Politics in 2nd grade class room.

[Dosproduction]

So my child comes home from school today to tell me that the sub talked about voting. He said he would not tell the class who he voted for but would tell them who he did not vote for. And then proceeded to say that he did not vote for (so and so). My child is 8 years old. Am I wrong for being completely pissed off. I called and left a message with the principle telling her that she needs to have a talk with the sub about this. And that it is completely unacceptable for the teacher of a class to be spewing political views around in class.

 

[BogWalker]

Talking about voting is great, but I don't think the personal political opinions of the sub should come into play. I know when my teachers in elementary taught us about elections they were very careful not to put their personal beliefs into it.

 

[ArcadiaGP]

I vividly remember being in a very early grade... like 1st grade I think. And the teacher made us all do a blind vote... we laid our heads down on our desks and raised our hand for the candidate she described (it was Bush Sr v Clinton).

She described Bush as a very bad man, and said he would come and close our school, and make our parents sad. And she described Bill Clinton as a virtuous guy that would make our parents jobs better, and our schools happier.

The indoctrination starts young. I'd do whatever I could to make sure the instructor was reprimanded... and things like this are why I would never consider public schools for my future child.

 

[Dosproduction]

Yeah it would be nice to have time to home school. Financially that is a no go. And I agree that talking about voting is fine. I even left that on the message to the principle. But saying one or the other is completely unacceptable.

 

[AA&E]

I think this is more widespread then most think. Where did my 8 year old come up with the idea Bernie Sanders is the best person for the job? He sure as hell didn't get it from anyone under my roof. I asked and he said they discussed the presidential candidates at school. Apparently they cast Sanders in a good light from the POV of an 8 year old.

 

[jd4320t]

Nothing new.

 

[Dosproduction]

I agree it is not new. What are things that we as parents can do to prevent this in the future. Can I go give the sub a political lesson in defending my child from brainwashing. I think then I would be in trouble LOL.

 

[87iroc]

My daughter has a VERY Liberal young teacher in the 5th grade. First time Politics has been attempting to be indoctrinated in my daughter by a teacher. (that I've blatantly caught...although there has been talk of the 'evil of farmers' in the past that I have worked through with her)

She hates Christopher Columbus as 'he brought slavery to the US'. I asked 'what good did he do' and she couldn't tell me.

They are learning WWII now. Its another teacher teaching it though. I'm keeping an eye on that teaching closely. Waiting for the 'the US was evil for dropping the bomb' rewriting of history to come out. Her great granddad was on a hospital ship heading to Japan to support the invasion when the war ended. He's never second guessed the decision. I will preach his gospel to the teacher.

You are not wrong to be ticked...although I suspect the principal won't do anything about your bigoted rascist complaints.

 

[Leo]

This has been going on for a long time. The the marxist teachers we had in the late 60's indoctrinated the next generation of voters. Today the country is being run (into the ground) by the leadership the NEA decided it wanted in 1966. I am sure there are some really good teachers somewhere, but my kids were, and now grandkids are being taught by mostly socialists. Of course distorting the facts and plain telling lies is part of the program.

 

[dshaf]

So my child comes home from school today to tell me that the sub talked about voting. He said he would not tell the class who he voted for but would tell them who he did not vote for. And then proceeded to say that he did not vote for (so and so). My child is 8 years old. Am I wrong for being completely pissed off. I called and left a message with the principle telling her that she needs to have a talk with the sub about this. And that it is completely unacceptable for the teacher of a class to be spewing political views around in class.

you think its bad now.. wait until they are really "educated" by liberal socialistic college professors

 

[Bfish]

I think this is more widespread then most think. Where did my 8 year old come up with the idea Bernie Sanders is the best person for the job? He sure as hell didn't get it from anyone under my roof. I asked and he said they discussed the presidential candidates at school. Apparently they cast Sanders in a good light from the POV of an 8 year old.

Of course, it's like the person that runs for class president and promises there will no more homework if they are elected...

 

[MCgrease08]

No offense chaps, but if your kid's political views are solidified by a substitute teacher, you're not doing your job as a parent.

That's not to say the concerns aren't valid, only that we as parents have much more exposure to our children. As a Dad, I have the responsibility and opportunity to teach my children critical thinking skills.

It's not a responsibility I take lightly.

 

[Bfish]

No offense chaps, but if your kid's political views are solidified by a substitute teacher, you're not doing your job as a parent.

That's not to say the concerns aren't valid, only that we as parents have much more exposure to our children. As a Dad, I have the responsibility and opportunity to teach my children critical thinking skills.

It's not a responsibility I take lightly.

