That news story is freaking insane. Her poor family :(

Unfortunately, that would perpetuate the whole "rape victims being silenced" thing. This girl went through a horrible thing. She should be able to talk about it freely, much the way someone talks about a mugging or a car accident.

Yeah, that totally tripped me up too. But remember being young and not knowing about relationship compatibility?

I know. Bitches be shopping right?

Oh dear god. At least do a better job of trolling.

Funny enough, I expect people to be able to read three paragraphs.

"No. We have the internet. There's no reason that they shouldn't be informed about apartheid (something I learned about in the third grade, btw) at 18 years old. That just really demonstrates a lack of emotional and intellectual depth. Also, a lack of curiosity or thirst for knowledge. Some people are just plain…

So, when Mandela was released I was five. Sorry, I was not old enough to process how historically significant it was? Also, World War II resulted in the deaths of millions of people, and involved every country, dramatically changing our political atmosphere forever.

One of the least known Harry Potter spells.

Well, I was wondering. It didn't seem like it, because usually those people aren't very well informed, and you seem to be. But at the same time...how do we create a list of 'what should be taught' without saying 'you must teach this', and who gets to say what is on that list?

The politics of what should and shouldn't be covered is hobbling teachers. They can't teach everything you want them to. There isn't enough time. I've taken countless classes on global history and politics and I still learn new things that others thing are "essential basics" every day. There's just a lot of history.…

The connection was tenuous for me, and apparently for the tons of people on this thread saying

And that's well worth discussing . But because other books were never in the curriculum there are actually tons of topics that no one in the class knew about. Such is the burden of curriculums.

That I absolutely agree with. I just objected to the way it was worded. And I agree, it's a shame they missed out on that educational experience because of 'period sex'. Like, what the hell.

I guess I feel like highlighting an absence of knowledge surrounding one term as a litmus test for whether or not a curriculum has substance is a foreign concept to me. Is it awful? There's a lot to learn if you know nothing about history. Genocides, revolutions, colonizations, uprisings, countries forming and then…

It's a shame that not everything can be covered in depth for sure. But that's not really anyone's fault. No one expects you to know everything out of high school, or at least they shouldn't.

If she wanted to stay ignorant, she wouldn't have asked.

And then we get into issues of what has to be covered and what doesn't.

I agree with absolutely all of this, except for this:

Textbooks get larger every year. Seriously, I went to school in the 90's, and when I taught in the early 2000's the text books were much larger. (A lot of it is study aids and what not). And yes, they're still hard cover.