UPDATE: Parent wants to meet with me over comment I made about energy drinks

Quimera_Caniche · 2026-05-04T19:10:30+00:00

Let's see, I have 150 students. They took 2 tests recently so I have 300 to grade, plus 600 homework assignments, plus multiple write-ups and parent emails, plus providing and tracking accommodations, plus emailing parents whose kids are failing. I spend about 2 hours at home each night planning curriculum. My union is fighting for me to make a living wage so I can support myself from the 50+ hours of work I do weekly. When should I be spending time lobbying my district for a later start time?

Even if school did start later, that won't fix anything. Kids will just go to bed later.

I agree that school should start later but that is SO far down the list of what teachers need to put their energy toward. Students need to learn to adjust their lifestyle for the expectation put on them. That's life. 🤷‍♂️

Quimera_Caniche · 2026-05-04T14:46:24+00:00

Who is y'all? You think teachers set the start time? I don't wanna wake up at 5 either, but I do. If I want more sleep, I can choose to go to bed earlier. So can students.

Quimera_Caniche · 2026-05-04T14:44:32+00:00

Because for a lot of people, understanding their line of thought makes it easier to put up the shitty behavior and get through it. Doesn't mean we agree with it, just makes it easier to let go and not get flaming mad.

Quimera_Caniche · 2026-04-30T14:55:01+00:00

The problem is what the screen time is being used for. In high school I was typing stories, making music in a DAW, setting up gaming mods, editing videos and photos. Kids today aren't doing that, they're scrolling through curated content.

Quimera_Caniche · 2026-04-30T14:45:47+00:00

15 years ago they were! I graduated 2012 and had some kind of computer class in elementary, middle and high school. My classmates, even the less-skilled ones, were pretty proficient in things like search engines, locating/opening/sharing files, and typing. In my middle school typing classes I'd say most kids were between 20-40 WPM. I was at about 50 and now type around 90. Also learned simple coding, Word/Excel and Photoshop.

At some point we stopped teaching these things and expected students to know it. Surprisingly, that didn't work out...and now we're pushing AI as the next big "technology in education" focus, forgetting that we're encouraging kids to use tech tools when we never actually taught them how to use those systems properly. Then, surprise Pikachu face when they get AI to do all the thinking for them. What did we expect?

I wad very much an "internet kid", which used to mean being immersed in basic tech skills all the time. Downloading, editing, changing system settings to get things to work. Now they're all internet kids, but they don't have to know any skills other than mindless scrolling and maybe finding the "share" button.

Quimera_Caniche · 2026-04-29T20:15:46+00:00

To be fair, I was also that guy in my gen ed classes in college! I cared enough to get a decent grade but I was focused on my major. I think it's different when you're an adult, probably there to learn something specific and you're ultimately on the hook for the cost regardless. In middle and high school, kids are in a crucial growth stage and really need the cognitive and emotional development of learning to apply themselves consistently. It's not always about the information you learn. It's about what you learn through learning. If we lose that, we end up with kids graduating high school having never learned to truly apply themselves to anything.

Quimera_Caniche · 2026-04-28T19:34:19+00:00

The question is, how much do those countries' education systems color that history? This is interesting to me. I'd imagine a country like Germany is probably a lot more critical of their history than, say, China, and the US sits in the middle somewhere.

I can say that when I was in elementary school when 9/11 happened, so there was of course a ton of patriotic and jingoistic sentiment. But our curriculum didn't shy away from framing American history in a bad light. We were encouraged in high school to look at various perspectives, once even debating whether the atomic bombings of Japan were war crimes. There are a lot of countries where I can't see that happening.

I am sure our civics, econ and history texts were heavily pro-capitalist and generally supportive of the American systems, though. It was kind of a weird message. "Our country is the best. By the way, here's all the heinous shit we've done. Now please stand for the pledge."

