Teachers; ever had to teach curriculum that... (college, elementary school, principal)

[Neosec]

Teachers; ever had to teach curriculum that you disagreed with?
I suspect it happens from time to time when you're required to teach something that has political or religious undertones rather than scientific fact.

[TabulaRasa]

Thematically, no.

But I'm not necessarily required to teach scientific fact, given that I teach literature. When there are political or religious themes in various literature, as there often are, I teach it within the context of that, teach why the work was written as it is, who wrote it, where and when it was written, what factors contributed to the writing, etc. Typically, understanding the political and religious situation in which the work was created is central to understanding the literature itself.

[Mnseca]

I once had to teach sex ed and say that the only way to avoid AIDS was to be abstinent.

And I didn't teach it, but apparently my son's elementary curriculum teaches that Columbus was a hero. I wasn't too happy when he came home with coloring pages of a sweet-looking, smiling Christopher Columbus, a man who proudly admitted selling 9 year old girls into sexual slavery.

[HalfLifeFan88]

Originally Posted by Mnseca

I once had to teach sex ed and say that the only way to avoid AIDS was to be abstinent.

And I didn't teach it, but apparently my son's elementary curriculum teaches that Columbus was a hero. I wasn't too happy when he came home with coloring pages of a sweet-looking, smiling Christopher Columbus, a man who proudly admitted selling 9 year old girls into sexual slavery.

I got the same BS when I was in elementary school. I don't think most kids learn about the real Christopher Columbus until they get to college.

[Sunnydee]

I loved teaching math and was quite proficient at it. My kids had the highest scores in our school. The joke was that I could teach anyone math, which I happily did until they adopted Everyday Math/Common Core Math, which requires the students to jump through various hoops and explain in detail how they got their answers rather than using the standard algorithms. Here's an example:

You’ve Just Got to See What a ‘Frustrated Parent’ Wrote on Their Child’s Common Core Math Assignment | TheBlaze.com

I understood the theory behind this, but it's implementation was bad, the kids (and many of the teachers) found it confusing, and it made the kids hate math, especially the lower functioning kids, who didn't understand all of these steps, and the kids who were gifted at math, and could simply look at a problem and know the answer without all of these gyrations. I just didn't feel good about it or believe in it, so I asked my principal to reassign me, which he did. I'm so thankful because I was pretty torn up about it.

[TamaraSavannah]

Not quite.

But there are things that in application differ from the possibilities in reality. For example, if we are teaching (and testing) on surface artificial respiration, we tell the students to remove their face mask. BUT, I tell them that if they have to swim a distance in reality, especially in salt water, they may want to keep their mask on.

Sort of like when I was being taught how to fly and having the engine go out. The FIRST thing you do is fly the plane, but along the way, you want to do all those other things, call for help, try to restart the engine, look for a field, etc.. But when you are practicing it, you say that, but you don't actually do it, (well, maybe look for that field).

Sometimes, it is hard to learn what needs to be done in the actual event if you aren't able to practice them in a reality.