Teacher Appears to Lament Virtual Learning Allows Parents to Hear What’s Actually Being Taught in Schools

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Matthew R. Kay, “educator” and author of Not Light, But Fire: How to Lead Meaningful Race Conversations in the Classroom, tweeted that virtual learning, because of Covid19, might lead parents to hear what is being taught to their children in the classroom.

Kay implies that is something educators need to be concerned with.

“So, this fall, virtual class discussions will have many potential spectators — parents, siblings, etc. — in the same room. We’ll never be quite sure who is overhearing the discourse. What does this do for our equity/inclusion work?” he asks.

“How much have students depended on the (somewhat) secure barriers of our physical classrooms to encourage vulnerability? How many of us have installed some version of ‘what happens here stays here’ to help this?” he continues.

“While conversations about race are in my wheelhouse, and remain a concern in this no-walls environment — I am most intrigued by the damage that ‘helicopter/snowplow’ parents can do in honest conversations about gender/sexuality,” he concludes.

Kay subsequently “hid” his comments, but not before one user took a screen grab. That allowed many others to point out that educators should not be teaching children anything that would make them apprehensive about being overheard by their parents or anyone else.

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