There’s a place for civics exercises, although not at the expense of reading, writing, and arithmetic. We don’t know from this if the letter that Mr. Sowell got was from a program that was abusing school time.
They don't have civics classes in the fifth grade do they? It was centuries ago but the first class I had of that nature was ninth grade social studies.
Yes we do. A 5th grader is first being taught that famous people have the answers. Second, any kind of real response to her question from Sowell would be beyond her independent ability to evaluate.
The letter doesn't appear long enough or complex enough to be a writing exercise for 5th graders, nor, would there be much value in summarizing a response that she didn't understand. Perhaps the students will "share with the class" what their response was, a response that the other kids wouldn't understand either.
Nope, can't find anything redeeming here.
“There’s a place for civics exercises, although not at the expense of reading, writing, and arithmetic. We don’t know from this if the letter that Mr. Sowell got was from a program that was abusing school time.”
If you look at the test scores of American children in public schools, and compare them to almost any other developed country, it is clear that time is being wasted with frivolous
assignments.