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_refugee_  ·  2325 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: “Microaggressions”, “Trigger Warnings”, and the New Meaning of “Trauma”

Sure, I'll bite.

Any teacher who teaches his or her students how to read, understand, and apply instructions has already taught their student how to do taxes. In addition, they've also managed to teach their students the keys to success that they need in order to pass all the required state and/or Federal testing which students are pummelled with in the U.S., and the article you posted is so US centric I can't imagine you're trying to teach anywhere else.

Here's the thing about taxes. They are not hard. Especially for people of low income, they basically involve filling in 3-5 numbers, which are already outlined and clearly labelled on your income documents, into a couple spaces on a single page (1040 EZ? even half page) form. It can be done in 30 minutes. What taxes are is intimidating. And they're mostly intimidating to people who haven't done them before, or haven't done them much. Say, by the way...you filed taxes yet? Cuz you act like they're mega scary, and you don't talk like you make enough money for that to be right.

When you say that you want to teach students how to do taxes and etc in a course like what you describe, I think many things. First and foremost are these:

1) So you are going to do this during required class time? Thus taking away all the time that you're going to need to get your students prepared for state/federal testing? (which ensures funding to your school and also reflects on you in a yearly score that school administration will be tracking and will impact your ability to keep your job)

2) If not, so you are going to offer this as an elective? And you expect students to willingly sign up for "boring life skills" when they could do art, music, drama, programming, forensics, or shop electives? (News flash: the kids who sign up for an elective life skills class are the students who are proactive enough and already care - scratch that, already worry - enough about these topics that they don't actually need such a class)

and 3) So you are going to, again, derail your students from state-wide and national metrics which they are required to meet (not to mention that their meeting of such helps them get into higher education) in order to further your moral agenda? Oh. Ok. Because it is more important that you teach kids what your personal opinion of what is Right, than you ensure that they are prepared for later grades (assuming you won't be teaching seniors in high school), later testing (besides state wide and federal standards, don't forget the SAT andor ACT and or whatever) and/or higher education or other opportunities?

OK then.

I don't support all the testing we do in the US or the standards we hold our students to, necessarily, but that's the system you'll be walking into as a teacher and as someone who's supposedly training to be one, you seem woefully unaware of that.