I just talked with a family of Ukrainian refugees that I met in Spain. Wonderful people, a couple with 4 kids, very religious. They are disturbed by the same things in the Spanish public education system that we are here. There’s only one break, rarely any outside time. Everybody respects an 8-year-old’s “gender identity” but not his right to use the bathroom or have a drink of water during class time.
The mom caught the 10-year-old son making detailed drawings of a vulva and started having conversations with him about the evils of pornography. Turns out, the boy is doing it as a school assignment. Nobody mentioned Cervantes so far but who cares as long as no opportunity is missed to discuss sex?
Also, they are stunned by how pathetic the healthcare system is compared to what they are used to in Ukraine. This is interesting because the Ukraine I left 25 years ago had a horrid healthcare system.
Of course, their dream is to go back home. They are doing everything so that the kids can continue to take classes in their Ukrainian school, even though it has to be online.
We had a great time mocking COVIDiocy and masks. In short, good times. My spoken Ukrainian is getting better by leaps and bounds because I almost didn’t struggle during today’s conversation.
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” There’s only one break, rarely any outside time. Everybody respects an 8-year-old’s “gender identity” but not his right to use the bathroom or have a drink of water during class time.” I’m being a little over the top here, but no spare time, heightened physiological distress, remind me of cult indoctrination tactics. If they could stop these kids from getting enough sleep, they would; they’re just hoping smartphones will do the job for them.
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Sleep deprivation has been achieved in American schools where high-schoolers often have to get up at 5:30 for some weird reason that’s never explained.
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Early start + bus schedule.
We used to watch our teenage neighbors get on the bus at 7am, and get off at 4pm each day. If it’s anything like teenagers I actually know, that means the boys got up at 6:30, and the girls are getting up at 5:00 so they can take an hour and a half to do their hair and makeup. And they’re all staying up after midnight using their phones.
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As I understand it, it is to allow students time for things like sports and plays and other extra curricular activities. My nephew is very athletic for instance, and he doesnt come home most days until 5:30/6:00 pm after his sports. And then he still needs to do homework and have dinner. I think it’s great for teenagers to be busy and have activities that give them wholesome social outlets. That being said, I agree that school starts too early. I think you could easily cut out an hour of school without missing out on anything crucial.
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You could easily cut out most of school without missing anything crucial.
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Well, outside time is good. The rest… yeah.
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Given that most of the time is taken up by changing classes and admin tasks, IMO it’d be worth running the experiment of chopping the school day in half, or even a third, time-wise, and having the same number of students simply come for a fraction of the day– same number of teachers, working the same number of hours, with the same number of students, but much smaller classes and much less time wasted on shuffling kids around. 1-2 subjects per day. 3 tops.
Then, of course, it doesn’t work as free childcare. But it’s not like anybody can keep teenagers from skipping school and doing dumb things while their parents are at work, anyway.
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