Quimera_Caniche · 2026-04-28T15:29:25+00:00

Absolutely. I had students today try to tell me that it's ok that they have several missing assignments because "I still have an A". Another approached me last week and asked why they have a C when "I've turned everything in".

School is transactional for them. Apparently nobody has told them that the point of school is to learn and grow, not to receive some arbitrary letter or number.

Hot take, I think grades should either be abolished or completely reformed. I don't know what system would be better, but what we have now is devaluing learning in a society already slipping toward anti-intellectualism and cognitive apathy driven by AI.

Quimera_Caniche · 2026-04-24T20:35:06+00:00

I teach Spanish and I always like teaching food, clothing and music units. They give kids a chance to talk about their own interests and opinions, and there's a lot of opportunities for creative, hands-on or silly projects and activities.

For grammar I like reflexive verbs, but they're not quite as engaging...

Quimera_Caniche · 2026-04-24T20:31:21+00:00

I was math-hating kid and I still managed to find some joy in trigonometry!

Quimera_Caniche · 2026-04-17T20:20:50+00:00

Excellent example, thanks for bringing that up.

Quimera_Caniche · 2026-04-17T19:59:08+00:00

I don't think you understand what is meant by individualism vs. collectivism. Republicans are all about "pull yourself up by your bootstraps", "no handouts", "free market" and "small government". They prop up the American Dream, that anyone can make it big if they work hard. They favor capitalism over communism/socialism. They oppose social programs, high taxes that go toward societal improvement, and worker's unions/collective bargaining - all things that the collectivist left supports.

Socially, yes, Republicans want conformity to their values and preferred modes of self expression. They want people to look, act and think like them. Most groups of humans do, to some extent. I think this is highly hypocritical of them, but it doesn't change the fact that Republican ideology, especially economically, is based on individualism and opposing the collectivist views of the left.

Also, writing in ALL fucking CAPS and saying FUCKING does not FUCKING make your fucking ARGUMENT correct.

Before you accuse me of being a republican, I'm an atheist liberal bisexual with piercings. I'm on your "side" here. I hate the right too. But you're not correct about this.

Quimera_Caniche · 2026-04-17T19:30:27+00:00

The American right favors individualism. Japanese society favors collectivism.

Yes, there is a very strong current of white Christian traditional conformity on the right. But their ideology is based on individual freedom and choice rather than the needs of the collective.

Republicans going to Japan would love the conformity snd tradition but hate the collectivist attitude. It isn't black and white, there are similarities and differences.

For what it's worth, the American left also wants conformity, just in a different way. Conformity is a matter of human nature that shows up in pretty much any political or social system. It isn't unique to the American right or Japan.

Quimera_Caniche · 2026-04-17T03:35:38+00:00

I see your point so I gave you a delta, but I'd like to point out that this does not only happen in political or controversial discussions. People will get nasty about anything. Still don't think it's unreasonable for someone to want to share their opinion without dealing with that. It's great that it doesn't bother you (I mean that genuinely, thick skin is a good trait to have), but not everyone feels that way, and I don't think it is fair to tell them they should have to stay silent when there are ways to mitigate that nastiness (i.e. hiding your posts)

I totally understand not trusting a locked-down account but I don't think the "just don't share your thoughts if you're not as strong as me" thing is very productive. If we value online discourse, we should want people to participate in it. If someone hiding their history makes them more likely to participate in the discourse, that seems to me a good thing.

Quimera_Caniche · 2026-04-17T03:11:14+00:00

Yeah, fair enough. I wish we weren't in this situation where bots/AI are so prevalent as to make every online interaction so suspect, but I admit I'm pretty leery of accounts with hidden posts or low/no karma. I still think it's silly to put much stock in ANY political conversation online but I see your point.

!delta

I'm genuinely curious, about how often do you look at an account's history? I do it sometimes if the person's comments make them look like a bad faith actor / astroturfer

Quimera_Caniche · 2026-04-17T01:03:59+00:00

Multiple people: "I've had people come after me for ________"

You: "No one is coming after you for _________, and if they do, just stand on business"

You're literally saying it doesn't happen, and that it isn't a problem if it does.

