywhere*.

  10. Pros:

    * Better use of technology. All the kids in my kids’ district are issued either an iPad or a MacBook Air depending grade and virtually all of their “textbooks” and homework is done on-device.
    * They’re scheduled open lab times over the day with their teachers, so most homework can be done at school and with teacher assistance if needed.

    Cons:

    * The school over communicates about *everything*. Your kid had an off day and laughed out loud too loud in class? Email from the teacher or call home from an AD. See missed call at work at 2pm from the school? Call back immediately thinking something is wrong, get told your kid was a bit disruptive today. Ask if it’s a pattern or something we should be concerned about or something I need to chat with him about tonight? Nah, one off event, nothing to be concerned about. “Just a 9 year old being a 9 year old”. OK, why are you calling me then?

  12. I have lots of teacher friends and family members. They said many kids today do not have their multiplication facts memorized. They are supposed to, by the end of third grade. But some of them are teaching 4th, 5th, and higher grades and have a bunch of kids in their classes who simply do not know their facts. Apparently, they mention it to the parents all the time, like at conferences, but 1- the parents never seem concerned 2- Or they swear they’ll work with their child but never actually do. For me personally when I was growing up, my parents would quiz me on my facts all the time. I remember being in the car and my dad calling out math facts for me to answer. Nowadays, parents give their kids an ipad to play with. Fine. But make them play math games for a portion of their screen time. But, they just don’t.

  13. Lots of homework, but most of it is busy-work. They test the ability to do a whole lot of simple things rather than testing complex thought.

    Computers. Many teachers show videos instead of teaching. Most use online homework — answers are right or wrong, no partial credit and, worst of all, the teacher doesn’t see *why* the students missed a question. When I was grading papers, seeing where my students went wrong was important.

    Phones!!! Also laptops. The teachers have no idea what the students are doing on their devices, but it’s probably not “paying attention to the teacher”. They should be put away entirely at school.

  14. First, the stupid amount of homework and the reduced physical activity/outdoor time. I have actively told my kid we are not doing everything they assign (I max out at 20 productive minutes). I am vocal about unstructured play time. I’m about to have a phone call with the teacher to tell this year’s teacher the same thing. She keeps trying to lecture my kid and I’m like “We need to have a little chat yo.”

    Second, the amount of financial requests. It feels like every month the school is hitting me up for money. I gave them a lump sum at the beginning of the year and called it a day.

  15. How much more accelerated the material is. They’re starting pre-algebra in third grade! And my kid made her first PowerPoint last year.

  16. The constant trying to protect our kids from things that are inevitable.

    Example: my daughters school sent home a handbook . Inside a section of the handbook it said “if your child plans to invite classmates to events such as birthday parties , we ask that the child waits till an appropriate time to ask whatever classmates to invite . If the whole class isn’t invited, we don’t want other children to feel rejected.

    And I’m just thinking when I was a kid and felt rejected for not being invited , it honestly hurt as a kid but it prepared me for the upcoming Rejections of life ! Those experiences prepare children for the hard knock life that is to come . This culture thinks they’re doing kids favors and they’re just making them worse iMo

    Feelings like rejection is inevitable to experience

  17. I’m a teacher and a parent.

    The students I work with are far more accepting than we were a million years ago. Being out as LGBT when I was in school was a liability and could have brought you physical harm or possibly death.

    Racial tensions are far lower than when I was a kid.

    On the other hand there is a general malaise. Kids seem lost and hopeless

  18. Parent though my kid isnt old enough for school yet, was a teacher, wife is currently a teacher. Public school system is pretty much babysitting at this point (in our district). Grades are fudged across the board because teachers don’t want to have to justify the mountains of paperwork to fail a kid for a class (not to mention it puts a target on your back that Admin will chase with no mercy to move you outonce you start failing kids who didnt show up to class for 3/4th of the year). Resources are slim. If you work in a district like my wife and you’re not glazed as fuck and don’t give a shit already, then you burn out pretty quick. Kids don’t care, are more disrespectful than ever, and never really recovered from the covid environment. There are only 5 subject tests required to pass to graduate in my state, English 1 &2, Algebra Biology, and U.S. history. If you teach one of these, you’re a metric that is judged by how effectively you can get disengaged and disrespectful kids to put there name on papers so they at least can get some points. The kids graduating now have the ability to essentially do so with those subject tests waived. The state doesn’t care, and won’t, and it only hurts the very few kids that actually try and actually care.

    I left for greener pastures, and I’m not coming back. When my kid is old enough for school it will never be a public one, this experience really has shown us how useless a diploma is nowadays.

  20. As a Californian, I found it interesting that my kids didn’t have a mission project (building a model of one of the missions) like I did when I was a kid.

  22. The amount and professionalism in the ways schools beg for money.

    When I was in school there was just a half-hearted effort at a candy sale.

    My kid’s school has a tax exempt foundation, and so does every school in his district. They are in all the employers matching charitable donation registries. There is an official capital campaign at the beginning of the year and random begging throughout. There are “dine out” nights at local businesses where parts of the profit go to the school foundation. And then there is the money collection for teacher’s birthday, holidays, and the random teacher appreciation day.

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