Some Montgomery high schools will offer Holocaust studies as a semester-long elective course, following a school board vote earlier this month.
By Nicole AsburyNovember 18, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EST Washington Post
Amid calls for Montgomery County Public Schools to educate its students more on the Holocaust, some high schools in the district will offer an elective course next year on the history surrounding the World War II murder by Nazi Germany and its collaborators of about 6 million Jews.V
The semester-long course will give students an “in-depth historical analysis of the Holocaust and the events and ideas which led to the Holocaust and the aftermath of the Holocaust,” according to a summary given to the Montgomery school board. It was one of several elective courses unanimously approved by the board earlier in November.
The decision comes after the school system — Maryland’s largest with over 160,000 students — saw several antisemitic incidents in recent years, ranging from students drawing swastikas on classroom desks and in bathrooms to a person spray painting “Jews Not Welcome” across Walt Whitman High School’s entrance sign.
In the aftermath, several Jewish students called on the district to expand its teachings on the Holocaust, and also joined efforts with state lawmakers to advocate for a bill that would have mandated “antihate and Holocaust education.” Proponents say such instruction could curtail the rise of antisemitism in schools, which they say has escalated since the start of the Israel-Gaza war. Students have also reported a rise in Islamophobic and anti-Arab incidents.
The state bill didn’t pass in the most recent legislative session. Currently, Maryland’s social studies framework — which guides school systems on what to teach — explicitly mentions the Holocaust as a topic for discussion in grades 6-7 and in U.S. history courses. It also guides high school world history teachers to provide instruction over the role nationalism played in the development of Germany during the 18th and 19th centuries.
Montgomery County Public Schools has previously said it teaches students about the Holocaust in U.S. history and world history classes. But some educators say they have noticed high school students don’t have a strong academic understanding of what happened during that time.
“I think as we get further and further away in terms of knowing people who have survived the Holocaust, there’s a lot more myth and misconceptions,” said Christopher Murray, a social studies teacher at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School who proposed the elective and plans to teach it next school year. “A lot of students fill in and hear things or piece together what they think the Holocaust was.”
Murray said he believes some students don’t understand that the Holocaust “is a piece of a larger concept of antisemitism,” and lack the knowledge of “how certain structures came together and how it unfolded.”
Murray, who has been an educator for about 20 years, said he briefly taught a Holocaust studies elective course at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart, a private all-girls Catholic school in Bethesda about six years ago. At the time, Murray was getting his master’s degree in Holocaust and genocide studies at Gratz College.
He returned to Montgomery County Public Schools to teach at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High, and he proposed the Holocaust studies course in 2022.
His course proposal said students would learn, among other things, how the impacts of antisemitism and propaganda created an environment that led to a human catastrophe and how Jewish people resisted discrimination.
After he pitched it, Murray briefly left the school system to teach in Mexico for two years. But while he was gone, Steve Kachadorian, a social studies teacher at Damascus High School, taught the elective in fall 2023 as a pilot. Kachadorian, who typically teaches AP European History and AP World History, said he wanted to try something new.
Kachadorian said he allowed students’ interests to guide the course rather than following a rigid curriculum. He said the class was interested in learning more about modern antisemitic movements that deny the Holocaust happened and wanted to understand how social media has spread hatred. He said students were also curious about the history of antisemitism in Europe before the rise of Nazi Germany.
He said the course — which is taught for about 90 days — allows students to dig deeper into the Holocaust and its lasting impacts. “When you have this much time, you can talk about how the survivors have dealt with it,” he said. “You can talk about how the Holocaust is reflected in art. You can talk about the rise of antisemitism in Europe.”
Kachadorian tried teaching Holocaust studies again in the spring, but not enough students enrolled.
Courses require a minimum of 15 enrolled students to be placed on the schedule, said Tracy Oliver-Gary, a supervisor for PreK-12 social studies for the Montgomery school system. She said Whitman High School also tried offering the course as a pilot last school year, but similarly struggled with getting enough students to sign up.
Typically, courses are piloted for two years to allow for feedback before receiving final school board approval. The Holocaust studies course has only been taught one year, Oliver-Gary said.
The school board approved a recommendation to make Holocaust studies an active course at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High. It will also be offered at Damascus High and Whitman High. The elective has no costs associated with it, since the teacher creates the curriculum on their own, Oliver-Gary said.
The school board also approved several other electives, including ethnic studies at Poolesville High School; Muslim global experiences at Magruder High School in Rockville; and global climate change at Northwood High School in Rockville and Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda.
By Brian Broome November 11, 2024 at 1:09 p.m. EST Washington Post
Every Sunday, like many Black boys way back when, I was stuffed into a suit, a comb was run through my hair, and I was dragged off to church very much against my will.
It never took. My questions about it were far too numerous, and the inconsistencies within it became too much of a strain when I got old enough to recognize how suffering was doled out by said God. It always seemed to me that some people, by their mere existence, were receiving far more than their fair share. I realized that injustice and cruelty were much more prevalent in the world than were kindness and charity, and by the time I got around to asking myself what kind of loving God would approve all this suffering for only certain people, I was done. I never darkened the door of that church again.S
But my mother soldiered on. Service every Sunday and Bible study on Wednesdays. My mother is a devout Christian. I mean a real one. She believes in feeding the hungry, housing the unhoused and caring for the sick. She was my very first example of faith before I got out into the world and saw with my own eyes how religion seemed to have morphed into a weapon of greed and power. My mother’s faith is strong. It comforts her. And now I wish I had some of it.
