I'm a school club leader and we have to write recommendations for kids who want to become leaders for the next semester. I had a kid in my environmental awareness club who did awesome - proactive, communicative, creative, team player, sense of humor, and knew how to rally a group - the whole shabang. A few weeks before break, I heard her telling her friends that she doesn't think transgender folks are the gender they present as (and that there are only two genders and you cannot transition between them, etc.) Per school policy, she can voice that opinion as long as she doesn't bully/harass trans students (which she hasn't, to my knowledge.) She's asked me for a recc - would you accept?

I just got fired from a gig I had in the weirdest and most stupid way.

I was teaching French to a class of teenagers from Cyprus on summer camp, whom I thought would be young university students originally, for a little less than 4 hours a day. Mind you, I haven't had taught teenagers for a while, and after only days I felt it quite draining mostly teaching like I would teach adults, with a few variations, so I had in mind to make it as entertaining as possible to keep their attention and not feel like everybody here would be wasting its time.

At one point while we were on to adjectives, someone mentions "pain in the neck" so I decide, out of the blue, to throw in some fun slang word (which is something I usually do with adults), which I genuinely thought they'd appreciate all the more as teenagers.

It's the verb "to break balls" (in French since I happen to teach that language) and as they ask me about what balls (i.e; the equivalent) is, I just tell them to google that themselves. It so happens that they get no 4g there whatsoever and some of them are asking me about it, and since I have the wifi on my phone, I decide to show them. NOT MY BALLS, literally the first pic that came up in Google images.

Next thing, break time comes in and so does the activity leader. She sees the word still written on the blackboard and overhears students talking about it, and within a few minutes the boss of the school and manager come to tell me that I'm fired.

Now some of you reading may think that I'm a creep, but I truly had no other intentions but to explain a word as it is, as inappropriate as it may sound. It was totally unconscious on my behalf, probably even bolstered by the fact I'd slept 3 hours on that night.

I'm quite confused by the situation, part of me understands because indeed it was risky as I didn't take into account the background of the students, but the other is dismayed as I just know that I had absolutely no bad intentions in mind.

I don't even care too much about the collaboration itself, although it does bum me out as it was quite solid prior to that. The worst is, this stupid shit could damage my reputation.

I guess for my own conscience, I'm interested in hearing what you think about it.

EDIT: All moral claims aside, I think the gist of the issue is my lack of professionalism, making for a dangerous lack of boundaries. Maybe I've stopped to consider my job seriously, or never fully have.

I co-teach a math class, sadly my partner is a type A personality and ignores my suggestions. Every Friday she puts a Blooket on the screen and students play Blooket. It's quiet. There's very little talking. All the students have their heads bent down and furiously click on their phone screens. I find it exceedingly depressing. I feel isolated, and I suspect my students do too.

I miss playing Jeopardy and other online games where students interact with each other. We uncovered gaps in knowledge, filled in those gaps, and laughed together about it. I don't think there's much learning happening when students are isolated, on their phones, and not talking about the material we're trying to learn.

I've told her my feelings about Blooket. They've been ignored.

I'm looking to do some substitute teaching at the high school level while I'm writing and figuring out what I'm about after a major career pivot. I'm coming from teaching at a giant university where I was always called Dr. Wombat by students and some colleagues. I'm a 52 year-old woman who is married, but I do not use my spouse's name. Calling me Mrs. Wombat would be calling me by my mother's name.

So. I think it's an absolute yes for full time high school teachers with Ph.D.s to use Dr. But do I? I will be very uncomfortable if not, because I'm so used to it and the only other semi-accurate choice is Ms. Wombat which feels weird too. My primary concern is I don't want to seem pretentious to administrators and faculty. I'm a friendly, solid, helpful co-worker and I don't want to give off a bad vibe before anyone gets to know me. (Students aren't necessarily my big concern. I'll manage my ethos in other ways)

Help? What would you think? (a hundred apologies if this is the wrong place for this question)

Update: Woah. That got heated. To clarify: for mysterious reasons, widely accepted convention is that medical doctors and academic doctors use their honorifics when in medical or academic (educational) settings. Convention also says that if you do it in any other setting or with colleagues (with some pretty rare exceptions) you're a dick. I'm asking what conventions are so I'm not unintentionally being a dick. And yes, conventions are stupid and titles are elitist, but I really just wanted to know about them in a new circumstance.

