Post 2618989 by pbandkate@knzk.me
(DIR) More posts by pbandkate@knzk.me
(DIR) Post #2614538 by pbandkate@knzk.me
2019-01-03T23:06:47Z
1 likes, 2 repeats
so the idea that adults and minors can’t interact in safe, healthy, and mutually beneficial ways is toxic for a bunch of reasons. for the sake of this post, I’ll focus on the idea that adult men can’t be friends with children because there’s a very clear and dangerous impact of that stance and it’s surrounding ideology: education.
(DIR) Post #2614539 by pbandkate@knzk.me
2019-01-03T23:07:02Z
0 likes, 2 repeats
@pbandkate the idea that adult men “can’t be trusted” around children is a *significant* factor in why early childhood education is “pink collar.” this is bad for a bunch of reasons. 1. it depresses wages (I don’t think I need to explain this to anyone here) 2. It contributes to the achievement gap, which becomes even more apparent when you include race in your analysis.
(DIR) Post #2614615 by leon@knzk.me
2019-01-03T23:10:58Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@pbandkate this is a genuine question probably out of my own ignorance, but are adult men really that distrusted around children or is it all just weird projection on their part? I love kids and I'm around kids many days of the week to play with Pokémon cards and I just... don't get this reaction at all.
(DIR) Post #2614616 by pbandkate@knzk.me
2019-01-03T23:12:55Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@leon yeah so i think at this point it probably falls more under the category of subconscious bias than anything else, and that men are like, told it’s “weird,” so they self select out of that field, though I’m sure there are some people who actually have that take
(DIR) Post #2614617 by Jewbacchus@octodon.social
2019-01-03T23:16:25Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@pbandkate @leon It's pretty bad - most male teachers I know have been at one point or another called creepy/predatory by a parent. When I was a babysitter taking kids to the park was a minefield, esp since the kids weren't mine. I learned not to ever take my phone out bc it was a good chance for confrontation.
(DIR) Post #2614618 by Jewbacchus@octodon.social
2019-01-03T23:18:53Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@pbandkate @leon I got a lot of my babysitting gigs from single mothers who wanted their kids to have an adult male role model bc the kids had two moms or a shitty dad, it was almost never a problem getting the job and tbh it wasn't that often a parent at the playground bc they knew me/the kids p. quickly.
(DIR) Post #2614619 by Jewbacchus@octodon.social
2019-01-03T23:23:03Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@pbandkate @leon tbh the most fucked up part of this general topic is that all teachers, but men esp, have no leniency here, can't hug kids when they're crying or model healthy/safe physical contact anymore. I get why. It's prob. safer this way. But sometimes a kid needs a hug and it hurts having to tell a kid "you can't hug me sorry but I'm here for you"
(DIR) Post #2614620 by Los_Ingobernables_De_Jorts@jorts.horse
2019-01-03T23:27:35Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@Jewbacchus @pbandkate @leon there's also the fact that the idea men can't interact with kids was purposefully created by news media and TV to instill fear of pedophilia/kidnapping or w/e to divide communities and stoke racial tensionsnot saying that shit never happens but the idea that it's standard for men is like :/
(DIR) Post #2618910 by pbandkate@knzk.me
2019-01-03T23:07:30Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
There is a tiny tiny tiny portion of early childhood educators who are black men, and this is a PROBLEM — students benefit when they see themselves in their teachers, to the point that if a black student has even one teacher that looks like them before them by 5th grade, their chance to graduate goes up by fifty fucking percent.
(DIR) Post #2618915 by pbandkate@knzk.me
2019-01-03T23:07:46Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@pbandkate Obviously this is a lot more complex than just “adults can’t be friends with minors” and involves a whole bunch of other social happenings, but I wanted to talk about this example to show why that idea can lead to real and actual harm in the real world. This is just one of many many examples.
(DIR) Post #2618953 by somarasu@cybre.space
2019-01-03T23:27:49Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@pbandkate Seriously droppin' 💎s The amount of power that old ass white women had over my ass until i was like 18 is pretty scary in retrospect.
(DIR) Post #2618954 by pbandkate@knzk.me
2019-01-03T23:31:52Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@somarasu it’s really bad!! and like, oh man one day ill do a thread about the over disciplining of students of color cuz there are very few things that make me as angry as that
(DIR) Post #2618989 by pbandkate@knzk.me
2019-01-03T23:26:57Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@Jewbacchus @leon yeah like, ho boy i have a whole other rant about the abysmal lack of importance placed on supporting teachers help students through social and emotional development in terms of teacher training and funding (ie there barely is any and teacher are left to play social worker for their students with zero support)
(DIR) Post #2618994 by Jewbacchus@octodon.social
2019-01-03T23:28:33Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@pbandkate @leon there's this swirling vortex of amazing things teachers could be achieving given support and training but in the end we're still fighting for like, bare minimum necessities for any of it, like classrooms less than 20 kids. Few adults can do anything meaningful for 25-30 kids at a time.