When I called her a couple of days after the election from my newly turned red state, she answered the phone in her red state as fresh as a daisy. Didn’t seem stressed at all, even though she, like myself, was hoping for a different outcome. When she heard the exhaustion in my voice, she asked me what was wrong, and I told her about my fears. I told her about my anger. I told her about the woman standing in front of me at the drugstore who bumped fists with the cashier celebrating their victory over me and those like me — and about the hatred toward them I felt bloom in my heart that hadn’t been there before. I told her how there was no justice in the world.
And, before I could go on any longer, she stopped me and told me that all was in God’s hands and that He would make things right.
It has always annoyed me when she says things like this. It feels like a platitude. A nonanswer. A nonsolution. And, for the first time, in my distress, I told her that. And she wasted no time dressing me down.
My mother is a septuagenarian Black woman who grew up in rural Georgia and then moved to Ohio. She has lived in red states (or purple states that turned red) before we even called them their colors. She remembers Strom Thurmond, George Wallace and Richard M. Nixon. She has been screamed at in the face by their minions, who didn’t hide behind anonymity on the internet. She has seen it all, including a thousand Trumps, Vances, Bannons and Stephen Millers, and she believes she survived it all because of God and that everything is going to be all right. There is, she says, nothing new under the sun.
My mother comes from a generation of Black Americans who have seen justice snatched away more times than you’ve had hot dinners. She has heard politicians shout the n-word into microphones in the middle of the town square. And, through it all, Jesus was her rock. I envy her that sense of security now. That ability to get on with things, certain that they will get better. She told me she slept like a baby after Trump was named the winner because she knows, firsthand, that strife in this life is unavoidable.
But even though we’re tired, she said, it’s not okay to sit back and do nothing. Embrace your second wind when it comes (and it will come).
I forget sometimes that some of the worst racism of our past isn’t that far back in the rearview mirror. Many of the people who endured so much of its naked ugliness are still here to tell the tale. My mother’s way is hard for me. Faith in God feels so passive. Although I don’t share her faith, I do believe in her.
So, if you’re a Black American, or riddled with anxiety right about now, maybe you should talk to your mother. Or your grandmother, if you’re lucky enough to still have one. Perhaps they can shed some perspective on what you’re going through right now. Or, at least, offer a little hope.
How does faith inform your politics? Does your belief system affect or dictate how you vote? Do you look to your faith leaders for guidance in how to cast your ballot? Or do you believe religion and politics should be kept separate? Share your thoughts with us.
Every two years, AmeriCorps partners with the U.S. Census Bureau to conduct the Current Population Survey Civic Engagement and Volunteering Supplement, the most robust survey about civic engagement across the country and over time. The most recent survey shows the civic participation of Americans aged 16 and up between September 2022 and 2023.
The data informs AmeriCorps’ Volunteering and Civic Life in America research, a comprehensive look at how people make a difference in their communities and promote the common good. The latest research examines trends in formal volunteering (including virtual volunteering for the first time), informal helping, and other civic behaviors at the national level, within each state, and in the largest twelve metro areas. The research supports evidence-based decision making and efforts to understand how people make a difference in communities nationwide.
Formal Volunteering and Informal Helping
According to the latest data, the share of Americans who volunteer through an organization is rebounding. The national formal volunteering rate increased by five percentage points between 2021 and 2023.
Formal Volunteering
Formal volunteering involves helping others through organizations and includes activities like supporting public health efforts, supporting food banks, and tutoring students to help them stay on track in school.
More than 28 percent of Americans—nearly 78 million people—formally volunteered for an organization between September 2022 and 2023. In total, these volunteers served an estimated 4.99 billion hours with an economic value of $167.2 billion.
Informal Helping
Informal helping involves helping neighbors with tasks like house sitting, watching each other’s children, or lending tools.
The share of Americans who informally help their neighbors is climbing in the latest data. More than 54 percent of Americans—or 137.5 million people—informally helped their neighbors between September 2022 and 2023. This represents an increase of 3 percentage points over previous years.
Dr. Grant, a contributing Opinion writer, is an organizational psychologist at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Humans may be the only species that can imagine an unknown future. But that doesn’t mean we’re any good at it.
We’re routinely wrong about which career we’ll choose, where we’ll end up moving and whom we’ll wind up loving. We fail even more miserably when we try to predict the outcomes of national and global events. Like meteorologists trying to gauge the weather more than a few days out, we just can’t anticipate all the variables and butterfly effects.
In a landmark study, the psychologist Philip Tetlock evaluated several decades of predictions about political and economic events. He found that “the average expert was roughly as accurate as a dart-throwing chimpanzee.” Although skilled forecasters were much better, they couldn’t see around corners. No one could foresee that a driver’s wrong turn would put Archduke Franz Ferdinand in an assassin’s path, precipitating World War I.
Yet a hunch about the future can feel like a certainty because the present is so overwhelmingly, well, present. It’s staring us in the face. Especially in times of great anxiety, it can be all too tempting — and all too dangerous — to convince ourselves the future is just as visible.
In 1919, when the Treaty of Versailles ended World War I, the Allied powers celebrated. The world was finally returning to peace. They had no idea that the national humiliation of that treaty would sow the seeds of another world war. Just as a tragedy can leave us oblivious to the possibility of silver linings, a triumph can blind us to the prospect of terrible reverberations.
In 2008, Democrats rejoiced at Barack Obama’s victory, unaware of how it would pave the way for the rise of Donald Trump. In 2020, Democrats were thrilled that Joe Biden won, certain that it was the best outcome. But in hindsight, were they right?