Word on the street is that as a sub you go in, do your job and leave. If anyone's wondering why I'm not teaching university right now, there it is.

I thought we weren't going to be teaching CRT at the K-12 level?

They're also going to train us how to fight back against the wishes of our own communities.

There will also be a team of staffers dedicated to providing members with information about how to “fight back against anti-CRT rhetoric; and share information with other NEA members as well as their community members.”

https://www.dailywire.com/news/nations-largest-teachers-union-says-it-will-teach-critical-race-theory-in-all-50-states-1400-school-districts?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=dwbrand

Edit: the NEA now scrubbed the agenda from their website https://www.dailywire.com/news/nations-largest-teachers-union-scrubs-website-of-pledge-to-teach-critical-race-theory

Hello everyone, (sorry for the rent)

My 3 yo son is a bundle of joy, but also an exceptional... hm... energy bullet? non listener ? We as parents need to tell him 15 times to do something before he does it, even when we squat to his eyes-level and repeat kindly and slowly. He won't do it if it doesn't "goes right" with him. He is always in movement, always speaking and singing, but he can sit down and read some books if an adult is 100% focused on him. He can be pretty frustrated when something is wrong or if he can't do something at the first try.

Well, for me, as a mother and sister that had 2 smaller brother and sister with 9 and 14 year gaps, it seemed that it was... you know, normal for a kid ? Attention, calm activities, less "adult" needy and such would come later. In nursery, everything was ok and everyone told us how he was so sweet, how good he could speak, how gifted he was. I did everything for him to not be put in a case, because I'm afraid of him being limited by those "he is gifted" or "he is late for this" affirmations.

Then, he entered school at 2.5 yo (it's pretty common here in Belgium) in "pre-kindergarden". His teacher is a sweet, older lady. She had 20 kids at first, then some left for 1st year of kindergarden. Now, it's more like 15 kids, that's still a lot and I can only imagine what it's like to be 5 days a week with them.

It started in the first "parent teacher meeting" : she told me that he didn't speak to anyone, that he doesn't play, he stays calmly in his chair until the day passes. She saw that my son was speaking more as we were discussing together, so she thought it was shyness or even adaptation time.

2 months later, another PTM : she told me that he never listened, that he didn't focus on a task (such as painting, sticking, puzzles...) unless she or her assistant is focusing on him and reminding him what to do. She was worried... but also bored of him. She showed me his class works, and I can see that he doesn't do the thing as asked or even... does nothing. She told me that he was even more "non-existent" in class.

We (well.. I) tried to work that with him, but 1) I don't wanna do this everyday (that's what the teacher told me to do) for the small amount of time we have together after work 2) he does it right if i'm near, but when I try to let him do it alone it doesn't work. And telling him to stay in the chair and doing it alone is "incomprehensible" for him as I'm his mother, and I always try to respect his needs and wants... So it's terrible. His dad doesn't want to do that as he spends even less time with him than me.

My husband has ADHD and says that he could have the same. I know that testing is out of the case because he is too young, but have you got some ideas about that?

And, for those who lived the same kind of thing, what happened ? I don't wanna break my kid by doing too much or nothing, or putting stress on him for nothing. I just want him to be happy, and to be able to navigate life without (too much) stress and difficulties.

EDIT :

Hi everyone Thanks for your advices !

