News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on US HS students lose ground in math and reading, continuing yearslong decline. Parent comment

Re:US HS students lose ground in math and reading, continuin... by zamadatix on Wednesday September 10, 2025 @12:35PM (#45200181)
Those parents genuinely believe the presence of certain books in school is harming children, they are unlikely to throw in the towel because someone runs a shame campaign against them for it.

That doesn't make the school caving on the topic any more forgivable, but we can't trivialize how difficult small but dedicated groups in a local community can make things either. The community typically only shows up to worry about it after a bad decision is imminent, the small group shows up 24/7/365 pushing the issue.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:US HS students lose ground in math and reading, continuin... by JumpCrisscross on Wednesday September 10, 2025 @12:36PM (#45200206)
> Those parents genuinely believe the presence of certain books in school is harming children, they aren't looking for community support

I'm not saying their feelings aren't sincerely held. My point is they need community support to ban books in a public school.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:US HS students lose ground in math and reading, continuin... by zamadatix on Wednesday September 10, 2025 @12:40PM (#45200277)
They just need the school board to cave to the constant annoyance. The community only shows up when the bad decision is imminent (or, often, has already passed) because they cannot treat this issue as their only #1 priority, as a small group can.

What the school board did here is sneak out of the battle, which would continue long after community says "no" once.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:US HS students lose ground in math and reading, continuin... by JumpCrisscross on Wednesday September 10, 2025 @12:43PM (#45200328)
> community only shows up when the bad decision is imminent

That's where naming and shaming comes in. In a small community, there is a long-term cost to trying to game inattention.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:US HS students lose ground in math and reading, continuin... by zamadatix on Wednesday September 10, 2025 @12:45PM (#45200360)
I dunno I agree, it's at least not been my experience with these types of parents over 10 years in my local meetings. Again - if you genuinely think children are being harmed in your community you're unlikely to care Jim from down the road doesn't let you borrow his tractor anymore (or whatever).

Maybe it's not something that can be said for every community, but the same point would apply here in reverse.

[ Parent | on HN ]