Think of how things might have played out if Mr. Trump had won that election. There would have been no big lie. No Jan. 6 insurrection. No Supreme Court doctrine of presidential immunity. Fewer axes to grind and more moderates to temper the president’s worst impulses. And in this year’s presidential campaign, we would have been voting for a new slate of both Republican and Democratic candidates, fully vetted through party primaries. Of course, it’s also possible that even worse things would have happened. There’s no way to know. And that’s precisely the point.
Acknowledging that the future is unknowable can bring some comfort when it feels as if the world is shattered. It can also offer a dose of humility sorely needed in a chaotic world, in which new technologies such as artificial intelligence accelerate the pace of change and make its effects that much harder to guess. Even the Cassandras who manage to anticipate extreme events are usually lucky, not smart; they tend to overweight unlikely scenarios and miss the mark on probable outcomes.
Our struggles to predict the future aren’t limited to events. They apply to our feelings, too. In the heat of the moment, we overindex on our anguish today and underestimate our capacity to adapt tomorrow.
Elections are a perfect case study. In 2008, studies showed that John McCain’s supporters overestimated how unhappy they would be after Mr. Obama won the election. In 2016, when Mr. Trump beat Hillary Clinton, research revealed that although stress was high among her supporters on election night, their moods started to recover within a day or two. In surveys before and after, liberals reported being depressed only if asked directly about the 2016 election; they didn’t actually end up being more depressed over the next year. Across millions of tweets, negative sentiments about the 2016 election among Democratic voters took only about a week to return to the pre-election base line, and in blue states, there were no increases in Google searches for depression or antidepressant use.
Political defeat is an example of what psychologists call ambiguous loss. We may be mourning the death of our hopes and dreams, but it’s temporary. We forget that unlike people, plans can be resurrected. That was true for Trump supporters in 2020, and it’s true for Democrats now.
Pain and sorrow are never permanent. They evolve over time, and ideally they help us make sense, find meaning and fuel change. As the author and podcaster Nora McInerny put it, “We don’t move on from grief. We move forward with it.”
Ambiguous loss is not a funeral. It’s a reckoning. Like touching a hot stove, it hurts so we don’t miss its lessons. Feeling devastated about an election is a cue to figure out what went wrong so it doesn’t happen again. A sense of righteous indignation can energize us to stand up for our principles. Anxiety about what comes next can help jolt us out of complacency.
It’s unsettling to realize we have no power to predict the future, because it means we aren’t in control of our fate. At the best of times, that can leave us holding our breath. But in the worst of times, embracing uncertainty proves liberating. It reminds us how quickly our fortune can change.
By Nicole Asbury November 8, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EST Washington Post
Montgomery County advocacy groups and afterschool service providers say they have noticed a troubling trend: Students of color were not reading on grade level, but their parents had no idea because a report card indicated the child was passing in the subject.
Now, the Black and Brown Coalition — an advocacy group for families of color — is asking Montgomery County Public Schools to make that information moreeasily accessibleto parents. The group is asking for an “early-warning system” that would require educators toidentify students who are falling behind in reading and communicatethat directly to families through a letter and phone call. They arealso asking that the school system provide interventions once a child is below grade level and that those plans are communicated with parents.
Part of their request mirrors a literacy policy recently approved by the Maryland State Department of Education that requires schools to screen students on their reading progress three times each year and notify families.
“For years, Black and Brown parents had been anesthetized, if you will, because they had no idea the magnitude of the problem facing their own children,” said Diego Uriburu, whose group, Identity, provides afterschool programs to Hispanic and Latino youth in the county.🌸
Wylea Chase, director of operations and community engagement for the Black and Brown Coalition, said parents have talked among themselves for a long time about their confusion with their child’s progress in reading. A report card would indicate a child was performing well in the subject, she said, but parents would later get a notice to enroll them in summer school to improve their academic performance.
“Our parents simply did not know,” she said. “And you can’t support what you don’t know.”
The school system gives other data — like state and district test scores — that say whether a child is behind, but it can be confusing.
MontgomerySuperintendent Thomas Taylor has acknowledgedthere are “a lot of gaps” in how the school system communicates with families. During a recent town hall hosted by the coalition, he told audience members he was compelled by the organization’sidea “of creating a better system of reporting to parents,” and saidit will be piloted at some district schools. The district did not make administrators running the pilot available for comment.
Across Maryland, there are wide performance gaps between Black and Latino students, and their White and Asian peers. Results from Maryland assessments taken in the spring show that, overall 79 percent of both White and Asian students tested in the Montgomery district were proficient in English Language Arts. Meanwhile, 46 percent of Black students and 32 percent of Latino students were proficient.
The Montgomery school system is Maryland’s largest andone of the state’s most diverse. About 35 percent of its student population is Hispanic/Latino, 24 percent is White, 22 percent is Black, and 14 percent is Asian.
But the coalition has said some families of color havehad problems navigating the district.
In 2022, the district released an “antiracist audit” thatincluded comments from focus groups and surveys for district parents, staff and students. It found that “some staff perceive that the current system for communication and family engagement produces barriers for families of color.” And nearly 30 percent of families “didn’t know or disagreed that their child’s school engaged them in ways that respect and honor culture,”according to the report.
Leaders with the Black and Brown Coalition say it is imperative for parents to have better information about their child’s progress in reading, especially given changes at the state level.
Maryland’s new literacy policy includes a component that would hold back third-graders who aren’t reading on grade levelstarting in the 2027-28 school year. As the policy was crafted, associations representingschool board members and superintendentsacross Maryland told the state board of education in a letter that they were worried the policy could disproportionately impact non-White students.
