Yes, the same thing is happening to me. I've found that extremists on both sides stick to the facts if, and only if, the facts fit their narratives. In the case of education, arguments against biased college admissions policies and in favor of the abilities of very bright kids have evidence to back them up. So the right mostly sticks to facts in these areas because they don't have to lie. The left lies its way through every challenge.

One of my kids took two AP English classes and never read a single book. But the teachers did focus on "annotating," which I vaguely remember learning in 7th or 8th grade as an aside --- as in, "write a note in the margin or use a Post-It note if you think something is important." My kids spent weeks on this in 11th grade (!), and the more you wrote, the higher your grade. My daughter tried writing, "I am annotating this photocopy," over and over, atter she ran out of related notes, and she still got an A. So that became her approach to annotation assignments.

MLK's I have a Dream speech was turned into test prep fodder: in line x, when he says y, he was referring to ... a) this b) that...." They never read any of his books, of course.

I complained, and the principal told me, indignantly, that the teacher was 100% in charge of what she was teaching and no one had any right to question her methods.

And then there was the long-term math sub who told the kids, "Honors students can teach themselves" while she did her knitting.

SAT scores way past 1500 don't seem to matter for college admissions, but I also wonder if it's really such a good idea to spend 90-100K on a college that pushes ideology over facts.

As for California, the state colleges and unis here don't have enough seats in courses that are required for a degree. So good luck getting the classes you need, when you need them. Kids end up studying over the summer. This means they might have to live away from home, which cuts into time for paid employment and thus forces many to pay rent. This was problematic when we moved here in 1996, and it's much worse now. Some students have to live in their cars at UC Berkeley because they don't have dorm space. Yet they spend tens of millions of dollars on DEI programs that include what are essentially loyalty oaths.

Last edited by Val; 04/05/24 03:25 PM.