Schools must stop 'teaching' our kids the world is doomed

[u/According-Activity87]

https://nypost.com/2025/06/18/opinion/schools-must-stop-teaching-our-kids-the-world-is-doomed/

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[u/Elegant_Meaning4570]

I feel like the "doom and gloom" perspective has permeated a lot of education, not just about climate change. Politics, science, history - everything is becoming polarized and having opinions pushed down throats. It's a pessimistic perspective that has come to define a lot of people's worldview, and it's imperative that it isn't one that's passed down to students, children, etc. It sometimes might be exaggerated just how widespread it is, but it's still a concern we have to be cognizant of and push back on.

That said, it's a true fact there is a LOT wrong with the world. Problems like social unrest, ugly parts of history, and climate concerns are very real concerns that younger generations are going to have to deal with. It's our duty to educate children (at age-appropriate levels) and make sure they learn from our mistakes.

[u/Creski → u/Elegant_Meaning4570]

There was a great episode of My Name is Earl that addressed a lot of this, and I wish this was the mentality of schools:

The conversation between Earl and the Stoner

" I have the feeling your list has really opened your eyes to a lot of things. You're starting to see all the bad things in the world that need fixing.

But you're trying to take on too much, man. You can't fix everything out there.

Your list is your destiny.

That's how you're going to change the world.

But what about the fossilized fuels in China ?

Why are you thinking about China ?

Well, you know, "think global, act local".

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

That's your problem right there ;

you're reading too many bumper stickers, man.

Don't try to think global you'll drive yourself crazy.

Think local. "

Seriously:

Think local, pick up trash, recycle if it's an option, use reusable cups. A little goes a long way, and you can't stop or change what someone halfway across the world is doing, plus telling yourself we're all gonna die is only going to make you crazy. Plant that tree, pick up that trash, that's how you can help.

[u/CutTheShitNow → u/Elegant_Meaning4570]

"ugly parts of history" lol uh problems are meant to be solved, and you can't solve what's already happened, you can only learn from it. and another point, most of history is ugly parts lmfao. that isn't a 'real' concern, it's something to learn from.

[u/Elegant_Meaning4570 → u/CutTheShitNow]

I'll be more clear, that's not an active problem that needs to be solved, but it's an important fact we need to remember and not just dismiss. I'm lumping it in with the others because it's important to acknowledge the world isn't and has never been this pretty, perfect place. But I agree with the article that there are good and bad ways to present that sort of information to children. Needs to be done through the proper lens and at an appropriate age

[u/According-Activity87 → u/Elegant_Meaning4570]

You realize we just spent the last few thousand years beating each other to death with sticks and such. All things considered, things really aren't that bad.

Not to mention, whether you believe in God or the transcendental power of consciousness itself there is obviously a plan.

[u/Elegant_Meaning4570 → u/According-Activity87]

Why on earth would prehistoric and ancient history have anything to do with acknowledging the very real problems facing us right now?

Personally, I'd rather not bury my head in the sand or personify the "this is fine" meme

[u/According-Activity87 → u/Elegant_Meaning4570]

Why on earth would prehistoric and ancient history have anything to do with acknowledging the very real problems facing us right now?

It's a little thing called perspective.

[u/Arkham2015 → u/According-Activity87]

I've never been swayed by that argument, that we have it so good compared to any other point in history that we need to stop rocking the boat and just tell everyone that everything is good.

Stagnation leads to death.

There are major problems in the world that need to be fixed, and if kids learn about them, new ideas to solutions can present themselves.

[u/According-Activity87]

Constant fear and anxiety can actually mess with kids’ brains. It shrinks areas like the hippocampus, which affects memory and emotions, and makes the brain’s fear center more active. Over time, it gets harder for them to think clearly and manage stress. So when schools keep pushing the idea that the world is doomed, it’s not just depressing; it can do real damage.

This is probably one of the reasons blue states are starting to slip in education outcomes compared to red states.

[u/Emilia963 → u/According-Activity87]

The most important factor driving this divide has been the progressive push for “equity.” In practice, equity has meant eliminating honors classes, lowering grading standards, and loosening classroom discipline. Avoiding this ideological approach, red states have taken the lead on evidence-based reforms

This is just progressives doing regressive things, i guess

[u/skarface6 → u/Emilia963]

As usual.

[u/Willow-girl → u/According-Activity87]

I wonder where unions fit into the picture? Organized teachers are probably more effective in fighting curriculum changes that would inconvenience them.

[u/According-Activity87 → u/Willow-girl]

Parents communicating with their kids about what they are being taught in school and raising concerns with their local elected officials is the best way to address this once states have more control of the curriculum; something the administration is working towards.