I see where you are coming from but it would **** me off still just because of any kids getting the crap fed to them... I'm pretty on this kind of stuff when it comes to kids in school. And I will say from my experience it's obvious that most kids political thoughts or lack there of are helped to come about mostly by the parents.

I am a teacher though, and this thread has got me thinking about how I approach this kind of thing.

I teach K-8th at a private school (again this makes a difference but even at a private school politics are something to stay away from!)... We do talk politics from time to time, and I do a great job at staying neutral. I know for a fact that they parental views are great varied from student to student. I can think of one time we really talked "politics" but it had nothing to do with the U.S. In Argentina there was an election that was the cause of an upset. I chose to show some things from 60 minutes about how a socialist country elected a capitalist and that their economy is doing a 180 among many other things... In my opinion even though "I" remained neutral in many ways the program painted a socialist in a poor light and showed the greatness of a businessman elected president. I however never drew any parallels whatsoever to our own political climate here. Outside of this politics has been a low light in class even though we discuss foreign governments frequently, as well as current events. I am certain a parent could not have raised an issue with this in any way as I thought of that as I prepared the day's lesson plan. All the same this thread has me thinking about if I do the same thing in a way as a teacher. Not knowingly but possibly un-knowingly.

 

[easy]

Set the 'Way Back Machine' to when I was in grade school. On the big bulletin board in the school cafeteria was the Goldwater v Johnson contest. This kind of stuff has been going on for ever, nothing really new.

 

[hoosierdoc]

So who did he not vote for?

 

[actaeon277]

I think this is more widespread then most think. Where did my 8 year old come up with the idea Bernie Sanders is the best person for the job? He sure as hell didn't get it from anyone under my roof. I asked and he said they discussed the presidential candidates at school. Apparently they cast Sanders in a good light from the POV of an 8 year old.

You should tell your kid that the government is borrowing from the future. Meaning, we're borrowing from kids.

 

[actaeon277]

No offense chaps, but if your kid's political views are solidified by a substitute teacher, you're not doing your job as a parent.

That's not to say the concerns aren't valid, only that we as parents have much more exposure to our children. As a Dad, I have the responsibility and opportunity to teach my children critical thinking skills.

It's not a responsibility I take lightly.

It's second grade.
7 years old.
Why should politics even come up?
Have they even learned the branches of govt, or anything like that?

 

[Bill of Rights]

I had a discussion with a couple of folks standing next to me in line to vote today, and among the subjects discussed (we were in line for over an hour!) we touched on the fact that when we were in school, we were not taught what to think, but rather how to think. When a teacher injects personal views on contentious subjects, any parent who does not have similar beliefs is going to take issue.

When I used to teach for Appleseed, we made clear at the beginning, and held to it, that the only politics to be discussed that weekend were to be those of April, 1775. What parallels the students drew were their own. We only encouraged them to "get involved", be that as an instructor, a volunteer, or even outside the Appleseed program. I'm aware of one who was asked to instruct, and instead ran for city council (and won, IIRC)

Second grade, all you're going to get in a mock election is what the kids have heard on TV or at the supper table. They don't, and IMHO shouldn't, know the details, whys and wherefores of Bernie vs. Hillary vs. Trump vs. the American People. I think they SHOULD know at least the basics of our government, such as what a republic is, the three branches, etc.

For the adults, I'll place a different challenge here: There is a quiz located at The BBHQ Great American Civics Quiz that I'd like to see how people do completing. You are on the honor system that you won't look up answers to artificially inflate your scores. Be aware that this quiz has some very easy and some very difficult questions. (ETA: and one wrong answer as well, at this writing.)

Dosproduction, I'm not trying to hijack your thread. I see this as relevant, in that we as adults must be knowledgeable about civics before we can expect our children and grandchildren to have a working knowledge of it. That said, if you prefer, drop me a PM and ask, and I'll move the civics quiz answers to another thread.

Blessings,
Bill

 

[AA&E]

It's second grade.
7 years old.
Why should politics even come up?
Have they even learned the branches of govt, or anything like that?

and more importantly, the roles of those branches of government?

Er... never mind, our former 'constitutional professor' current 'commander in chief' after 'serving' for nearly 8 years still hasn't determined the role of the executive branch. Therefore, it might be a stretch to expect that from children.

 

[spec4]

I grew up in the Chicago school system for the most part. I can say the teachers were good, no nonsense, and never brought up any political views. Of course that was many decades ago.

If my child was subject to the above in a classroom, I would be all over it. If the principal didn't respond I'd work my way up through the board and possible local newspapers. Why in the world should tax dollars be taken from us to perpetuate this trash?