1. ⁠English is not my first language so sorry if I’m not expressing myself correctly

2. ⁠it’s not that I don’t wanna work with my son, I really do! I customize preschool sets on Canva that I print and work with like 15-30 minutes everyday (depends on the day and his attention span). My problem is that I don’t want to be excessive and make him hate school related activities. All about balance… I’m also finding new ways to improve his fine motor skills and attention span outside, or with other kids. Also, she kind of expected him to be focused, friends with everyone, and fully independent in like 2 months after telling me and she started losing patience, and again : I can only imagine how hard her job can be and be compationate. I’m not blaming the teacher : I’m asking questions.

3. ⁠I’m aware of my flaws, that I’m too much focusing on “his happiness” and not always letting him fully explore everything by himself. I’m actively working on it. I’m also working on the “strict” part, but it really isn’t in my nature (I’m also working on it) and my husband… well, let’s say he won’t step up on this point… and he avoids everything that seems “too serious”. I love him, but I’m aware that, even if he said he was ready, he wasn’t ready to become a dad.

4. ⁠She tells me that it doesn’t seem like any “disorder”, just that he needs to be “less of a momma’s boy” and that I need to be “less listening to his needs”. I’m all about gentle parenting, well some days it’s more permissive yes but I’m learning as well and I’m really trying to be better. I just don’t believe that kids need to listen and obey “blindly” so I try to know and be “fair” to him.

5. ⁠My son is able to recognise numbers, letters, knows every animal, learns new words and phrases “stupidly fast” and when he loves a song, he will listen to it on repeat and moreover, sing it on repeat until he can sing it perfectly. He always had more difficulties with fine motor skills, and always moved around, even as a baby. He CAN’T stay still at home, but at school it seems like it. Even my mom and grandma said he is calm with them. I know kids can be more “””savage””” when parents are around, and that why I always thought it was normal.

Especially if there are Philipino kids in the classroom?

Granted, I would run it by admin and students of Philipino descent privately first, and we would have norms on respectful learning and the cultural stigmas of food vs. friend, but it seems like a great opportunity for students to see how embyros develop without having to partially incubate my own chicken eggs or buy them for 100's of dollars off of a catalogue.

I understand this post may sound super ignorant, but it was just an idea; I understand that I may have missed some nuanced social cues through my excitement, and am asking for respectful feedback; I'm just awkward, not evil.

My sister came home with this paper, which was seemingly sprung on the class with no build up/discussion about the subject material. I'm all for introducing kids to the concept of death, but this seems needlessly morbid to me. Should I take this to the school officials?

In the US primarily, there will be the temptation for some educators to feel the need to address concerns about President Trump reassuming office with their students. I would caution otherwise.

Fortunately Presidents come and go in the US like fads such as ice bucket challenges and Stanley cups... that's the beauty of our system, any President with which we disagree has a predetermined expiration date.

One of the lessons we must teach our students is to address the challenges immediately in front of them. It is not their responsibility to be concerned with or address current politics, but instead allow them to focus on what's in front of them - building friendships, studying their subjects, learning about themselves and the world as a whole - so that they may be properly prepared to assume the mantle of responsibility when they become adults.

As adults with an ethical duty to protect the wellbeing of our charges, foisting our concerns on children who do not have the maturity, knowledge, or agency to handle such stress harms them and violates the trust that we have been granted by our communities.

Stay strong and don't let the winds outside impact your classroom lessons... teach the same you would have regardless of who sits in the White House.

Hi y'all, so I'm a first year sub and had a question on something not quite sure how to deal with.

So I'm transfem (23) while I pass very well visually, my voice I use in class definitely doesn't pass. It's just very difficult to do a fem voice at the higher volumes, I can only really manage at a conversational volume rn and even that still needs more work. So I just use my neutral more masculine voice for consistency at the moment.

So anyway, I was subbing 6th grade the other week. I had a few kids for two periods, one at the start at the day and one at the end. In the second period they started laughing at my voice while I was doing introductions. I asked them "what was so funny?" They giggled a bit more and then stopped. But after that the activity started, and they kept talking about my gender (and maybe about another trans student not in the class) in an inappropriate way. Then I had other students next class calling "Mr.name, Er Ms.name" across the classroom for laughs.

