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My kid can’t handle a virtual education, and neither can I

theatlantic.com

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Re: My kid can’t handle a virtual education, and neither can I

#241

Post by dpcan »

james_s_tayler wrote: post #79
dpcan wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My son had to miss pre-school when he was 4. I created a home-based program (week to week) where we learned everything I could find that would normally be in a regular pre-school curriculum. We worked for 3 hours every morning "studying", and he was 4. I made it fun. I made it productive. We took breaks. We had snacks. We had recess. It worked. By the end of the summer, he was reading and more prepared for Kindergart…

Ah, so the original comment is predicated on the assumption that all adults are capable of doing that for their kids. Some are. Some aren't. Same goes for the kids.

I'm saying that all adults are capable of making distance learning work for their kids. They CAN do it, but it will be HARD.

Re: My kid can’t handle a virtual education, and neither can I

#242

Post by dpcan »

throwaways885 wrote: post #110
dpcan wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What the hell is wrong with HARD???? Why is everyone so lazy? We are going backwards as a society. I was raised thinking that if it wasn't hard to do, it wasn't worth doing. Every uphill path should not be looked at as an arduous journey, but as an adventure with an amazing reward at the top.

I like your take on life - thanks for reminding me of this little fact.

I assume this is sarcasm, but if not, prepare for down-votes because absolutely nobody agrees with me.

Re: My kid can’t handle a virtual education, and neither can I

#243

Post by slowmovintarget »

mumblemumble wrote: post #225
bonoboTP wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds really crazy to me, here in Hungary most kids start structured classes at 6 or 7 years old. Before that it's just playing outside, singing, listening to fairy tales, going to hiking trips, to the zoo etc. This tight grip on American kids looks extremely stressful and harmful (helicopter/bubble wrap parenting, structuring every waking hour with classes and extracurriculars, driving them everywhere, never leavin…

I don't want to say Americans don't love and cherish their children. But the uncomfortable truth is that our culture has become so materialist that, on a mass scale, when we look at our children, we don't really see the people they are now. We see the economic participants they will be in 15 years.

I think it's a bit different. This forcing of academics into Kindergarten is more of a panic reaction to the overall low quality of the American education system. Unfortunately, this reaction ignores cognitive science for a try-harder approach.

It isn't about materialism or care. It's about having education driven by supposition instead of evidence and what we know works. Phonics would still be core to early curriculum, for example, if we followed the science. It's harder to teach than "whole word" reading, but phonics actually works and we have decades of evidence, and mountains of cognitive science to show us why.

Re: My kid can’t handle a virtual education, and neither can I

#244

Post by dpcan »

baq wrote: post #120
dpcan wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What the hell is wrong with HARD???? Why is everyone so lazy? We are going backwards as a society. I was raised thinking that if it wasn't hard to do, it wasn't worth doing. Every uphill path should not be looked at as an arduous journey, but as an adventure with an amazing reward at the top.

have you been taught to tell hard from bullshit? i've been taught that hard and worthwhile are orthogonal and the amazing prize at the top sometimes is just the fact that you've made it, thanks, now get the f* back down you idiot.

Yes, sometimes I cannot tell the difference between hard and bullshit. And yes, I can be a complete idiot sometimes. So, thanks?

Re: My kid can’t handle a virtual education, and neither can I

#245

Post by gautamdivgi »

dj_mc_merlin wrote: post #40

All of these comments make me think HN has never interacted with a 5 year old. Adults are barely able to make it through a day of Zoom meetings without feeling drained, how do you expect an almost toddler to react when forced to sit in front of a screen? The only reasons adults can do it is years and years of learning impulse controls and suppression of bad emotions for everyone's good. A 5 year old does not have the…

All elementary school is glorified day care. Born in 76 in India(yes, I'm getting old) - but elementary school was 2.5 hours with a 1/2 hour break. I turned out ok - didn't miss out on "educational opportunity".

Re: My kid can’t handle a virtual education, and neither can I

#246

Post by ardit33 »

redshirtrob wrote: post #212
floren wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When my parents were kids, they only went to kindergarten for half a day. Wait, hang on, is kindergarten all-day now? I was in kindergarten in... 1992, and it was half a day.

I had all day kindergarten in '83. First half was in English, and the second half was in French. And no, this was not a private school. This was Cincinnati Public.

I have a curious question, can you speak/do you know French now?

Re: My kid can’t handle a virtual education, and neither can I

#247

Post by megablast »

vinbreau wrote: post #178

My daughter started Kindergarten and we're doing remote learning. She' almost 5 years old and can work a computer for the things she needs. But she can't work a zoom meeting. So I am a teacher's asst. from 8am until 2:30 pm. It's exhausting and sometimes I take a 2 hour nap afterward. It's hard on her because until a few weeks ago she would wake up, come into my office with me and watch shows on a laptop, maybe play…

You have trained your 5 yo to just watch shit on the laptop?? And you think that’s all perfectly fine?? Wow.

Re: My kid can’t handle a virtual education, and neither can I

#248

Post by UnpossibleJim »

Shared404 wrote: post #224
grugagag wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course it is harmful. And that together with standardized tests, textbooks stuffed with information that neither the editors fully read is a recipe for a bad outcome. And it doesn't end there, professors are bombarded with so much bureaucratic crap that many of them who would otherwise put up with really bad pay just to be able to teach kids simply give up, but that's just a tangent here. When kids play they learn…

Well clearly you are incorrect because all of the smart people said we have to test to make sure that the kids are learning and we can only make sure that the kids learn by sitting them down and making sure they know the trivia for the test to make sure their learning, because the smart people said the test will make them learn, by making sure their learning. /s On the bright side, for every one of the above administ…

You make fun of the educational structure, but it's base structure can clearly succeed if given the right support from the family and the correct budget. Japan has done exceedingly well (though a little over stressed - there can be balance) with a very similar base model.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Japan

I understand that bashing all things American has become en vogue, but some things have just become corrupted due to lack of proper maintenance, really. Much like our health care system which has become over saturated with special interest and privatisation instead of a patient focus.

We've forgotten how to keep our eye on the prize, as it were, and lost focus on what the goal actually is.

Re: My kid can’t handle a virtual education, and neither can I

#249

Post by megablast »

function_seven wrote: post #26

I'm amazed how dismissive all the comments are here. I read the article and it seems totally normal for a little kid not to be able to do "school" on a laptop. Kindergarten is so much different than later years of schooling. It's not about lectures and subjects, or homework and tests. It's about much more fundamental lessons, interspersed with creativity, socialization, and learning to be separated from your parents.…

What is your brilliant solution then???

This is clearly the best we can do know.

Re: My kid can’t handle a virtual education, and neither can I

#250

Post by bluntfang »

baq wrote: post #114
jdmoreira wrote: post #38

The problem is not so much that kids can’t handle virtual education as much as we not being able to care for our kids because we have a jobs. Think about it... Do you think it’s normal for a human child to be institutionalized just because his/her parents are working? Where is their hunter-gatherer band when your kids need it? Nothing about 2020 nuclear family society is normal for a human child. Nothing at all.

your points seem to be contradicting each other. hunter gatherers would naturally have institutionalized child care - when some people go gathering, some people go hunting and some people stay put and look after the tribe's children if they aren't ready to do either. this is about as far from a nuclear family as you can get though, especially if the tribal culture isn't monogamous and e.g. a child can have many fathe…

how do the children learn how to pick up roles as a hunter and/or gatherer in the system you portray?
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