At therecent coalitionforum, Taylor said he had concerns over the policy’s long-term impacts, and cast it as having “very high stakes.” When asked by another parent how many students entered the fourth grade reading below grade level, Taylorsaid he was unsure but guessed it was likely to be “in the 50 percent range.”Hecalled the data point “alarming and really disquieting.”
Thenew statepolicy allows parents to insist their child move on to the fourth gradeeven if they are reading below grade level, but the student would have to enroll in a supplementary reading program. School systems muststart screening students regularly for reading difficulties during the 2026-27 school year.
In the meantime, leaders with the Black and Brown Coalition say they are waiting for more details from Montgomery school leaders about how it will adopt some of the group’s recommendations.
Taylor has said publicly he wants to implement the suggested strategies districtwide, but he has some concerns about how well the school system is positioned to do it. He said the request is “labor intensive” for teachers and would require training.
But he said the request “is high on the list of priorities” for the district.
“There is nothing more frustrating as a parent when your child comes home with something from school, and you don’t know how to help them,” Taylor said. “And I feel like we’re holding the keys to unlocking how to do that well.”
By Jonathan Haidt and Will Johnson New York Times September 17th 2024
Dr. Haidt is a social psychologist at New York University’s Stern School of Business; Mr. Johnson is the chief executive of the Harris Poll.
This article has been updated to reflect news developments.
Was social media a good invention? One way to quantify the value of a product is to find out how many of the people who use it wish it had never been invented. Feelings of regret or resentment are common with addictive products (cigarettes, for example) and addictive activities like gambling, even if most users say they enjoy them.
For nonaddictive products — hairbrushes, say, or bicycles, walkie-talkies or ketchup — it’s rare to find people who use the product every day yet wish it could be banished from the world. For most products, those who don’t like the product can simply … not use it.
What about social media platforms? They achieved global market penetration faster than almost any product in history. The category took hold in the early aughts with Friendster, MySpace and the one that rose to dominance: Facebook. By 2020, more than half of all humans were using some form of social media. So if this were any normal product we’d assume that people love it and are grateful to the companies that provide it to them — without charge, no less.
But it turns out that it can be hard for people who don’t like social media to avoid it, because when everyone else is on it, the abstainers begin to miss out on information, trends and gossip. This is especially painful for adolescents, whose social networks have migrated, since the early 2010s, onto a few giant platforms. Nearly all American teenagers use social media regularly, and they spend an average of nearly five hours a day just on these platforms.
So what does Gen Z really think about social media? Is it more like walkie-talkies, where hardly anyone wished they had never been invented? Or is it more like cigarettes, where smokers often say they enjoy smoking, but more than 71 percent of smokers (in one 2014 survey) regret ever starting?
We recently collaborated on a nationally representative survey of 1,006 Gen Z adults (ages 18-27). We asked them online about their own social media use, about their views on the effects of social media on themselves and on society and about what kinds of reforms they’d support. Here’s what we found.
First, the number of hours spent on social media each day is astonishing. Over 60 percent of our respondents said they spend at least four hours a day, with 23 percent saying they spend seven or more hours each day using social media. Second, our respondents recognize the harm that social media causes society, with 60 percent saying it has a negative impact (versus 32 percent who say it has a positive impact).
Turning to their own lives, 52 percent of the total sample say social media has benefited their lives, and 29 percent say it has hurt them personally. Although the percentage citing specific personal benefits was usually higher than those citing harms, this was less true for women and L.G.B.T.Q. respondents. For example, 37 percent of respondents said social media had a negative impact on their emotional health, with significantly more women (44 percent) than men (31 percent), and with more L.G.B.T.Q. (47 percent) than non-L.G.B.T.Q. respondents (35 percent) saying so. We have found this pattern — that social media disproportionately hurts young people from historically disadvantaged groups — in a wide array of surveys.
And even when more respondents cite more benefits than harms, that does not justify the unregulated distribution of a consumer product that is hurting — damaging, really — millions of children and young adults. We’re not just talking about sad feelings from FOMO or social comparison. We’re talking about a range of documented risks that affect heavy users, including sleep deprivation, body image distortion, depression, anxiety, exposure to content promoting suicide and eating disorders, sexual predation and sextortion, and “problematic use,” which is the term psychologists use to describe compulsive overuse that interferes with success in other areas of life. If any other consumer product was causing serious harm to more than one out of every 10 of its young users, there would be a tidal wave of state and federal legislation to ban or regulate it.
Turning to the ultimate test of regret versus gratitude: We asked respondents to tell us, for various platforms and products, if they wished that it “was never invented.” Five items produced relatively low levels of regret: YouTube (15 percent), Netflix (17 percent), the internet itself (17 percent), messaging apps (19 percent) and the smartphone (21 percent). We interpret these low numbers as indicating that Gen Z does not heavily regret the basic communication, storytelling and information-seeking functions of the internet. If smartphones merely let people text each other, watch movies and search for helpful information or interesting videos (without personalized recommendation algorithms intended to hook users), there would be far less regret and resentment.
But responses were different for the main social media platforms that parents and Gen Z itself worry about most. Many more respondents wished these products had never been invented: Instagram (34 percent), Facebook (37 percent), Snapchat (43 percent), and the most regretted platforms of all: TikTok (47 percent) and X/Twitter (50 percent).