Not really sure how I should clamp down on something like this. Kids having some disrespect to subs comes with the territory, I understand. But I do want to have my classrooms be a safe space and not feed queerphobia; even if I'm only there for the day. But I also don't want to be the "woke teacher that goes overboard" that gets clipped on some type of LibsofTikTok thing either.

It's mostly a middle school problem and I already struggle enough with even basic classroom management in middle school. Highschoolers really don't seem to care besides an occasional pronoun clarification and I haven't done younger elementary yet. But I'm going need to keep taking some middle school classes to fill out my schedule.

I'm brand new at this. So if any other trans teachers have experience with things like this or anyone else has some advice, I would greatly appreciate it. 😊

From USA Today “the department doesn’t decide what kids learn. It has no control over school curricula. And it’s not forcing teachers to teach anything. “ NCLB was a big fail, I’m sure I’m ignorant of something but I just want to know how the agency makes our job of teaching the kids better

What if you learned that an essential component of the work that you have been doing for 20 years was not just ineffective but actually hurt the community you intend to serve? Would you fight for a change? The A to F grade scale is detrimental to learning for most K-12 students. Here's what studies over the last 20 years have taught us.

• Emotion matters: When students have a positive affect (emotions) about the work they are doing it amplifies the brain's ability to make connections. Positive emotions accelerate learning.

• Negative emotions negatively impact learning, reduce curiosity, autonomy and intrinsic motivation.

• A-F Grades don't carry information about how to improve but do carry significant affective impact. Bad grades cause negative emotions. Good grades cause positive emotion. Both can have significant negative impacts.

• "Good" students are taught to refine their skills to those things that are rewarded with good grades. This limits what they are willing to explore and focuses them on narrow, extrinsically motivated learning goals. This leads to mental health issues including identity issues, self-worth and even suicidality.

• "Bad" students are encouraged to give up. ongoing negative grades create a negative feedback cycle that engenders negative performance.

However:

• Data shows that one year of positive feedback can result in positive emotions that will lead into the next year!

• Moving away from low-information A-F grades and towards high-information narrative feedback on transparent standards can enable students to see and feel progress.

A-F grades are BAD for students assuming our goal is for them to learn.

Edit: Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959475222000470

I just got an offer for a temp position with Pearson. I finished onboarding, but I am unsure this position will work for me. I'm seeing mixed reviews about hours being flexible and being able to work from your phone.

In the job offer it states that work is from 8am - 4:30pm and I will be logged in between those hours Monday - Friday and work a minimum of 40 hours.

I have to do work/school drop offs in the morning and pick ups in the afternoon, I'm not sure this position is for me as it's not as flexible as I thought.

For those of you that worked this position, is it this strict?

Just failed the English CSET IV by 8 points. Four short answer questions, 300 points. Need 220 to pass. I got 212 because... reasons? Two were marked as lacking knowledge, 1 was marked lacking purpose. Wtf is purpose mean in this context?!

And furthermore, these were extremely open-ended and with a word count limit (kind of, they were like "X number to X other number, but it can go over that amount) WHY HAVE A WORD COUNT AT ALL THEN?! 212/300 is 70%! That's a C! That should be passing! FUCK.

