It would seem to me the "I Promise" program is a giant virtue signal with nothing to do with actual reality.

I've recently gravitated to watching a few YouTube videos where an interviewer goes to various high-priced prestigious American colleges and asks students on campus simple questions such as, "If you were born 13 years ago, how old would you be today?"; "How much is 9+9+9?"; "What country is Mount Rushmore in?"; "How many States in the United States?"; "Who fought in the Mexican-American War?"; "How many world wars have there been?"; "Who did America fight in WWII?"; "Where is Pearl Harbor?"; "In what country is the Panama Canal?" and a bunch of other simple questions the students had NO CLUE on how to answer or the answers were totally wrong. Scary and comical at the same time.

Not only are the minds of these kids empty, but they have no idea how to think or figure things out. I'm left with the question: How did these idiots get into any college?

...but.. I bet all of them could name all the Kardashians... and know who the rap performer is on the radio at the time... you know.. all the stuff that's REALLY important...

While I do think that schools have been corrupted and need to have political bias
eradicated and replaced by rational teaching of basic subject matter and rational
thinking, I also suspect that the problem in some cases could be a lack of ability
by students. In the first 3/4 of the 20th century, most public school students were
able to absorb enough basic knowledge to survive and be productive in the
employment marketplace. It appears that is no longer true.

All schools, pre-k through university, should be;
privately owned,
non-government regulated,
non-government funded, and
non-unionized.

Then maybe children would be taught to read, write, do arithmetic, and how to think.

That LeBron found out the hard way his family wasn’t on the saline list still puts a contented smile on my face. The same clowns who wouldn’t shut up about vax status and inquired about other people’s now get pissed off whenever a “medical complication” happens to them and THEY are asked their Vax status. Maybe I’m just that bad of a misanthrope now but….let the consequences ensue. I guess I’m losing my humanity. I feel bad about not feeling bad. It’s kind of like the abortion issue. I absolutely do not believe it is moral to kill your offspring. But I’m also sick of arguing with idiots that want to self delete from the gene pool. Because these are the same idiots that voted to bring tyranny to my doorstep. And a host of other issues that make it attractive to not have their particular bloodlines continue.

Pretty damned sad and disgusting. Ohio folk are not enthralled with LeBron unless they are mind-blanked Cavaliers fans. Unfortunately there are too many like him, and too many mindless, adoring idiots.

“Laissez-faire” dictates hands off from Gov support or control.

Malcolm Gladwell, in Outliers, points out that kids who continue to do Math, Reading, etc. during summer break EXCEL over their peers. In fact, the top schools REQUIRE this. And the better off students get put into Educational Summer Camps, versus "childcare" camps.

Because of that, I introduced the concept of making our daughter EARN her access to the computer, and her parents giving her rides places.

She had to do 5 minutes of touch typing, before she could use the computer. (it increased as she got older. She was 60wpm in 5th grade, eventually hitting 80wpm before 6th grade, so she could STOP practicing... LOL. She's 60wpm on her iphone. Which blows my mind!)

Also, she had to do ~15 minutes worth of math, daily. (Sat/Sun included). And she had to read 2-3 chapters/day.

We started this before Kindergarten (without the math), but clearly the typing (and the password to the PC was always one of 3 phone numbers! So she was forced to learn them in case she was ever separated from us).

Parents... You have no idea how much your children can learn.

I also went further and monitored her homework, and everything she was supposed to read (until University, when she knew what to share, LOL. She showed me USA Textbooks declaring Capitalism as a system of exploitation of others... She ran in and said "Wasn't that the Russian Definition?" YEPPERS!).

Also, one more piece of advice. You should read 2 LONG chapter books, starting at different times. And practice alternating the reading. You read them together, taking turns reading aloud. The communicates that reading is important. That long books, can take time. And it develops their reading/comprehension by making them keep track of those stories over weeks, and keep them separate...

God gave you a child... Your job is to raise a functional young adult that (Jordan Peterson says) both Adults and Children enjoy engaging with!

If you do that... Everything else falls in place.
Oh, we didn't let her watch anything with Commercials growing up! By the time she saw commercials, she quickly learned they were Hype/Lies!!!)

As a high school teacher I find this amusing. Liberals given free reign and unlimited money and getting the exact results that we predicted.
FREAKING LOVE IT!!!

When it comes to public policy, sports stars, movie makers, actors and singers need to keep their faces shut.
Just sticking to what they do best won't be turning off half the people who used to admire what they do.
There's a number of those yahoos I refuse to watch or listen to. Or why me dino refuses to watch the Oscars, the Emmys, etc.