Our survey shows that many Gen Z-ers see substantial dangers and costs from social media. A majority of them want better and safer platforms, and many don’t think these platforms are suitable for children. Forty-five percent of Gen Z-ers report that they “would not or will not allow my child to have a smartphone before reaching high school age (i.e. about 14 years old)” and 57 percent support the idea that parents should restrict their child’s access to smartphones before that age. Although only 36 percent support social media bans for those under the age of 16, 69 percent support a law requiring social media companies to develop a child-safe option for users under 18.
This high level of support is true across race, gender, social class and sexual orientation, and it has important implications for the House of Representatives, which is considering just such a bill, the Kids Online Safety Act. The bill would, among other things, disable addictive product features, require tech companies to offer young users the option to use non-personalized algorithmic feeds and mandate that platforms default to the safest settings possible for accounts believed to be held by minors.
On Tuesday, in response to mounting pressure from child-safety groups and the threat of regulation, Meta announced new settings and features on the Instagram accounts of teen users, to address concerns about safety and sleep deprivation. While we welcome this first step, we remain cautious; Meta has long been accused of prioritizing profit over the safety of its youngest users, which, of course, Meta denies.
Social-media platforms serve as communication platforms, which means any reforms must respect First Amendment protections; the House measure seeks to do this by focusing on what content is being recommended to kids through their algorithms, not on what kids are posting or searching for. But even so, imagine if walkie-talkies were harming millions of young people. Imagine if more than a third of young people wished that walkie-talkies didn’t exist, yet still felt compelled to use them for five hours every day.
If that were the case, we would take action. We’d insist that the manufacturers make their products safer and less addictive for kids. Social media companies must be held to the same standard: Either fix their products to ensure the safety of young users or stop providing them to children altogether.
Column- Meghan Leahy October 9, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EDT Washington Post
A parent wants to educate their 6-year-old daughter this election year but isn’t sure where to start.
Hi Meghan: I am wondering about your recommendations for age-appropriate news for kids. I have a 6-year-old daughter and the U.S. political process this year seems historic. My husband and I are pretty attentive to political news and we have just started talking about voting with her and want to talk about some of what’s going on, although we skipped the horror of the July rally shooting.
Are there any media outlets or products for young kids that make short videos we can use to jump-start conversations and share some news at the right level? My husband and I are trying to figure out how to hit the right level of detail for her to understand and absorb it, and we would love tools to help these discussions.
Is there anything like “Schoolhouse Rock” anymore? I’m wondering about both conceptual explainers and kid-targeted current news broadcasts. Thanks for continuing to take questions!
Wondering: Thank you for this question. We are certainly in a historic time, and it seems to just keep unfolding in unpredictable and shocking ways. Your question has me a bit stymied because I really am of two minds about it. On one hand, educating our children about how people are elected and why it matters is our parental and civic duty. Americans are well-versed in social media but largely don’t understand how the government functions, and it is disconcerting. On the other hand, talking at our kids about these issues is a losing game. It’s boring and doesn’t meet them where they are developmentally. Sure, a 6-year-old could be interested in gerrymandering, but really, the average 6-year-old just wants to play.
You are headed in the right direction with fun and interesting media to share this information! A quick peek at Commonsense Media (a great resource for parents about all things media and children) yields an abundance of sites and videos, but most are geared toward children age 8 and up. This is because the typical 7- or 8-year-old is able to have more patience, consider others’ feelings with more predictability and can have sustained attention. So you won’t find too many “educational” political videos for a 6-year-old. Kids Academy on YouTube has some short and informative videos on the branches of government, the importance of voting, civil rights and Election Day. PBS Kids has a nice array of voting videos (Arthur is great), and they offer some great book suggestions.
In terms of the “right level of detail” for these discussions, this wholly depends on your child (and you know her best!). Make conversations about voting and elections, local elections especially, a daily topic and watch for when her eyes glaze over; that’s when you stop. The more you can make the topic about what interests her, the more likely she is to engage! Does she love the zoo? How are funds allocated to it? Does she love your local park? What parts of your local government help keep the park clean and open to all? Does she love to ride her bike? How does your town or city keep bikers safe? When you reflect, you’ll see that every part of your family’s life is touched by the government in big and small ways, so engage your daughter in what she cares about! And move on when she has that “I am so bored” look in her eye.
Your best bet for sharing your political interests is to live out your values, and bring her along for the ride. Volunteer in the voting process and let her see you working. Go door to door to help people register to vote and bring her along. Attend “get out the vote” gatherings and have the whole family attend. Discuss the day’s news at dinner, and make it understandable for your daughter. Discuss your own values and why they are important to you, and allow spirited and respectful disagreements to occur between you and your partner. Ask for your daughter’s opinion (if she seems interested), otherwise just model healthy debate and fact-based language. It may not “feel” like much, but children are keen observers.
Montgomery County voters willdecide on Nov. 5 who will helpgovern Maryland’s largest school district as it continues to recover from pandemic-related learning losses and stabilize after a year of internal turmoil.
Typically, schoolboard races don’t catch much attention because they are farther down the ballot. But the Montgomery system has beenheavily scrutinized over the past year after a Washington Post investigation found officials promoted a middle school principal while he was under investigation internally for allegations of sexual misconduct, bullying and retaliation. The school board is also being sued by a group of parents who say their religious freedom rights were violated when school officials stopped allowing parents to opt their children outof reading storybookswith LGBTQ+ characters.
Six candidates are competing for three seats: one representing District 2, which covers parts of Gaithersburg and Rockville; one representing District 4, which includes Takoma Park and Silver Spring; and a countywide, at-large seat.