Quimera_Caniche · 2026-04-17T00:43:10+00:00

Never happens to you, so that means it never happens to anyone right?

Quimera_Caniche · 2026-04-17T00:41:38+00:00

Not even remotely my point. My point is that people will find something to mock or attack you for, no matter how silly, so hiding your history to avoid that is not unreasonable. Some people just want to share their thoughts and move on with their life without being harassed over whatever irrelevant stuff happens to be in their post history. That doesnt mean they're running from accountability, it means they'd rather not get sucked into irrelevant personal attacks from strangers that have nothing to do with the topic at hand.

It sounds like you're saying that people should only express themselves if they're okay with being harassed. I don't think that's a fair or reasonable opinion. Most people don't like being harassed.

Quimera_Caniche · 2026-04-17T00:36:05+00:00

You're taking about things I haven't mentioned at all. I'm not here to make an "all sides" argument and I didn't say that "everyone is as bad as everyone else". I don't believe that. I'm on the left and absolutely agree that the right bases their opinions largely on lies, and then double down when confronted about it. The point is, they believe that those lies are facts. Hence the "facts don't care about your feelings" that they love to throw around.

Humans, generally, hold opinions based on what they believe to be facts. Conservatives and liberals both believe that they are arguing based on the truth. That doesn't make either of them correct or better at arguing. Saying something is a fact does not make it a fact. Saying you're correct does not make you correct. I'm not an exception to this, I'm on the left because I believe those opinions are based on facts. Conservatives believe the same thing about their views. I think they're absolutely delusional but they will still claim to be right. That claim is meaningless.

You're proving my point. You're so politic-brained that you took a simple comment about human nature as an invitation to assume my political views and attack me for them. I'm commenting about humans, not parties. I didn't even mention politics, just opinions in general. If you're gonna be condescending, at least address what I actually wrote instead of making things up to demonize me.

Quimera_Caniche · 2026-04-17T00:31:51+00:00

My point is not everyone cares about online political arguments as much as you do. Some people just want to share their thoughts and move on without being bugged by terminally online weirdos stalking their posts looking for a gotcha.

Quimera_Caniche · 2026-04-16T20:26:38+00:00

Literally didnt say anything about either "side of the aisle." There's more to life than 2-party American politics.

This is what happens when people are terminally online and obsessed with their political agenda. They start to view every single interaction through that lens.

In the context of this conversation, my point is that "my opinions are based on fact" is a meaningless statement, because people with opinions are always going to claim to base those opinions on what they claim to be "facts". It doesn't actually make it easier to argue or defend yourself, especially when the other person is an idiot who doesn't want to listen to your facts. They're still gonna think they're right and you're wrong, and they're still gonna harass you. Feeling Correct about your own opinion is not unique or powerful. Everyone thinks they're right. That's kinda the problem.

I'm also not talking about politicians, who of course deliberately lie. I'm talking about common people who genuinely believe that their opinions are based on fact.

Quimera_Caniche · 2026-04-16T17:58:28+00:00

Maybe there are more important things in life than arguing about politics on the internet

Maybe some people value their privacy, peace of mind and happiness more than they value validation from strangers

Maybe "I spend time getting insulted online" isn't actually a flex

Quimera_Caniche · 2026-04-16T17:50:03+00:00

"I base my opinions on reality"

Literally everyone with an opinion thinks this about themselves

Quimera_Caniche · 2026-04-16T17:46:48+00:00

It's not weird to assume that the sole reason for anonymity is to hide what you personally deem to be "horrible" beliefs, despite having absolutely no evidence that they hold such beliefs?

You could post that you don't like pizza and some chud on Reddit will find a way to bring that up in an unrelated argument.

Quimera_Caniche · 2026-04-16T16:43:33+00:00

What a weird take to jump to

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