EDIT: People, it's a vent post. I'm frustrated at my missing such few points to pass a test. I'm sorry if that means you should auto-dunk on me because I had a bad time with the test, but I just wanted to get my emotions out somewhere. All the best.

i just graduated high school and i plan to go back once im done with college to teach english. a worry thats been sitting at the back of my mind is, "what will students/other teachers think about my gender identity?" for reference, i identify as masc-leaning genderfluid, im fine with any pronouns, and i plan to complete a typical trans masculine transition(hormones + surgery). do you think that students or their parents would have a problem with a trans teacher? what about other teachers?

another question i have, what are gender neutral ways to refer to a teacher? im fine with resorting to mr. if there is no other option, but definitely dont want to be called ms./mrs. is there any alternatives that are naturally flowing and dont highlight that im trans(not mx. i feel like that highlights the transness too much)?

i live in an area thats a decent mix of trans folks, trans allies, and transphobes, so i know there will be a lot of mixed reactions.

the schools in my district have hired nonbinary and openly queer teachers, so i have no worries about if the school admins are allies.

any comments are very much appreciated!

edit: i think some of you are just being transphobic. maybe i should have gone somewhere else with these questions. its upsetting and discouraging to see trans educators in the comments getting downvoted simply for sharing their experiences. you guys are teaching students who will go on to share the things you are teaching them. you are encouraging bigotry. be better. this is disappointing.

Hello there, Teachers of Reddit! I hope this post doesn’t break any group rules! I am specifically looking for queer teachers who would like to contribute to an anthology titled “The Queer Teacher’s Survival Guide”!

As a new, queer teacher, all I have wanted is support and advice from queer teachers who have been in the game longer than I have. I’ve had mixed success in finding this support and to that end I have decided to create and publish an anthology called The Queer Teacher’s Survival Guide. My hope is that it will be filled with stories and advice from queer teachers of all grade levels across the country. I’d love to have stories of overcoming adversity, challenges, triumphs and advice/encouragement ranging from grounded and pragmatic to cheeky and absurd all related to the teaching-while-queer experience.

I know we are all so busy but if I know anything about the teaching community and the queer community is that we are always down to turn up and support each other. Let this be a place where the venn diagram of queerness and teaching overlap to provide something amazing for the community. My hope is that this anthology will support and inspire queer teachers for generations to come.

If you’re interested in contributing, please message me! Length and format are very flexible! Stories, advice, poetry, art— as long as it relates the the queer teaching experience, it is welcomed.

Thank you!

Student here, I KNOW you are ALL capping when you say you ain't got no favorites. Spill.

Hey I am a high school student and I hope to be an elementary teacher when I grow up. Im doing a student teacg program where i go to a fifth grade class for two hours every day to help out. A couple of the students have asked to follow me on Instagram. I think it's beyond ridiculous that they have social media at such a young age, but regardless is it inappropriate for me to accept the request and follow them back? I'm completely comfortable with them following me as I have a very appropriate profile, but I don't know if that's crossing any lines. Thank you!!!

Wondering what teachers think about this. I think the majority of the lessons or curriculum should be centered around **how** information about the world was acquired, and less about memorizing the knowledge itself.

For instance, is the earth round? How do you know? The average person will have no explanation other than “it’s obvious.” But it’s not obvious. Common sense informs us the earth is flat. We know the earth is round because the Ancient Greeks proved it using math. They measured the shadow lengths from perpendicular sticks at the same angle and point, and the results showed the shape of the earth is spherical. There was zero reason to believe the earth was flat at that point onward. This was confirmed when the earth was viewed at a distance by astronauts, or circumnavigated by sailors.

How old is the earth? Who gives a crap if the earth is 3 billion or 4.55 billion years old? Does it really make a difference? What makes a difference is that we do know, and can build future knowledge off that number as a basis of fact. How do we know it’s 4.55b years old? We tested the age of every kind of material we could find, looking for the oldest number. The numbers should generally converge to one asymptotic value, and we would know the closest is the highest age we find. Unfortunately, the rock cycle forced evidence deep into the mantle, so the true number might always evade us. Until we went to the moon and recovered moon rocks. Since the moon was formed roughly at the same time as the earth and is undisturbed, we tested the moon rock and saw it was 4.55b years old; this is the age of the earth.

The process of learning how we figured it out is so much more important than the actual number.

Another example, atoms. Does it really matter if we know the specific compositions of atoms? I think it’s better and more relevant to thinking to instead study Einstein’s work proving atoms must exist by studying yeast particles, and showing there are invisible bumps happening by tiny atoms.

