This is fascinating and very sad at the same time. I’m curious to see how reading is taught here in Germany once we have a school-aged kid.

One thing that sticks out to me is that apparently, teachers in the US tend to stick very close to the teaching materials they are provided (at least, that’s how it sounds in this article and others I have read before). Growing up in Germany, it felt like teachers would customize their lessons more.

Now with Vitamin R!

Not to mention all the people who don’t even have an adblocker and for some reason don’t seem to care that their web browsing is infested with ads.

There’s a loo right around the corner, too

For a second I thought you were talking about masturbation.

Yep, I learned something new today.

That’s a fine transformation.

Not a parent, but I was raised bilingually in English and German, while growing up in Germany.

My Dad (almost) always speaks English with me, and my Mom (almost) always speaks German with me, even to this day at age 31. This approach worked well for us and I’m fluent in both languages, but I can imagine an approach where both parents speak both languages could work as well.

What also really helped me was to consume a lot of media in English, so maybe you could encourage your child to do that as well.

No, I’m not joking, my confusion stemmed from the fact that those who used those terms always seemed to mean them in the way I described. (Probably mostly Americans who grew up with the two party system)

In Germany - at least in my bubble - we don’t talk about “liberals” vs “conservatives”, the spectrum is more diverse.

I know, I’m German. Looks like I’ve mostly heard these terms used by Americans.

Huh, TIL that “liberals” doesn’t include socialists and communists. I always thought of “liberals” and “conservatives” as general terms for left and right.