The Washington Post asked candidates about top issues, including academic performance; school safety; the “Blueprint for Maryland’s Future,” a multibillion-dollar investment to expand pre-K, and other efforts. Candidates’ responses were edited for brevity and clarity.
Meet the candidates
At-large:
Lynne Harris, 62, of Rockville, an at-large school board member since 2020, is a former countywide PTA president and county teacher. She listed “creating inclusive, affirming schools” and improving special education services aspriorities and also aims to make the district “a destination employer.”🌸
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Rita Montoya, 42, of Silver Spring,is an attorney and former juvenile public defender. She has two children enrolled in the school system andis a former PTA president. She said that to help children meet their goals, the district must have fully staffed schools with “proven curricula and extracurricular programs,” ensure students and staff members feel safe, and rebuild trust in the district and the school board.
District 2:
Brenda Diaz, 47, of Gaithersburg,has over 20 years of experience as an educator and is a parent of three children. She wants to “revitalize MCPS” by prioritizing safety, teacher morale, academic rigor and parental involvement.
Natalie Zimmerman, 28,of Rockville, is a third-grade teacher in the district. She said she is running for the school board because she has “seen the system fail students and educators alike” and wants to take action.
District 4:
Shebra Evans, 52, of Silver Spring, has represented District 4 since 2016 and twice served as board chair. Evans said she kept the system focused on providing an excellent education, despite changes in superintendent leadership. She also said that during her tenure, the system enhanced career and technical education, and more students have graduated with their associate’s degree and high school diploma.
Laura Stewart, 53, of Silver Spring,is a full-time volunteer and parent of two recentgraduates. Stewart said she decided to run after a report from the county inspector general found thatthe school district was warned multiple times since 2019 about problems with how itinvestigated employee reports of misconduct. She wants to bring “more accountability, collaboration and transparency to MCPS.”
Is the Blueprint working?
The Post asked: How well do you think the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future is working? Are there any changes you would make to its requirements or funding?
Harris, at-large: The Blueprint is well-researched and well-intended, but as currently outlined, more common sense needs to infuse implementation. Community schools are working well, and the gradual expansion is smart. Pillar 2 [which sets mandatory teacher salaries] needs to be expanded to cover the non-teacher workforce, particularly paraeducators. All of this requires funding, and we need to see the state create dedicated, stable funding streams commensurate with the critical importance of public education. … Achieving the public/private balance of pre-K programs is problematic everywhere. Maryland bureaucracy around pre-K educator and pre-K facility certification and licensure must be streamlined to eliminate barriers. The Accountability and Implementation Board oversight work is essential, but we need to fix those areas of work requiring school systems to report progress before the metrics to measure that progress are in place.
Montoya, at-large: Its implementation thus far demonstrates that it may need some alterations. The timeline seems ambitious for the realities: insufficient funding and significant levels of need by students — academic and personal (food insecurity, housing instability, mental health challenges). I fully support expansion of pre-K as a solid return on investment but am concerned that space, including construction, and staffing are insufficiently funded. More funding is needed to support the valuable and necessary Maryland Blueprint.
Diaz, District 2: We must ensure a strong return on investment in education. However, recentdata reveals concerning results: Only 54 percent of MCPS students in grades three to eight are proficient in reading, 34 percent in math, and just 22 percent in Algebra I. Parents and teachers are frustrated with policies such as no homework, grade inflation and chronic absenteeism, which lead to these alarming outcomes. With a $3.3 billion budget, these results are unacceptable. Every dollar must be dedicated to improving student outcomes, especially forfree-and-reduced-meal and Title I students. … Contracts such as the electric bus debacle show that the current Board of Education rubber-stamps faulty MCPS initiatives and are easily distracted from meeting the primary mission of the public education system — providing high-quality education to our children.
Zimmerman, District 2: I support the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. I do have concerns about its continued funding. Many of the initiatives that we want to implement here in Montgomery County rely on funding from the Blueprint at the state level. The main changes I would make have to do with proving that someone is an expert educator. We need to create additional pathways beyond just being a National Board Certified Teacher, as this process takes multiple years and has a fee.
Evans, District 4:In my opinion, the Blueprint for Maryland is well-designed to give every student a legitimate chance at success. The Blueprint’s focus on early-childhood education builds on clear research that investment in the early years is critical to set all students up for success, but especially students growing up economically disadvantaged. Pre-K expansion will help level the playing field, eliminate learning gaps and allow many families to work. While there will be challenges to dedicate the resources needed, the return on investment has the potential to be life-changing. Moreover, at a time of critical teacher shortage, increasing the pay for teachers will make the profession more attractive and help recruit and retain top talent, as will the career ladder opportunities.
Stewart, District 4: We are still learning how to implement the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, so I would give it an “incomplete” grade. There hasn’t been a full budget analysis on the true cost of fully implementing Blueprint goals, so I support that effort, which is an ongoing ask by the Maryland Education Coalition. To recruit and keep a highly trained and diverse workforce, I would like to expand our “grow your own” initiative in our high schools. We also need to better support teachers so that they stay in the profession. There needs to be work done on college and career readiness. … In my opinion, implementing community schools has great potential.
How to improve student performance?
The Post asked: Since 2021, performance on state tests has fallen below pre-pandemic levels, though students are recovering in English Language Arts. What interventions would you support to improve performance?
