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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

#461

Post by sassycassie »

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…

exactly what i was thinkin! I can barely stand to work from home. we need interaction with others! children need to be stimulated and sitting in front of a computer screen will def lead to health and mental issues. :-(

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

#462

Post by Shared404 »

hluska wrote: post #459
Shared404 wrote: post #446

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be clear, I am not blaming most teachers. I can trace many of my current skills, interests and aspirations directly to several of my teachers, most often in contexts not directly related to their core subject. There is the occasional teacher who is there to power trip, but they are by far the minority. The school system crushes teachers just as much as it does the kids. Edit: Reread my comment you replied to, if I…

Hey friend, thanks for writing back. Sorry that I misinterpreted what you were saying. Have a great day and thanks for this conversation!! :)

No problem, it's my fault I phrased it badly.

Same to you!

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

#463

Post by kthejoker2 »

Father of 3 elementary school students (and 1 cute toddler) weighing in with actual experience so far:

* Kids have 3 Zoom meetings a day - ~90 minutes in the morning, 30 minutes right before lunch, 30 minutes right after lunch.

* My kids may be outliers, but they are great at self-managing their time, pay attention well, seem engaged, seem to enjoy the format well enough.

* Classmates seem equally engaged and pliant during meeting times.

* Main complaints: technology is still weak overall, curriculum is a little bit too day by day ..

But nothing as drastic as the original article.

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

#464

Post by nick_kline »

war1025 wrote: post #280
Shared404 wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At an elementary school near me they would only get to do recess on Fridays, and that's assuming they behaved.

The more I hear about public schools the more I understand the outrage against public education.

Only going to recess on Fridays, if you have been good all week, that's kind of stupid and unbelievable. It's not the experience of having kids in the last 20 years, at least in the US.

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

#465

Post by sjg007 »

whateveracct wrote: post #181
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.

Turns out a lot of education is just child care. And now parents are having to see it firsthand instead of offloading it to a professional.

It's not fair to call it "just child care".. teachers are professionals who provide both care and education.

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

#466

Post by bonoboTP »

lioeters wrote: post #449
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…

> ..playing outside, singing, listening to fairy tales, going to hiking trips, to the zoo.. That sounds like wonderful early childhood activities, healthy for the body and mind. Having gone to a Japanese kindergarten, I remember it being a friendly experience, similar to what you described. However, as soon as basic school starts (6~7 years old), it can get stressful depending on the region, public/private school, an…

Also, this doesn't mean we were always just let loose. The "teachers"/"nurses" (not sure of the word) taught us a great deal of stuff, like different tree types and bird species etc. We'd have a poster with different birds on the wall and we'd then listen and look for them in the parks etc. We learned to identify trees based on their leaves and so on. We learned about national holidays and what they meant (so a bit of history even), to do crafts, like Easter decorations and so on. So I don't mean we were like feral children without any guidance, it just wasn't structured like school.

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

#467

Post by hluska »

Shared404 wrote: post #462
hluska wrote: post #459

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey friend, thanks for writing back. Sorry that I misinterpreted what you were saying. Have a great day and thanks for this conversation!! :)

No problem, it's my fault I phrased it badly. Same to you!

No friend, there’s no fault at all. Thanks to the way you phrased it, I got to listen to a really intelligent person explain their true feelings. That meant a lot to me and honestly, I’m more embarrassed by young me!! :)
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