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What laws or rules from politicians do you think hurt our schools?

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Agreed with Mik. This happens in many scenarios where higher-ups in admin or the government have no clue what is actually going on and make inconvenient and poor decisions for people on the ground level.

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I agree with Deja when she said unless you are witnessing what's actually happening in a classroom you really don't understand their needs and wants as educators and students

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I agree most people don't understand how a classroom is ran. everyone is entitled to their own opinion but they shouldn't be allowed to have the final say on things being taught

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I completely agree with all of this, we need someone to talk to teachers or have a background. The issue is just saying they need to talk to teachers is not going to influence these politicians who very clearly do not care about the students, educators, or the general public of the area they influence

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I agree with Deja and Ash about the higher-ups not being in a classroom and not being around students, which makes this hard because they may not know what the students need.

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Lawmakers may have biases that are being put into policies that are harmful and are not allowing teachers to provide the students the best education possible.

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I agree that the people who are not in the classrooms just hear something and are like oh that isn't good but they don't understand the context

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I agree i feel that it isn't right to take away from someone history I understand not wanting to hurt someone feelings but I feel that it should be still taught

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One thing from the readings that I had some thoughts on, I think that it's one thing to make laws separating church and state, but I feel a lot of laws are made in bad faith. The way that legislators can say "this law is not made for a religious purpose" but the law can still affect different religions disproportionately. Like in the readings how they claimed saying "in God we trust" isn't actually christian but just acknowledges a higher power, while technically true is an intentional misunderstanding of the law.

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I agree with Deja. A teacher not being able to and not wanting to talk about a certain part is very demeaning. Students should be able to learn about black culture, Asian culture, etc.

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What steps can everyday people take to voice their concerns about education policies?

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What Mik said is exact. There is zero effort to understand what is needed for the betterment of the schools. How can we influence these people who have the resources to ask but just simply do not care enough to reach out?

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Going off of what Minor was saying is it is important for the students to learn about who they are and who others are. These subjects can be neutral and helpful.

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going off the holocaust comment i am currently taking a Holocaust/genocide class here at kirkwood and the things we are learning are different from what we thought happened

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Why do you think the policies made about what should be taught in school (LGBTQ+, race, etc.) and the inclusion of religion in schools is viewed as a political issue? Similarly, why is the inclusion of religion in a classroom viewed as a conservative perspective?

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Agreeing with Dejha, public education is harmed by patriotism. It doesn't benefit us to ignore unsavory parts of our past, and the only way we can make a better future for our whole world is to acknowledge what we have done wrong and can improve on.

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Also I feel that if parents don't want their child learning about black history then teachers should do permission slips on who can learn about it and who cant and I feel like hiding history from children only make them less knowledgeable.

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I think shielding students of important or uncomfortable topics can be dangerous for them in the future.

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I agree with Cade's comment about ignorance towards the past. In order to not repeat history is to learn and change from what happened. That can't happen if students aren't taught what happened.

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Separation of church and state are written into our country's laws. Public schools ultimately are represented by state, so it's important that religion is kept out of school for the most part

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I don't like the idea of pray about and sweep it under the rug that could affect kids or people in general mental

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One of the main reasons for suicide are depression so not having someone a safe place/person to talk to isnt a good idea

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I agree with Deja when she said there are teachers that teach with "blind mind", there are things that teachers do not want to teach because it may be against their own beliefs or what they view, or maybe it is because they feel like they might offend someone.

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I agree with Mik that there does need to be inclusion in schools because if we are a free country then that needs to happen in schools.

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I think that students have the right to learn about these topics and I think its the teacher's responsibility to teach them in a mindful and respectful way.

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Public education is a political tool that is used to shape the future generation of citizens from an early age. Ideally it shapes our future generations to be free-thinkers, and people that will make the world a better place, but many politicians are short-sighted and want the young generation to have their beliefs.

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I do believe that there is an age limit and when some of these topics should be introduced and discussed. What are your thoughts on talking about sexual orientation and gender orientation in elementary tary level?

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What age ranges should we talk with students about politics and current world issues? Is it dangerous to expose kids at a young age to things happening?

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Should teachers teach about politics and religion in schools?