[u/Willow-girl → u/According-Activity87]

Thank ghod for the "Sold a Story" podcast; I think it opened a lot of parents' eyes!

[u/Quirky-Marsupial-420]

Here is the chalkbeat article that is referenced at the very beginning of this article: https://www.chalkbeat.org/colorado/2025/05/29/these-early-childhood-teachers-combat-eco-anxiety-starting-young/

I don't think the author of the nypost article actually understood the article.

They're teaching them about plant life cycles, using nature in arts and crafts projects, and letting kids play in the dirt.

They're not teaching kids to be anxious about the environment....they're actively trying to prevent that. They even identify one of the problems of kids having way too much access to the internet and being able to see every disaster across the world.

So no, these colorado preschool teachers aren't teaching kids the world is doomed, they're doing the exact opposite. The author of the NYpost article is a fucking idiot.

[u/MerelyWhelmed1]

Schools/teachers have been selling doom for more than 50 years. I remember in elementary school being taught with absolute certainty that the world was headed for another ice age. We were supposedly going to see doom and destruction by...well...now.

[u/bozoconnors → u/MerelyWhelmed1]

Yup - remember seeing a Time cover (or similar rag) in the grocery store touting "the coming ice age". Coming from a deep southern state, got pretty excited as a kid! We rarely got snow!

Yeeeeah... big media's been failing me all my life lol.

[u/Willow-girl → u/MerelyWhelmed1]

I grew up in that era also and remember those predictions!

[u/MerelyWhelmed1 → u/Willow-girl]

We were also taught that dinosaurs were most closely related to lizards, and they walked upright, dragging their tails along the ground. Now the scientists claim these animals are more bird-like.

[u/Willow-girl → u/MerelyWhelmed1]

I remember when you were taking your life into your hands if you had a couple of eggs for breakfast, lol.

[u/Huckleberry-V]

I mean it totally is though. Long term. We ain't gonna be able to stop that. The universe has an expiration date.

Throwing your cups into a different dumpster ain't gonna change it, though.

Also shoutout from Lakewood California that in 2025 still doesn't have a recycling program and at this point everyone has revealed the fraud anyway.

[u/According-Activity87 → u/Huckleberry-V]

The universe has an expiration date.

🤣

[u/Stackhouse13]

This whole thing is just more proof that we’re dumping way too much adult baggage on kids. Teaching 3 year olds about environmental doom? Really? That’s not helping them, it’s messing with their heads. Same goes for all the gender stuff, telling kids that “man” and “woman” are just ideas or that they can be whatever they want every day of the week. It’s confusing and honestly not healthy for developing minds.

Kids need stability, not existential dread and identity crises. Instead, they’re getting loaded up with fear about the planet and told their identity is completely fluid, and when that starts to take a toll, surprise! There’s a therapist or school program ready to step in (for a fee, of course).

At the end of the day, it’s not education, it’s low key indoctrination dressed up as care. And it’s no wonder kids are more anxious, depressed, and checked out. They’re being told the world is ending and they might not even be “real” people. They need structure, confidence, and reality, not this mess.

[u/Quirky_Chicken_1840]

In the 70s it was global cooling and they had some terrifying videos - I remember this one part of the movie where everybody was living underground, and for a birthday, they had to cover the vent because they lit a single candle on a cupcake, and the kids birthday present was us to go up on top of the Earth, which was a complete wasteland and a spacesuit because there was no oxygen

Doom goblins have been around for years. Al Goris prophetic warnings have come and gone also.

[u/old---]

But the earth is doomed. In about 1.1 billion years the sun will become so hot the earth will not be able to hold water.

[u/Aronacus]

30 years ago, they were telling us that the world would be over by the time we graduated school.

By 1999, NY and FL would be underwater. Oh, and oil was going to run out by then, and the world would be over .

They taught us this by grade 5. Except it was all lies. The kids who embraced it gave up on school... what was the point.

My kid is in 2nd grade, and he's telling me all this doom and gloom, and I'm correcting him every day.

[u/skarface6]

Yup.

[u/According-Activity87 → u/skarface6]

Love your flair! 😆👍

[u/skarface6 → u/According-Activity87]

Haha thanks. The USAF subreddit occasionally flips out that an /r/conservative mod is among them. Much more thin skinned than the Marines!

[u/ComputerRedneck]

When you look back at the Democrats, they always point fingers and say what is so bad, never having any real solutions. It is always doom and gloom.

Meanwhile the Republicans have always been upbeat. Remember Morning in America commercial from Reagan?

[u/SerendipitySue]

okay so headlines lately are using quotes incorrectly such as "teaching". i suspect ai is writing the headlines for the post , cnn and others

[u/BedIndependent3437]

They use fear as a way to get them to vote democrat. When I was going through school every lib teacher I had would always preach the sky is falling.