Harris, at-large: We need to improve the instructional support for our special-education and English language development teachers, and provide more targeted professional development around scaffolding to address a wide range of learning styles and needs. At the secondary level, systemwide professional development around English language development — designed to better support our emergent multilingual learners — is proving to improve literacy among all students and is strengthening essential language development across all content areas. For math, the deployment of content coaches is showing great results, but we currently lack the resources to comprehensively expand that approach to all schools.
Montoya, at-large: Interventions like D.C. Public Schools’ high-impact tutoring demonstrate student progress and growth. Several MCPS elementary schools piloted a program referred to as WIN, or “What I Need.” WIN provides focused small-group instruction several times per week during the school day. Placement is based on students’ needs to include enrichment for those at grade level or above. My child’s former elementary school piloted WIN last year and saw measurable growth in students’ test scores. My child loved the program, made new friends and even made meaningful connections with other educators who taught his WIN class. I would support and expand this program.
Diaz, District 2: Our top priority must be providing grade-appropriate assignments, strong instruction and high expectations for all students, regardless of race, income or performance. We must bring back midterms and finals to encourage cumulative learning. Students need regular, rigorous academic challenges like reading whole books. Second, families must be authentic partners in education. Parents are frustrated by rushed conferences and restricted back-to-school nights. We need more time for meaningful parent-teacher interactions, regular progress updates and homework for extra practice. Finally, we must require regular materials-based professional development in reading, writing and math instruction, along with advanced degrees evidencing mastery of their content, to make sure teachers are implementing high-quality instruction with fidelity. Regular teacher observations and feedback will improve instruction in every class.
Zimmerman, District 2: One of the things that I come with to the board is a master’s degree in elementary education with additional certifications in special education, English language development and English language arts. I can speak to curricula selection from a classroom perspective and with multiple degrees on instructing students. Only this year are we using a data-driven practice called the science of reading or structured literacy to educate our studentsfrom kindergarten to fifth grade. Many schools are also implementing an intervention block every day. The problem is that classroom teachers are only afforded 25 minutes per day to both fill gaps for students who need them and enrich students who are ready for more in both reading and math. We need more time in the day for this focused instruction and more time built into curriculums for pauses to address instructional needs. Beyond that, we need to be considering how the system can increase these focused instruction times into middle and high schools so our students who were not afforded instructional intervention opportunities in elementary school can get gaps in knowledge and skills addressed.
Evans, District 4: Focusing in on literacy and math data and closely measuring the effectiveness of academic interventions has been a hallmark of my years on the board. As president of the board, I worked closely with then-superintendent Jack Smith to increase the data analysis brought to and shared with the board to measure student growth and achievement. As a direct result of this heightened focus on data, my colleagues and I on the board supported the addition of reading and math coaches and invested in the transition to science of reading before the rest of the state required this shift. Reading and math coaches are providing important support to teachers working with struggling learners and reinforcing skills to achieve grade-level rigor. We also need to better engage parents whose students are not on track academically to enlist their support at home but also to ensure that they can hold our schools accountable.
Stewart, District 4: We need to be focused on expanding pre-K, in-school supports including in-class paraeducator support for teachers, a proven math curriculum with support in multiple languages, quality science-of-reading teacher training, and the same for elementary math. We must eliminate the tutoring gap by partnering with nonprofits so that more children can access high quality tutoring and mentoring. As we track disaggregated student progress, if there are outlier schools with lower scores, central office should send resources to that school to determine if more training is needed or a reorganization of staff. Parents should have access to an early-warning system as described by the “Black and Brown Coalition.”
Ideas for making school safer
The Post asked: What steps should be taken to improve school safety?
Harris, at-large: We need to problem solve alongside our students who — through 2023-24 studentboard member Sami Saeed — made a series of school safety recommendations embedded in boardresolutions. Among their common-sense solutions that are being implementedare school ID requirements, enhanced security camera placement and door alarms, and vape detection pilots. It’s also important to center conversations around school safety on prevention — creating the conditions where students feel welcome and valued. Our mental wellness teams are essential. Over the past several months, school security evaluations were completed for every school, and the issues identified are being prioritized to ensure security infrastructure — including emergency communications — are robust.
Montoya, at-large: Long-term, to address physical violence, hate and mental health challenges, we should aim to foster an environment of belonging and connection. Sufficiently staffing psychologists, social workers and school counselors may foster connection. Ensuring students receive care outside of school may help. Accessible, culturally competent education may support families’ efforts to improve their child’s well-being. In the short term, the hate, guns, drugs, trespassers and other weapons must stay out of our schools. Annual, expert-led staff training and explicit, age-appropriate education for students can help them understand what constitutes hate, its impact and how to recognize their own biases. While education about weapon and drug safety are essential, to prevent harm to students and staff, students need access to adults with age and culturally appropriate security training so that when they know of trespassers/weapons, they can report and it can be addressed immediately. The community would benefit from in-school opportunities for positive engagement between students and police officers to build connection so that when serious situations occur, they can work together.
Diaz, District 2: A combination of capital improvements and nonstructural approaches is needed to enhance school safety. We should continue by upgrading security cameras in entryways, hallways and outdoor areas, and ensuring secure vestibules where visitors can be screened. Reinforcing doors and windows, installing shatter-resistant glass, and implementing lockdown mechanisms are also essential. All MCPS personnel must maintain relationships with law enforcement and community organizations to improve communication and response strategies. Peer mentoring programs can foster a positive climate among students. An anonymous reporting system must be in place at every school. Revising the Student Code of Conduct to protect students from bullying, hate bias, and assaults is key. We must also have trained security personnel in all schools with authority to manage disruptive students.
