Parents, Teachers & Students Debate the US Education System | VICE Debates

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I think the problem is— parents don’t realize that just because you raise your kids one way doesn’t mean that your kids won’t experience life outside of your beliefs and eventually change what they believe.

as someone who was homeschooled, when protecting your child from the “bad world” you’re just leaving your child unprepared for the real world

The real problem is that parents aren’t disciplining their bad, spoiled kids and encouraging them to do better academically, so they hold all the other good students back (due to limited resources and time). I was the quiet kid and I can remember many times feeling genuine sympathy for my overwhelmed teachers whenever the troubled kids wouldn’t stop being clowns and wasting everyone’s learning time. Teachers aren’t babysitters or daycare workers. It’s getting worse and worse and that’s a huge reason why many educators are quitting.

I’m surprised I don’t see comments praising the high school girl! For being much younger and a current student who is affected by the things being discussed/decisions adults make around/for her education, she was very well spoken and had great comments contributing to the conversation! At her age I don’t think I would’ve been as confident and knowledgeable esp around a group of adults in a discussion like this

Teach students how to think. Not what to think. Always question, be curious, and never stop learning.

"it's the cardi b music" with a straight face and the other parents nodding in the background had me dying. Glad we've found the source of teen pregnancy

One one my biggest pet peeves with homeschooling is that most parents absolutely do not have the knowledge to teach high school level classes. I'm an engineer with a master's degree in bioengineering: I can teach my high schooler Honors class levels in both math and biology. Can I teach honors level history, chemistry, english? No. No one can boast to have advanced knowledge in all subjects enough to teach on all subjects and not harm their child's learning. Parents need to communicate with their kids at home on social issues and religious beliefs, but don't fool yourselves homeschoolers: your children do learn less than mine.

The Homeschool parents were really revealing. They complain about indoctrination in schools, yet clearly only want their kids thinking one way about everything. If it's something you don't like, its "indoctrination"; but if you agree than its "education". Of course parents have a right be involved in education, but exposing children to different views and people is also important.

I am an elementary teacher in a public school. The topic of “indoctrination” really makes me frustrated. I work at an urban school in a neighborhood where students are predominantly lower income. We have a large percentage of our school below grade level and unable to read. This “indoctrination” everyone talks about is not a core issue and isn’t happening at any school in my city. Can we talk about how to help these struggling students, low attendance rates, lack of parental involvement. I teach kindergarten and over half my class is NOT prepared for school in many aspects. Parental involvement is crucial to a child’s success.

I am shocked that that not a single member of this panel addressed the most profound problem within the education system in the United States of America: Utter and complete lack of parental/guardian accountability for the infractions of students. The majority of students, k-12, are simply out of control, spoiled, petulant, rude, inconsiderate, and intellectually challenged. 🙄

The very idea of giving teachers an opportunity to not talk about slavery as a part of American history is baffling to me. You are depriving students of the truth when you exclude certain topics from education.

As someone who works on foster care cases, I can assure you that it’s never a good idea to rely completely on parents to make the best decisions for their children. Those decisions need to be within reason and they need to be in collaboration with education professionals.

OMG MRS POMEROY WAS MY FRESHMAN ENGLISH TEACHER! I’m so shocked to see her on here. She was pregnant with her first kid while teaching us and decided to be a stay at home mom after. So happy to see her on here, I’ll never forget reading Romeo and Juliet with her ❤

I actually applaud vice's attempt to have civil discussions from different opinions. We need more of this.

I would want my kid taught by at least one teacher who is the complete opposite of me so they can learn more! Be more open minded and tolerant, and get more perspectives on the world we live in! There’s a lot to learn from people we know nothing about! Why have we lost that or don’t want that?!

fun fact: i went to private school and i was never taught sex ed- a lot of my friends that left to go back to public school for HS ended up getting knocked up 😳

Dude educators are so chill compared to the ego battles from other debates - very nice to see a respectable panel,and i think they definitely set the bar for future debate panels

As a school speech language pathologist, I wish there was someone who worked in special education on this as well. I think the aspects of special education were missed in this debate and that’s such a huge and important part of education as well.

I love this argument that we don’t trust parents to educate their kids. That’s 💯 true bc right now the majority of parents are sending their kids to school completely unprepared, without emotional regulation and executive functioning skills, and with an inability to grapple through problems. So no. You’re not raising your kids in a way that helps them be successful. Most kids are getting those skills at school.