12 year olds Homework seems a bit leftie

[Roanch21]

Interested in a second opinion on wether I’m being unreasonable here.

My 12 year olds English comprehension homework was to read a supplied newspaper article and then answer questions on it. Fairly normal.

BUT the article was an opinion piece from The Guardian. On the causes of Homelessness. It included questions designed to test how well they could recall information which is fine but the answers they needed to give meant these impressionable 12 year olds have had to swallow a fair bit of unbalanced bigoted Left wing propaganda.

Example … Q10. True or false, a redistribution of the benefits gained from rising property values must be part of any meaningful levelling up in the future.

The answer they need to give if they’ve comprehended the article is True, but my boy now thinks he has learnt that homelessness is the fault of Current government policy, and taxing the rich is going to miraculously solve it.

[XFool]

Interested in a second opinion on wether I’m being unreasonable here.

My 12 year olds English comprehension homework was to read a supplied newspaper article and then answer questions on it. Fairly normal.

BUT the article was an opinion piece from The Guardian. On the causes of Homelessness. It included questions designed to test how well they could recall information which is fine but the answers they needed to give meant these impressionable 12 year olds have had to swallow a fair bit of unbalanced bigoted Left wing propaganda.

Example … Q10. True or false, a redistribution of the benefits gained from rising property values must be part of any meaningful levelling up in the future.

The answer they need to give if they’ve comprehended the article is True, but my boy now thinks he has learnt that homelessness is the fault of Current government policy, and taxing the rich is going to miraculously solve it.

You aren't making clear whether the given "True" answer is true as in "It is the truth" or "It is correct that the article contains this statement". Perhaps you feel this distinction is irrelevant?

Then again, how do you know your boy "now thinks he has learnt that homelessness is the fault of Current government policy, and taxing the rich is going to miraculously solve it"? Or is this just your opinion?

Again, why would you describe that opinion as "bigoted", even if you disagree with it? Or are all opinions that vary from yours "bigoted"?

[vrdiver]

To get a fair opinion, could you post a link to the article being referenced in the homework?

VRD

[Clariman]

To get a fair opinion, could you post a link to the article being referenced in the homework?

VRD

And perhaps the full question

[Howyoudoin]

Interested in a second opinion on wether I’m being unreasonable here.

My 12 year olds English comprehension homework was to read a supplied newspaper article and then answer questions on it. Fairly normal.

BUT the article was an opinion piece from The Guardian. On the causes of Homelessness. It included questions designed to test how well they could recall information which is fine but the answers they needed to give meant these impressionable 12 year olds have had to swallow a fair bit of unbalanced bigoted Left wing propaganda.

Example … Q10. True or false, a redistribution of the benefits gained from rising property values must be part of any meaningful levelling up in the future.

The answer they need to give if they’ve comprehended the article is True, but my boy now thinks he has learnt that homelessness is the fault of Current government policy, and taxing the rich is going to miraculously solve it.

Wait. No-one else is surprised that that True of False question is being asked of a 12 yo?

Clearly, it’s been over 30 years since I left school but have things really changed this much? I didn’t get questions like this until I was in college.

HYD

[servodude]

Interested in a second opinion on wether I’m being unreasonable here.

My 12 year olds English comprehension homework was to read a supplied newspaper article and then answer questions on it. Fairly normal.

BUT the article was an opinion piece from The Guardian. On the causes of Homelessness. It included questions designed to test how well they could recall information which is fine but the answers they needed to give meant these impressionable 12 year olds have had to swallow a fair bit of unbalanced bigoted Left wing propaganda.

Example … Q10. True or false, a redistribution of the benefits gained from rising property values must be part of any meaningful levelling up in the future.

The answer they need to give if they’ve comprehended the article is True, but my boy now thinks he has learnt that homelessness is the fault of Current government policy, and taxing the rich is going to miraculously solve it.

Wait. No-one else is surprised that that True of False question is being asked of a 12 yo?

Clearly, it’s been over 30 years since I left school but have things really changed this much? I didn’t get questions like this until I was in college.

HYD

Anyways - the point of a comprehension exercise isn't to "recall information" it's to comprehend what the author was trying to convey.
It doesn't ask the student to judge, or remember, or evaluate the content or merit of the prose -- just to comprehend it

That should be encouraged, as it is a good first step in avoiding going through life getting the wrong end of the stick, even (or probalby especially?) if it is a bit of text they might otherwise never be exposed to the likes of

I remember having some unusual extracts for comprehension exercises but when I actually got in to the O-grade exam the passage was from Laidlaw by McIlvanney which was actually pretty fortunate (having read it for fun previously)

[Gerry557]

Cant he write the wanted "correct" answer and then say he thinks the articles opinion, in his view, is incorrect. Unless he does agree.

