CLASSICAL V. UNCLASSICAL CURRICULA One of the many new trends in education is the teaching of ethnic studies, which means different things in different locales. In the state of Washington, where ethnic studies is a graduation requirement, its main goal is to “dismantle white supremacy.”
School syllabi in the U.S. run the gamut from Marxism to Biblical stories.
Chad Aldeman, a Virginia-based researcher who focuses on education-related issues, recently detailed the educational experience of his daughter, who completed sixth grade in June. He writes that her teachers didn’t use textbooks, assign homework, or expect kids to study at home for tests, didn’t teach kids to sound out words, and didn’t drill times tables. He also mentions that there were no spelling tests, students didn’t practice handwriting of any kind, cursive or otherwise, and didn’t learn the 50 states and their capitals, let alone world geography.