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If u you are teaching students they should be able to learn about everything and everyone, which includes the learning about African American and Asians. Whether you want to learn about Africans Americans etc or even if you don’t want to. That is okay. Learning about other people backgrounds can really help with understand where they are coming and how they came from it.

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I think that politics/religion should be mentioned, but teachers shouldn't share bias because that is for the students to find their own path and themselves.

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I agree with Mik just because your born in a family that believe in something it doesn't mean you have to believe in that and also I agree they should be able to freely believe what they want

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A lot of people think that the raise that Kim Reynolds gave to all Iowa teachers was a great thing, but if you know anything about Reynolds' policies, she loves private schools and would get rid of public schools if she could. This raise helps a lot of individual teachers, but think of the small and underfunded public schools who have to give a decently large raise to all of their teachers. It can tank some public schools who are already struggling and have many lower class and minority students.

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Going back to the comments that Arianna and Dejah made about putting students into the world "blindly" (in the sense that they are not educated about historical events) I think it is important to compare how other countries tackle the education of tragic history. For example, in Germany, it is mandatory that students learn about the holocaust. However, in the United States, 31 states do not mandate holocaust education. How are societies not expected to repeat their past mistakes if their populations are not educated on them?

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One of the readings talked about how teachers can be fired for "speak[ing] about the pledge of allegiance in any manner in which the student or students in the classroom may reasonably understand the teacher’s speech to be any of the following: an unpatriotic commentary on the United States, an attempt to politically influence the student or students." How is that fair? Additionally, I feel that the language of this makes it easy to intentionally misinterpret any commentary on the pledge of allegiance as "unpatriotic," and easy to threaten teachers jobs if they don't teach students the same beliefs you have.

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I agree with Mik. Students should have a variety of things to learn about, so they can learn for themselves and grow in their learning.

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Who or what group of people do you believe should decide what topics are being taught in schools or even taught at all? Should the public decide?

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How do we make sure that our political teaching has an impact? U.S. government is a required class in order to graduate high schools in Iowa but I know many of the students just go through the motions to pass the class rather than actually learning. As adults, they still don't care for politics and don't see them as their civic duty.

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Should schools include religious clubs or clubs in general to find a students identity or beliefs?

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Do you guys think that they would choose a religion if they had a chose to believe what they want? I also saw a student from the school that I attended choose not to believe in anything.

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I also learned about religion in a class where we were told like the history behind the certain religion. This opened my eyes.

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I agree with Mik. You should want to learn about you religion but you don’t have to continue learning about it in the near future. For me I was baptized Christian, my mom was catholic and dad was not religion based but I haven’t learned much about my religion. Not because I didn’t want to learn about but some of the stuff that I was learning about my religion was not always correct and wasn’t sure if I still wanted to continue learning about it.

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Talking about what Ash said, how can those teachers face little to no consequences but the teachers that decide to teach the truth about black history can be very easily terminated?

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I feel like students should be able to have their own thoughts and feel safe for thinking those thoughts

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I feel like religion has its place in English classes as well, though. Not in the way that Ash was describing, but if you're going to teach classics of any kind, finding good classics that don't include any reference to catholicism or christianity is incredibly difficult.

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Teachers need to educate students about certain topics, but bias should not be apart of it. It is totally okay to have an opinion, but it is the students choice to find their beliefs for themselves.

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I agree with Mik because as a teacher you should provide the tools and resources for the students and let them have a choice about what they want to research about so that the unconscious bias coming from the teacher or even other students is avoided. This also avoids the feeling of being forced and you are not pushing anything on the students.

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Do you think that it is possible to write laws about the role of religion in education that cannot be used in bad faith by those who want to only promote their own religion?

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Should their be a class just for Culture and Religion in middle school or high school?

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I agree my sister in law went to a private school for that reason because of their parents believes

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I think that things could be open to talk about. Students can learn about new topics that they might not have heard of before and it makes the classroom more diverse. Do you think that non-bias conversations should be incorporated within the classroom more?

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Teachers need to respect their students even when they don't like it

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What about on social media? Is it okay to make political or religious posts? Only in private? Is it okay to attend protests and rallies as a teacher outside of school time?

