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Originally Posted by filtherton
All I can say is that, given the state of the public schools in my area, I don't expect any of my kids to be exposed to anything even remotely resembling culture in terms of curriculum-- culture gets in the way of teaching kids to pass standardized tests (thanks NCLB). I'm not afraid to buy books and I'd rather be the person to help my present and future kids put things in context, as opposed to some teacher who I might not agree with.
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You know I think this may be what the real argument should be.
Is it a public schools job to teach 'culture'.
From my perspective no. We have awful math scores, horrible geography skills, almost no grasp of history, and mediocre scientific knowledge. We have a population thats more superstitious and believing of paranormal activities than we had in the 1960's.
If you want to work a book like Black Boy into the lesson plan on the civil rights movement, or Animal Farm into the Russian revolution thats great, but as a backdrop for the facts, not as a end itself.
It is grossly apparent that kids need to learn what the real cost of items are with a credit card at 19.9% interest is and I won't lose sleep if they cancel poetry class in order to drum that sort of information home.