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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

#251

Post by burkaman »

megablast wrote: post #249
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.

Often it's easier to find a solution by talking about a problem, rather than staying silent until you've solved it on your own.

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

#252

Post by [deleted] »

treis wrote: post #131
danShumway wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not an expert on education, I'm not going to speculate on the psychological effects of having a year without school on a kid. I don't think I'm qualified to do that. Outside of developmental effects though, by the time you get to college does it really matter if someone is one year older than another person? Is anyone going to get rejected from a first job interview just because they're 26 instead of 25? Plenty o…

You can't push pause on human development, though. Having your first job interview at 26 instead of 25 doesn't matter. Missing out on a year of socialization when you're 6 almost certainly does.

[deleted]

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

#253

Post by philsnow »

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…

Depending on the state, education isn't compulsory until 6 or 7 years. Would it be an option for you to just hold off on the structured approach for another 6-12 months and let her play?

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

#254

Post by bluntfang »

whywhywhywhy wrote: post #160

Don't see how being "forced to sit in front of a screen" is any different from being forced to sit in a classroom. Honestly think if a single good thing comes out of all of this it will be the rethinking of schooling. If I have kids no way will I risk their raw potential at the hands of what is currently considered a teacher.

>Don't see how being "forced to sit in front of a screen" is any different from being forced to sit in a classroom.

Really? I mean, I'm not for public schools, but this is a little obtuse don't you think?

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

#255

Post by wink »

chiyc wrote: post #19

"I even think Raffi might be able to improve his digital etiquette—to get better at waiting his turn to speak without slamming the computer shut because he’s bored, to sit through a lesson without whining or screaming. But is digital etiquette something I want Raffi to learn at age 5? He’ll have the rest of his life to figure out the niceties of interacting with people through a screen. I can’t accept that he should…

This honestly has me puzzled.

German here, no kids, so not 100% sure how it is today, but to the best of my knowledge it's still 3-5 kindergarden (no idea why you would do this via screen) and then school from 6-7 (depends on birth month, etc). And the "this should be daycare" argument doesn't fly because how would you babysit a 5y old via a video conference?

Maybe I'm just old, but I don't see anything wrong in not teaching kids a lot in a structural way before school?

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

#256

Post by ghaff »

zelphirkalt wrote: post #176
actfrench wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is how my class is structured and the activities we do. https://www.modulo.app/manishamodule Feel free to share with other teachers if it could benefit them. I"d also be happy to talk to your teacher or anyone else's teacher if they need support on making zoom more engaging. Also, if other teachers have ideas of activities that worked well for them, I'd love to hear! I'll just add that one thing that's been help…

Zoom does not belong in any classroom, regardless of virtual or physical. It is proprietary software, which has a back track record on privacy and security. It is not free software respecting children's and teachers' rights and freedom. I find the this reliance on proprietary shitty software annoying and absurd. Often teachers barely know manage to cobble together virtual classrooms. They lack information about alter…

With respect to open source, there is Jitsi which I have seen exactly one person use for a small gathering. So shall we make things more difficult by requiring the use of open source (which I generally support)?

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

#258

Post by function_seven »

megablast wrote: post #249
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.

I don't have a brilliant solution. But it's also not clear to me that this is the best we can do now. It might be better to skip the whole thing entirely.

If I were the author, I'd consider opting out of kindergarten, or do it intermittently.

How education adapted to this pandemic will be studied for years to come. Hopefully something more brilliant than Zoom will be discovered somewhere, and spread.

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

#259

Post by kraig911 »

learc83 wrote: post #97

Kids can't learn all day long in a classroom. I don't know why we expect them to be able to do it remotely. School has always been 1/3 learning 2/3 baby sitting. When my parents were kids, they only went to kindergarten for half a day.

Got a kid in kinder to this very day it's only 3 hours...

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

#260

Post by throwaw4y-plate »

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…

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