Not currently teaching in a “US hole.” I’ve been teaching in South America for 5 years and I have never noticed an analog clock in a public place here.

I’m from the US, but I’m currently a teacher in South America. Kids here are even worse at reading analog clocks than my students in the US were.

Teacher here.

I’m pretty certain that the only place where my students ever encounter an analog clock is at school. But teaching how to read analog clocks is required in our math education standards, so I have one and I use it, even though I think there are other, more relevant places to put our academic focus.

I’m 45 years old. I’m pretty sure we only ever had one analog clock in our house when I was growing up in the '80s, and that was my grandpa’s alarm clock. The only places I’ve been where only analog clocks were available have been schools. Even our local bank in my small town changed to a digital clock on its sign outside.

Unfortunately, education systems are dictated by legislators, who are often old and out-of-touch. So I doubt we’ll see a change in the education requirements any time soon. But, just like how keyboarding has replaced cursive in classrooms, it will eventually come.

My uncle was a factory worker and a daily regular at his favorite local bar for more than 30 years.

My mom wouldn’t allow me to go inside the bar (because drinking alcohol is a sin, you know). But in the '80s and '90s, before cell phones, I knew exactly where to find him after school if I needed anything.

Unfortunately, 30+ years of excessive drinking caused a lot of really serious health problems that caught up to him when he was in his 50s. The owners and staff sent a huge flower arrangement and all came to his funeral.

Sometimes it’s “being edgy just for the sake of it isn’t cool. Don’t be an idiot; people fought wars over this.” Students generally respect him, so once they realize he doesn’t play that game, they stop doing it in his classes.

If it’s a specific kind of bigotry, he points out that someone important to him is black/gay/trans/an immigrant/etc, and asks the kid if they’ve even met someone in that group. Most of the time the kid hasn’t and they’re just parroting things they’ve heard at home or online.

I also always access .world through my VPN.

I’m still here at .world because every time I think I’ve identified a better instance to go to where people seem to like it, I see someone else who recommends blocking it.

I definitely see the appeal of (and need for) blocking individuals, but I think that instances are too big and varied to neatly paint everyone with the same brush.

My husband is a high school teacher. He’s had more than a decade of students saying Nazi shit in an attempt to be “edgy.” They seem surprised when he calls them out on their bullshit. His response has made a few (probably too few) of them think twice about how people perceive them because of their words.

Last year was the first time he had a student who spouted that crap because he actually believed it. I think he has a couple of students now who actively identify as fascists. Times, they are a-changin’.

This is the most reasonable course of action. Some things can’t be unseen.

This is fair.

It’s exhausting to try to have a conversation with someone who isn’t engaging in good faith.

It’s perfectly understandable if you don’t want to spend your time and energy in that way. And (as I argued at length here) it isn’t your responsibility.

I call bullshit on this. Education does not, in fact, “go both ways.”

Generally, in western society, we accept the idea that adults should be responsible for themselves, with exceptions for those who are physically or mentally unable to do so. We value principles of autonomy and personal responsibility, so we’re generally expected to do the work of educating ourselves (or paying someone for their help) in adulthood.

When a person has a child, they make a choice to be a parent and to take on the responsibility to raise that child. Of course, we know that not everyone follows through on that responsibility.

That person’s child has not been given any choice. They should not be required to take responsibility for their parent(s) just because of the accident of their birth. Many children choose to care for their parents in their old age for various reasons, usually for love or money.

As a society, we agree that we owe protection, education, and the fulfillment of needs to our children … because we choose to bring those children into the world and because we need them to perpetuate the social order we rely on.

Those children do not, when they become adults, automatically owe the same things back to the full-grown adults who raised them. Generally, we expect them to provide stability for their elders by contributing to the social and economic order, mostly by paying taxes and keeping infrastructure functional.

Parents are able to control aspects of their children’s lives in order to raise them in what they deem to be appropriate ways. Children don’t get “a turn” to control all of the same aspects of their parents’ lives. My mother kept me from playing video games and watching MTV as a teen because she thought it would “rot your brain.” But as much as I’d love to, I can’t keep her from watching Fox (or NewsMax, or OAN, or TBN, or whatever she’s on this week).

Some people might choose to try to reverse the effects of 20+ years of a 24-hour propaganda machine brainwashing their parents out of love or a sense of familial duty, or whatever. And that’s admirable.

But I absolutely reject the idea that it’s somehow “my turn” to “educate” 20+ years of Fox News programming out of my aging conservative parents.

If MAGA is going to insist that late-night comedy hosts be 100% factually accurate, then I think the least the next Democratic government should do is require partisan propaganda to be labeled as such.

This goes for both sides. MSNBC, NewsMax, HuffPost, Fox News, all need disclaimers for opinion and partisan content.

Mine, too! (Also Korean and Lebanese.) What an excellent range of options.

I would miss Mexican food, but I’d make do.

I remember having to steal magic spells from enemies. It really turned me off from the game.

I was glad to see FFIX go back to a more traditional system.

I have to assume that any witch selling curses on Etsy doesn’t believe in the Rule of Three.

I wonder how many really identify as witches and actually cast the spells people pay them for.

You’ll have to add a couple of instances of “dang ol’” on your own to make that work.

This. Times 1000.

Kids aren’t born with internet-connected devices in their hands. Adults give devices to them and then walk out of the room.

Would you let the average internet poster or YouTuber babysit your kid? Because that’s literally what you’re doing.

I grew up in the '80s and '90s. My mom did her best to pay attention to the shows/movies I was watching, the books I was reading, the music I was listening to. And up until I was about 13, it was all very tightly controlled. It’s still possible to have that kind of oversight, but it’s more work than a lot of parents are willing to do.

I live outside the US now, and most of my elementary-school students have parents who very tightly control their screen time and actively monitor their usage. The kids have sports training, dance classes, and other activities that get them out in the world. It’s very, very different from the kids I used to teach in the US.

Donald Trump: I’ve never heard of Project 2025. I don’t know what it is. I’m not a part of it.

Also Donald Trump: Appoints Project 2025 authors to high positions in his administration, signs a ton of Project 2025 policies as EOs on Day 1.

That was my first thought as well.

That was my immediate thought.

(Anyone reading this who doesn’t understand, please trust me when I say that you don’t want to. You can’t unsee that, even 25+ years later.)