Zimmerman, District 2: Step one is to ensure emotional safety. MCPS does not meet nationally recommended ratios for school counselors, school psychologists, nor social workers. We need to create safe environments for our students so they can come to adults and divulge information to prevent safety concerns. There was an incident that was prevented this spring at a high school because students felt safe enough to report what they saw in a classmate. I do believe that the restorative approach in MCPS has a poor reputation because it is not implemented with fidelity. Some schools have a full-time restorative coach while others only have part time and some do not have a designated position at all. As a teacher, I have never been offered professional development on a restorative approach. I would like to see us implement a restorative approach with integrity along with ensuring logical consequences for students.
Evans, District 4: We should never shy away from wanting to do our best and being the best at getting better. That means admitting there is still work that needs to be done to increase confidence that the district is committed to safety and security. Steps are underway to allow for quicker access to information about what’s happening in each school. Ongoing audits are being done across the district to increase transparency and accountability. The student ID program has been implemented in schools and we are watching closely to assess best practices. Cameras continue to be strategically placed throughout buildings and more doors are alarmed to monitor who is entering our buildings. This work is most effective when done in partnership with the community especially when related to issues that cross the school boundary like bullying and drugs. The work is ongoing and should be done in partnership with students and families for a better sense of belonging.
Stewart, District 4: MCPS needs more security and preventive measures to keep kids and staff safe. I propose school safety and climate teams composed of the entire school community to develop safety plans to be submitted to the superintendent. These plans should assess the need for more security officers, cameras, vape detectors, bathroom safety measures, the level of coordination with community engagement officers (CEOs) and the need for more CEOs if there are certain hot spots. On the preventive side, an assessment should be performed on the need for mediation services, mental health services, addiction therapy, family support, and after-school activities. Healthy school climate can also be a factor in keeping kids safe from bullying. There should be more training and programs on antisemitism, Islamophobia, LGBTQ+ bigotry, and racism.
Your curiosity is more appealing than your accomplishments.
The most popular Modern Love article of all time, “The 36 Questions That Lead to Love,” has been read by more than 75 million people. Nothing I have (or will ever) put out into the world will effect more positive change than that short article.
My hope is that most readers absorbed the simple truth that being curious about people you meet is far more seductive than talking about your accomplishments. The most common complaint I hear (by far) about bad first dates is of people droning on about themselves and not asking questions. So skip the self-promotion. Be curious instead. If you need prompts, here are 36 of them.
In Mandy Len Catron’s Modern Love essay, “To Fall in Love With Anyone, Do This,” she refers to a study by the psychologist Arthur Aron (and others) that explores whether intimacy between two strangers can be accelerated by having them ask each other a specific series of personal questions. The 36 questions in the study are broken up into three sets, with each set intended to be more probing than the previous one.
The idea is that mutual vulnerability fosters closeness. To quote the study’s authors, “One key pattern associated with the development of a close relationship among peers is sustained, escalating, reciprocal, personal self-disclosure.” Allowing oneself to be vulnerable with another person can be exceedingly difficult, so this exercise forces the issue.
The final task Ms. Catron and her friend try — staring into each other’s eyes for four minutes — is less well documented, with the suggested duration ranging from two minutes to four. But Ms. Catron was unequivocal in her recommendation. “Two minutes is just enough to be terrified,” she told me. “Four really goes somewhere.”
Set I
1. Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest?
2. Would you like to be famous? In what way?
3. Before making a telephone call, do you ever rehearse what you are going to say? Why?
4. What would constitute a “perfect” day for you?
5. When did you last sing to yourself? To someone else?
6. If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year-old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you want?
7. Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die?
8. Name three things you and your partner appear to have in common.
9. For what in your life do you feel most grateful?
10. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?
11. Take four minutes and tell your partner your life story in as much detail as possible.
12. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be?
Set II
13. If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, the future or anything else, what would you want to know?
14. Is there something that you’ve dreamed of doing for a long time? Why haven’t you done it?
15. What is the greatest accomplishment of your life?
16. What do you value most in a friendship?
17. What is your most treasured memory?
18. What is your most terrible memory?
19. If you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are now living? Why?
20. What does friendship mean to you?
21. What roles do love and affection play in your life?
22. Alternate sharing something you consider a positive characteristic of your partner. Share a total of five items.
23. How close and warm is your family? Do you feel your childhood was happier than most other people’s?
24. How do you feel about your relationship with your mother?
Set III
25. Make three true “we” statements each. For instance, “We are both in this room feeling … “
26. Complete this sentence: “I wish I had someone with whom I could share … “
27. If you were going to become a close friend with your partner, please share what would be important for him or her to know.
28. Tell your partner what you like about them; be very honest this time, saying things that you might not say to someone you’ve just met.
29. Share with your partner an embarrassing moment in your life.
30. When did you last cry in front of another person? By yourself?
31. Tell your partner something that you like about them already.
32. What, if anything, is too serious to be joked about?
33. If you were to die this evening with no opportunity to communicate with anyone, what would you most regret not having told someone? Why haven’t you told them yet?
34. Your house, containing everything you own, catches fire. After saving your loved ones and pets, you have time to safely make a final dash to save any one item. What would it be? Why?
35. Of all the people in your family, whose death would you find most disturbing? Why?
36. Share a personal problem and ask your partner’s advice on how he or she might handle it. Also, ask your partner to reflect back to you how you seem to be feeling about the problem you have chosen.
TINY LOVE STORIES Discover our new weekly feature, Tiny Love Stories, which is essentially Modern Love in miniature — reader-submitted stories of no more than 100 words.
Posts by Paul Costello1