[XFool]

Wait. No-one else is surprised that that True of False question is being asked of a 12 yo?

Clearly, it’s been over 30 years since I left school but have things really changed this much? I didn’t get questions like this until I was in college.

???

I honestly cannot remember now, it just is too long ago, but surely I/we were asked questions in English comprehension such as: "Does the writer believe... claim... say...? " etc.

[servodude]

Wait. No-one else is surprised that that True of False question is being asked of a 12 yo?

Clearly, it’s been over 30 years since I left school but have things really changed this much? I didn’t get questions like this until I was in college.

???

I honestly cannot remember now, it just is too long ago, but surely I/we were asked questions in English comprehension such as: "Does the writer believe... claim... say...? " etc.

I tried to find past papers after reading this thread - it's not easy

[didds]

The answer they need to give if they’ve comprehended the article is True, but my boy now thinks he has learnt that homelessness is the fault of Current government policy

From govt sources online (google etc)

• 11,840 applicants were accepted as owed a main homelessness duty during July to September 2010,

74,230 households were initially assessed as homeless or threatened with homelessness and
owed a statutory homelessness duty, up 5.4% from January to March 2021.

[Roanch21]

Maybe I should have added that I’m happy for my kids to hear bigoted views and also views that are different to mine. The important thing is that in the essence of balance the opposite view should also be offered. I think resources that schools use should be politically neutral or balanced out with an alternative view.

[Roanch21]

I’m not allowed to paste links so I’ve just copy pasted ….

When the elements turn hostile, we are more than ever dependent on the roofs over our heads. So evocative is this scenario, of humans walled up against the cold, that there is talk of a film capturing the experience of the group snowed in for three days at a Yorkshire pub during Storm Arwen. But for those without a safe place to shelter, extreme weather is an ordeal to be endured. Last week, the Liverpool Echo reported on complaints about a local McDonald’s that refused to sell hot food to a woman who wanted it for a homeless man she met outside in pouring rain.

Starting in March last year, the Everyone In scheme saw 37,000 rough sleepers offered emergency accommodation, much of it in hotels. But since the initial instruction to councils to take people off the streets, the guidance has been diluted. The already acutely vulnerable group who lack recourse to public funds, due to their immigration status, is set to grow as a result of the government’s borders bill. And there is disagreement about the figures, with the number seeking support last year far greater than would have been indicated by council rough sleeping figures.
What is beyond dispute is that those sleeping rough on any given night (most do not consistently sleep outdoors) are the tip of a much larger iceberg. The problem of homelessness extends beyond rough sleepers, most of whom are men, and many of whom have mental health problems (in London, the most recent survey found rough sleepers to be 82% male and 10% aged 25 or under). Around 330,000 households received support from councils in England, Wales and Scotland in 2019-20 on the grounds that they lacked housing. Many of these families are trapped in unsuitable temporary accommodation such as bed and breakfasts. Cuts to universal credit and other benefits, and the disastrous failure to regulate the private rental sector properly, exacerbate the kinds of chronic insecurity that can lead to rough sleeping; for example, if a family breaks down.

While it is often assumed that people seen on the streets have nowhere to sleep, in some cases it is during the day that people have nowhere to go – before shelters open in the evenings. Meanwhile, the so-called hidden homeless get by through sofa-surfing or joining already crowded households. In London, Manchester and elsewhere, some good work was done by councils and charities, which took rough sleepers into hotels during the pandemic, enabling some to move on to more secure situations. But with the eviction ban rescinded, and a backlog of arrears, there is a real risk that the ranks of the housing insecure will quickly swell.
An underlying problem is the government’s commitment to rising property prices, which serves the interests of homeowners, developers and speculators, but works against people who don’t own their homes and can’t access secure and affordable rented ones. New research from the Resolution Foundation shows that the proportion of 25- to 34-year-olds who are homeowners has fallen from 51% in 1989 to 28% in 2019. One charity, Centrepoint, has predicted that the rate of homelessness among under-25s in England could soon reach a record high.

Cuts over the past decade to the local services relied on by rough sleepers, and others in the most vulnerable categories, have made it harder to access support. The approach taken during the pandemic was a marked improvement. The number of recorded deaths of homeless people in England and Wales, for example, fell from 778 in 2019 to 688 in 2020 (though experts warned that this could be an underestimate). But the people at the sharp, sometimes brutal end of Britain’s housing crisis need more than a temporary bed – and some redistribution of the benefits accrued from rising property values must be part of any meaningful “levelling up”. In the meantime, and during the winter, the voluntary sector has a strong record in supporting homeless people and needs public support.

