There is an ongoing concern that politicians are becoming too involved in what can and cannot be taught in classrooms.
Indeed, even with the school year in full swing, too many Florida public schools continue to find themselves insufficiently staffed with teachers, several of who resigned out of protest, following the controversial "don't say gay" bill, or being told they could not display historical Black figures on their bulletin boards.
It is in the single digits when children are at their most impressionable, when they begin to learn what's right and what's wrong, as well as how to treat others with kindness and compassion.
Making the dangerous information, or misinformation, or lack thereof which they are taught in schools and elsewhere all the more problematic, to the point of dangerous.
A recent Redditor was curious to hear some of the most harmful lessons children continue to be taught today, leading them to ask:
"What harmful things are being taught to children?"
Such Behavior Should Never Be Tolerated
"'Ignore bullies and they'll leave you alone'."
"When you do that, one of two things are likely to happen."
"Either they'll mess with you more, or they'll move to someone else and bully them."
"If you stand up to bullies, they back down."
"The earlier in life you put these people in their place, the less likely they'll develop their bad behavior as a lifelong practice."- EGoldenRule
"'If he's mean to you he likes you'."
"It just teaches little girls, mostly girls, to expect violence from people who love them."- mbar2004
Be Open Minded, But Also Be Practical
"Going too far on the 'find your dream job and it'll never feel like work' stuff."
"Really messed me up when I wasn't 'excited' about uni assignments and thought I had to change degrees."- TheRealGreenTreeFrog
Grown Ups Can Definitely Be Wrong...
"Teaching kids not to question things just because someone is older, or allegedly wiser, is one of the most frustrating things that I see on a daily basis."
"How is a child supposed to ever develop any individual and nuanced ideas if they can’t think for themselves."- AtLeast5
... And Being Wrong Is OK!
"Being wrong is bad."
"That's why many people don't change their mind when they were given trustable sources, they don't want to be wrong."- oti890
There Is Always Someone Willing To Listen
"Nobody cares about children’s/teens issues."
“'Well it’s only going to get worse from here'."
“'You think school is hard? Have you ever paid a f*cking bill'.”
“'You’re just a kid you can’t feel this way'."
"It breeds an emotional disconnect from parents and their kids."
"And makes kids feel alone in their emotional struggles, that nobody cares because they’re not adults and they don’t have 'Adult Problems'."- Fantalitymlp
Punished For Going The Extra Mile
"There was this one time my sister’s Spanish teacher told her off for using vocabulary outside the sheet she’d been given for homework."
"Their task was to write a short essay introducing themselves in Spanish and use some simple adjectives."
"She asked me for help and since I’m quite a bit older than her and know a decent amount of Spanish, I have her a few interesting adjectives and verbs to use instead of dumb stuff like 'nice' and 'kind' or whatever."
"She comes back after school close to tears and tells me she got scolded for using vocab that wasn’t on the sheet."
"Smh teachers are supposed to encourage learning, not hinder it, right?"
"Just to clarify, I wasn’t helping my sister cheat."
"I just gave her a couple of more interesting words than bland ones like 'nice' and 'fun' you get me?"
"If not, that’s cool too lmao."- mangaka-chan
Potentialy Dangerous "Influence"...
"Basically all those social media influencers that teach young people that it's all about money and brand names."- TRGMORGAN
The Truth About Sex
"Children do learn about sex at a young age, it just isn’t usually in a productive way."
"I know I did."
"My own experience, questions like this are why I believe in being infinitely clear with my kids."
”'You are going to hear total crap from other kids'."
"'If you hear something you don’t understand, come talk to me'."
"'You can ask me anything and expect a decent answer'.”
"And I would give examples of the total crap I had heard as a kid, most of which would result in pregnancy."
"Son, age 6, Daughter, age 7, riding home from school."
"Daughter says 'tiffany said she had sex with my brother'.”
"Which left me a grand total of 3 minutes to gather my wits before we got home."
"'OK, do you guys know what sex is?'"
"Blank looks."
"Sex is when you take off all of your clothes and rub privates together."
"You can make babies that way."
"Looks of shock and disgust."
"Do you think your brother had sex with Tiffany?"
"Nooo!"
"I think she was using a really bad way of trying to say she likes him, and maybe she watches the wrong TV shows where if people like each other they always have sex."
"Were my kids really ready for a sex talk? "
"No, not really. "
"They didn’t care."
"Did we really need to have one about then?"
"Yep."
"My job as a parent is to be there to put things that come up in context for them, not run around after them deciding what and when they need to know things."- sushihcare
Children are, indeed, our future.
And with that in mind, it is important that teachers, and all of us for that matter, are very mindful of the information we put in their minds.
As they are our only hope for a brighter, better future.
@LeeMerrittesq/X
@bob_moss/X
@jelanijones/Bluesky
@Aurkayne/X
@sadcommunistdog; @froglok/Bluesky