English departments are THE WORST. The teachers have a lot of latitude to choose what students read. Rarely are students given choice. The informational selections that support core texts are often ridiculously biased. Documentaries are usually left-leaning.
Everything is presented as though it is "the truth".
If a student dares to bring in a non-approved source, the teachers will stomp on it. The list of approved sources? Anything that has a .edu attached to it. Any MAJOR news organization. Anything else? Dismissed.
Stanford (STANFORD!!) has a "lateral reading" program they sell to teachers as TRAINING that relies almost entirely on "independent fact checkers" like Snopes. Teachers are supposed to teach this "lateral reading" (i.e. "Why don't you just let us tell you what the truth is? Don't bother trying to figure it out for yourself: you're too dumb to do it.") to their students.
I was so disappointed. I was hopeful that they'd ask students to compare similar stories from different sources side-by-side and analyze for tone, diction, facts included and omitted, etc. NOPE. Just go to Snopes!
Good thing I'm not a fVcking idiot.
English teachers are almost all elitist assholes. They think their ability to analyze poetry (badly, BTW) makes them a cut above. Their expectations for students of color are ridiculously low. For instance, one of my colleagues recently told me that her students "can't do anything". ALL reading must happen in class. ALL THE ANSWERS, ALL THE NOTES, EVERYTHING is handed to them. Then she turns them in for plagiarizing.
They're plagiarizing you, bitch.
Friggin' soft bigotry of low expectations.
The worst part is: everyone thinks teachers are so nice. Nice above all. And it's such insane bullshit. Ask any kid. They'll tell you the truth. They're all Nurse Ratched without the uniform.
I am a single issue voter. That issue is school choice. The schools have to bleed enrollment. Otherwise, nothing changes.
This kid speaks the truth.
English departments are THE WORST. The teachers have a lot of latitude to choose what students read. Rarely are students given choice. The informational selections that support core texts are often ridiculously biased. Documentaries are usually left-leaning.
Everything is presented as though it is "the truth".
If a student dares to bring in a non-approved source, the teachers will stomp on it. The list of approved sources? Anything that has a .edu attached to it. Any MAJOR news organization. Anything else? Dismissed.
Stanford (STANFORD!!) has a "lateral reading" program they sell to teachers as TRAINING that relies almost entirely on "independent fact checkers" like Snopes. Teachers are supposed to teach this "lateral reading" (i.e. "Why don't you just let us tell you what the truth is? Don't bother trying to figure it out for yourself: you're too dumb to do it.") to their students.
I was so disappointed. I was hopeful that they'd ask students to compare similar stories from different sources side-by-side and analyze for tone, diction, facts included and omitted, etc. NOPE. Just go to Snopes!
Good thing I'm not a fVcking idiot.
English teachers are almost all elitist assholes. They think their ability to analyze poetry (badly, BTW) makes them a cut above. Their expectations for students of color are ridiculously low. For instance, one of my colleagues recently told me that her students "can't do anything". ALL reading must happen in class. ALL THE ANSWERS, ALL THE NOTES, EVERYTHING is handed to them. Then she turns them in for plagiarizing.
They're plagiarizing you, bitch.
Friggin' soft bigotry of low expectations.
The worst part is: everyone thinks teachers are so nice. Nice above all. And it's such insane bullshit. Ask any kid. They'll tell you the truth. They're all Nurse Ratched without the uniform.
I am a single issue voter. That issue is school choice. The schools have to bleed enrollment. Otherwise, nothing changes.