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Should students in choir be singing religious songs? Should it be more diverse?

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What do you guys think about teachers who openly say what political party they support?

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I agree with Jayden about if you do teach about religions in a classroom keep it factual. But I also agree with Ash that it is very easy to slip up and give your own unconscious bias.

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I believe teachers salaries play a big role in your education system. Because of the low pay a lot of people steer away from this career path causing unqualified "educators" to become hired, but since our demand for teachers are so high schools tend to hire individuals without enough background knowledge.

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Off of what Ash said, it is very easy to slip up and reveal your own beliefs, but those beliefs are treated differently. If you accidentally reveal your beliefs as a Christian, you are less likely to be punished than if you were Jewish or Muslim. As it stands right now, we live in a predominately Christian society, and many people take non-Christian to mean Anti-Christian, and treat it as a personal attack

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The governor of Louisiana passed a law in June, which requires that every public classroom (kindergarten through state-funded universities) must display large signs of the 10 Commandments. Proponents of this argue that it is not solely religious, but it also has historical significance, being; "fundamental documents of our state and national government". If you're following the logic that fundamental representations of our past should be displayed, then why isn't it mandatory to display the essay written by Fredrick Douglas "What to the Slave is the 4th of July", which explores America's founding principles and the institution of slavery in America. (As an example).

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How does a politician’s lack of teaching experience affect their decisions about schools?

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How can politicians balance their own agendas with the needs and wants of their communities?

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Dejha is right, the pledge of allegiance is totally a form of political indoctrination

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Going back to what Dejah said about attending private schools, how do you feel about the tax voucher policies that have been passed by Governor Kim Reynolds which provide tax cuts (funded by state taxes) to families who enroll their children in private schools? Is this a way for the government/politicians to push students into religious education because they are prevented from pushing religion in public schools?

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Clock it Deja!!!

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We did the Pledge of Allegiance in elementary school every day. I remember being in the elementary "student government" and we would get to do the announcements. It was exciting to get to do the Pledge of Allegiance because it was something we did every day and I of course didn't understand fully the systematic issues in the United States. I remember doing the Pledge of Allegiance in High School and standing but not saying it. The difference in the "excitement" is something crazy to think about. Growing up and becoming aware is a good thing, but can be a scary thing to think about.

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I feel like over the past few years there have way to many school shootings and there needs to be rules for sure

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The Supreme Court developed the "Lemon Test" which shows that a law does not violate the Establishment Clause in the Constitution (which mandates separation of church and state) if...

1. It has a non-religious purpose

2. Its main effect neither helps nor hurts a religion

3. Government and religion are not mixed too much

However, this test hasn't been used since 1997, so how do you think the Supreme Court currently views the Establishment Clause? Does hanging the 10 Commandments in classrooms violate the Lemon Test?

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I know a lot of schools have school officers at the schools during the day but one isn't enough espcially in the bigger schools

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Teachers shouldn't be able to have guns in schools because students can manipulate a teacher out of the gun which puts students in harms way especially if you on that students bad side.

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Teachers having guns, even in an attempt to prevent violence, is just introducing more avenues for violence. More opportunities to hurt people is not the solution to people being hurt.

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I agree with both minor and Deja. If you are going to talk about history than you should able to talk about gun laws. Teachers are talking about history and giving some facts that are not ture but the schools can’t talk about gun violence or gun laws but they are feeding nonfactual things about history.

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That is so right! Shouldn't we do this to every person who wants to purchase a gun? Or just teachers?

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If you allow teachers to have guns in schools it's just another way students can access guns.

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If you make your school safe you won't need guns. Simple.

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If teachers shouldn't have guns in schools, what are other safety measures that teachers and schools can take to protect students?

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I feel like if a teacher does have a gun, they need to have the training and also the firearm needs to be locked up. I also agree with Deja that there should be a mental check up first.

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I think teachers should be able to have a choice if they want to have a gun in school, however I think they need training, a safe, and they should never disclose to any coworkers or students that they have it. The gun is locked up and should only be unlocked when in a serious life threatening situation. During the Robb elementary school shooting, police waited outside for 77 minutes.

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I think even if teachers had mental checks before getting guns, there is still no way to predict how they would react in an emergency situation