[XFool]

Maybe I should have added that I’m happy for my kids to hear bigoted views and also views that are different to mine. The important thing is that in the essence of balance the opposite view should also be offered. I think resources that schools use should be politically neutral or balanced out with an alternative view.

I expect this was an English comprehension test, not one from a Civics course or whatever. If you expect political "balance" in every school subject I can only say "Good Luck" with that!

Intelligent Design vs Evolution - in Biology?
Young Earth vs Geology - in Science & Geography(?)
Earth centre of world vs Universe, Big Bang and geocentric solar system - in Physics and Science?
Battle of Agincourt vs How the French see it - in History?
Global Warming - Don't get me started!

Have you considered home schooling?

[XFool]

I have to say this thread is starting to remind me of Conservapedia (always worth a chuckle!)

Originally I came across this via it's Relativity (Einstein) page - cannot begin to remember how, now.

It was a hoot! The guy who started Conservapedia, Andrew Schlafly, is a real home schooling, right-wing nut with absolutist views. So "Relativity" was all a Socialist plot to undermine upright, right-thinking, Christian values (seriously). It was surely one of the funniest things on the Internet.

That entry has since been considerably modified - to keep it substantially within the bounds of physical science - and is sadly no longer so hilarious. Though still a bit iffy round the edges.

But generally Conservapedia still offers loads of scope for hilarity. Well worth a visit.

https://www.conservapedia.com/Conservapedia/Main_Page (More character issues? In Edge. Plus, don't expect a ready response)

[Urbandreamer]

I recognize that this was English homework, but I'm surprised that after a day nobody has seen fit to mention

"1066 and all that".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1066_and_All_That
Lampooning the way history was taught.

Or the song "New Math".
https://www.lyricsfreak.com/t/tom+lehre ... 38395.html
A lovely song from the days when primary school children were taught to subtract in Octal.

[bungeejumper]

I honestly cannot remember now, it just is too long ago, but surely I/we were asked questions in English comprehension such as: "Does the writer believe... claim... say...? " etc.

Certainly. Back in the seventies, when I was teaching, they'd get comprehension questions like: "Michael says he's standing right behind Boris and is ready to back him to the hilt, but what do you think he's actually thinking?"

There's nothing particularly leftie about asking teenagers to think for themselves, or to read their way through a problematic viewpoint so as to perceive the underlying reality, which they might or might not agree with. It's preparing them for independent thought, which might protect them in later life from the deliberate myths and untruths of social media. In fact, if the righties could only manage the same thing half as well, we might not have fallen into such a mess in the first place.

BJ

[XFool]

I recognize that this was English homework, but I'm surprised that after a day nobody has seen fit to mention

Or the song "New Math".
https://www.lyricsfreak.com/t/tom+lehre ... 38395.html
A lovely song from the days when primary school children were taught to subtract in Octal.

And why not? Do 'em a power of good!

I remember when I had to do things like divide £11 - 9s - 3d by seven, using 'long division'. (Actually, quite easy when I tried it a few years ago)

[1nvest]

Ah! But did your boy catch that the Guardian is actually a comic, with the pretence of being a newspaper?

[Urbandreamer]

Ah! But did your boy catch that the Guardian is actually a comic, with the pretence of being a newspaper?

Actually, what ran through my mind was picking a newspaper famous for managing to misspell it's own name for English homework.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/ ... d-mistakes

Then again, it was comprehension being tested. Typos and spelling mistakes are things we need to cope with to comprehend what is written.

[dealtn]

I honestly cannot remember now, it just is too long ago, but surely I/we were asked questions in English comprehension such as: "Does the writer believe... claim... say...? " etc.

Certainly. Back in the seventies, when I was teaching, they'd get comprehension questions like: "Michael says he's standing right behind Boris and is ready to back him to the hilt, but what do you think he's actually thinking?"

There's nothing particularly leftie about asking teenagers to think for themselves, or to read their way through a problematic viewpoint so as to perceive the underlying reality, which they might or might not agree with. It's preparing them for independent thought, which might protect them in later life from the deliberate myths and untruths of social media. In fact, if the righties could only manage the same thing half as well, we might not have fallen into such a mess in the first place.

BJ

There's nothing from the right against independent thought either. What is it that "righties" are failing to do the left are twice as good at?