Amazing!

Nobody understands general relativity. It’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever thought about in my life. We should be drilling this into kids in primary school.

I don’t post and more lurk but after a recent post I just wanted to voice some things I saw as an educator to other educators.

Myself and others trans people’s existence is not and should never have been a “political” issue. The truth is we live in an extremely transphobic, violent society that uses our identity as a weapon to divert truth. There is no conservative side or liberal side to us existing. There is just us, human beings just wanting our rights to exist. Our existence is not complex, is backed by science, and we are certainly not new. In truth, we have existed for most of human history and in most cultures.

I say this because as a trans educator, it has become increasingly more difficult to exist and do my job because I am the only one having the convos with students. What I saw in the previous post was a lot of thoughts but no action. We need to take time to have conversations with students. We need to show other peoples stories through books, real people, and history. Our lives should never be debate topics. Our care should never be up for grabs. Our safety should never be up for debate. But trans lives (including mine) are along with so many other marginalized groups.

We as educators must do more than state what we should do or not do. We need to actually act. When a student says transphobic garbage, pull them aside. Have the conversation. Give them a book to read with a trans character as homework. When a homophobic joke is said, take time to actually teach about the history of language and harm. I’m not saying you will change the outcome we are heading toward, but the burden of doing everything won’t just be on us.

And please, do not make our lives a conservative versus liberal issue. We aren’t a debate topic and there is nothing morally wrong with our existence. We are human beings who are trans and proud to be.

Your trans and tired elementary educator

I feel like this teaches kids to discriminate against their peers like i get its trying to say eat healthy but it dosen't come across like that to me. I could be overly sensitive but i am curious what people on this subreddit think. For context im in college for masters of art in childrens literature and was drawn in by the cute artstyle and good morals i enjoyed it until the last story which used phrases such as "im way too fat" or "stop eating so much" which dosent seem ok or normal to be in a kids book to me. Let me know if im overeacting. Also does this belong on this subreddit or should i post it somewhere else i am studying to become a teacher as well so it felt appropriate. Update: I have read the comments and I think there might have been a misunderstanding what I was trying to say is that appearance and nutrition are not inherently related or relevant to eachother so actively telling children that if you eat too much you'll get fat and fail things that other peers are counting on you for is painful for me to watch.

I joined the corporate/business world back in May 2021 after graduating college with a bachelors in English in 2020. I did this to challenge myself and get out of the retail scene I was stuck in during/directly after college. I like the corporate world to an extent and the company that I’m at, but I constantly find myself wondering if education would be a better path.

In 2022-2023 my curiosity in my “what if” got the better of me and I completed a one-year M.Ed program and obtained my teaching certificate. I was wrapping up my student teaching experience and had began putting the corporate life behind me. Then i got a call from my previous employer asking for “summer help”. I had worked part time for them through my grad program but had to leave 100% during my 3 month student teaching experience. I was surprised they needed me back. I took the “summer job” because it paid better than working in the grocery store deli.

Fast forward about a month, I hadn’t received full time teaching offers from 2 schools I applied to and my corporate company was offering me a large salary increase to come back full time (25%+ increase to what i was making there before leaving for grad school). Basically the lack of teaching openings, hurt ego of not getting the roles i applied for, and the salary increase pushed me into returning full time at my corporate job.

Fast forward 2.5years (feb 2026), I have switched departments at my job, got to attend business trips in Philly and San Diego, have taken some professional development courses at company cost, have received standard pay increases each year, and have had two promotions with the most recent one giving me a true management role over 5 others. However, my ego has been shattered again because while my growth has been steady, I was recently overlooked for a larger promotion (which wasn’t known to exist until a person was selected for the role). This opportunity ended up going to my best work friend, which has strained our relationship as she is now my direct supervisor. I realize that if the roles were reversed the relationship strain would likely still exist.

As one might imagine, I have struggled with this not only because I have noted a change in my friend now that she has more responsibilities but also because corporate world is tough, especially when you lose your confidant/rant buddy/work bestie. To make matters worse, they needed to “free up her schedule” to give her more time for leadership/management tasks, so a bunch of her previous workload was doled out to me (with no additional compensation) and now there is a clear imbalance of workload between me and the other individual that shares the same title as me.

Additionally, I am heading on maternity leave in early April and would not be returning until early July. Since this workplace shift occurred in October 2025 I have been seriously considering finding a new job or career altogether so I don’t have to go back after i have the baby. My husband, who is a teacher, suggested I look into teaching again because the schedule is great for raising a family.

A big part of me does miss the classroom, the students, and the diving into content that i am passionate about (ELA, reading and writing etc) because those are things i definitely don’t get in my corporate role. The other part of me fears leaving the corporate world because if I go into education then the other half of me would miss working in adult-centric setting, the fast paced environment, and the community impact my company is known for.

So does anyone have advice/insight on this career switch? In particular, insight from anyone who has left corporate world for education world (or vice versa) would be appreciated. Also could any parents weigh in on how to navigate a lessening of “corporate ambition” post baby?

Additional considerations: I have looked around for similar corporate roles at different companies but the commutes are worse and pay is less (my company’s pay is fairly high for the title i have). So no i dont think i’d just want to find a different corporate gig, I think i need a bigger change. If i got into the district my husband works at, I’d be taking about $12k pay cut my initial year, BUT the teaching contract in place currently would actually bump me up past my current salary after 1year teaching there. The pay raises with their contract and ability to scale quickly by taking paid for college credits makes the potential year by year increases much more steady and significant than the typical 3% increase at my company.

Thanks in advance for any guidance that can be provided. I probably sound like a nut!

Wanted to get some feedback on this cause I think it’s a killer idea… for context I’m gonna be a high school math teacher. I’m thinking for an assignment we have the student record videos in groups of two of the lead up to the math problem. As in “blank has 32 watermelons” etc… but let the kids make it interesting. Than after the 1.5 minute video they make, they show the work in 3.5 minutes max. And we get to watch all the videos after the exam. What do y’all think?

The answer to the age old question "Why don't Americans value education?", here's why.

Classrooms are collectivist by nature, and the US is an individualistic country where people are increasingly developing 'main-character' syndrome and becoming more selfish by the day only amplified by the pandemic. How can we ever possibly make this extremely collectivist institution work in the most individualistic country on earth?

Americans value individual freedom and rebelling against authority. It's no wonder that value is reflected inside the classroom where students will rebel against teachers by default. Why are classrooms designed around to be so 'authoritative'? It's not even the teacher's fault, but with so many students, you have to have an authoritative side in order to keep the class in order, no matter how "democratized" your school/classroom is. Plus it's nigh impossible to accommodate an individual learning experience to 100+ students every day. This directly contrasts with American society where people don't care about communities outside their extremely tiny little bubble of friends and family. We designed our country to be as socially isolating as possible. Likewise, kids prefer a smaller bubble of friends to socialize. Meanwhile in schools, almost every classroom forces classroom discussions and community into the student's throats despite them not knowing 90% of the people in their class. As much as teachers like to be the change in society, schools are first and foremost a reflection of where we're at. With more students skipping schools and spending less time in it, this fact only going to get more apparent.

Now how do we solve this? Make schools less collective? Which I think would require a complete overhaul of the education system. One where traditional teaching has to dissolve and teachers become more like a guide on the side?

NOTE: Rich neighborhood schools have a much stronger community and education is less of a problem. Hence the saying "socialism for the rich, rugged individualism for the poor". America is diverse after all, so this doesn't apply to every place in this country, but it at least applies to most places and especially for schools in the big cities. And still, even rich schools have their own problems with 'entitlement' which correlates to individualism. I could go on, but I'm already typing too much.