Parents: Teacher silenced son on hunting

[freakshow10mm]

Wrong. In my classroom, there are things that I'm not going to discuss.

The students were discussing it, not the teacher. Authoritarian teachers like this make me prepare to home school my son instead of casting him into a cesspool of lies, power trips, and brain washing.

 

[JWarren]

The students were discussing it, not the teacher.

Right. And there are conversations that have popped up in my room that were VERY inappropriate and I've ended them.

Frankly, while I disagree with this teacher and consider her unprofessional, I see a failure in that she HAS this open time in the room.

I am actually teaching for the entire period students are in my class.

Authoritarian teachers like this make me prepare to home school my son instead of casting him into a cesspool of lies, power trips, and brain washing.

I won't homeschool my kids due to the lack of social development opportunities. However, my kids WILL be going to a private school whom I am very aware of the policies and education.


-- John

 

[22-rimfire]

JWarren; I do agree that the teacher is the boss in the classroom; let's call it "the manager". I also agree that there are things YOU should not discuss in the classroom.

Kids are famous for trying to "pay back" the teacher especially when they get into their teens. The teacher is usually right.

One has to look at the age of the child involved. I was not there. So I don't know the extent of the "discussion". The teacher should just have suggested that the kids take the conversation outside after class and not disrupt her class rather than in essence making it a moral issue.

 

[JWarren]

One has to look at the age of the child involved. I was not there. So I don't know the extent of the "discussion".

Very true. You can get a bit more latitude as the kids get older. Even so, teachers have to be careful on a case-by-case basis.

The teacher should just have suggested that the kids take the conversation outside after class and not disrupt her class rather than in essence making it a moral issue.

That is what I usually do with controversial subjects.


However, this teacher should also get a "clue."


And she's toast due to the punative nature of the 137 pages of "homework" assigned after the kid left the school.



-- John

 

[highorder]

You may even be misquoted intentionally if a kid is upset for one reason or the other.

Absolutely. I was relating the genetic similarities between humans and Chimpanzees to my AP Biology class; About four days later, a fellow department member asked me what I was thinking telling my class that humans and chimps can have babies together.

That took some clearing up.

 

[06]

"---ask for a public apology---", yep-I sure would. Right after I got the settlement check from suing her personally, corporately and the school board if they backed her, wc

 

[auschip]

C.S.S. come on she is a teacher. They all think poetry and flowers will reform prisoners, and Tom Cruise has the answer to all mental issues with workouts and vitamens

Stereo type much?

 

[22-rimfire]

The key to this whole business is that this was going on IN her classroom, not outside the classroom. The teacher does have the right and is expected to maintain order inside the classroom.

 

[JWarren]

OK....

I just talked to my wife a bit about this topic and she brought up some good points.


My wife has been a pre-school teacher for over 10 years, and is more experienced in dealing with children of a younger age. While I may have missed it, I get the impression that this was around 2nd or 3rd grade. I don't have a basis personally for knowing this age group like she does.


Per Jenn (my wife):


Regarding open class-room discussion:

Teachers at this age are expected to "model" conversation for students. Open discussion is a part of the lessons.

However, she says that she has often had to gently move conversations in different directions due to the subject matter.


For instance:

"Mommy is mad at Daddy because he got a girlfriend."

"Daddy hits Mommy when they fight."


There are some conversations that the parents would go nuts about if they knew was being openly discussed in classrooms.




Regarding the 137 pages of "Homework":


OK... I got to thinking about this as well. Have you seen a textbook recently? There is a LOT of "filler" pages of feature information.

When I assign a reading assignment, it may take up 40 pages of textbook space and really only have a few pages of actual reading. This assignment may only have 5 or 6 questions that have to be answered.

And yet, if I wrote it down, it would look to some like 50 full pages of work.

If you break it down, 137 pages of work is 13.7 pages of work per day for the 10 days in question.

That is not an unreasonable amount of work-- especially if the pages are like the typical ones I have in my text books.




Just something to think about.




-- John

 

[highorder]

Regarding the 137 pages of "Homework":


OK... I got to thinking about this as well. Have you seen a textbook recently? There is a LOT of "filler" pages of feature information.

When I assign a reading assignment, it may take up 40 pages of textbook space and really only have a few pages of actual reading. This assignment may only have 5 or 6 questions that have to be answered.

And yet, if I wrote it down, it would look to some like 50 full pages of work.

If you break it down, 137 pages of work is 13.7 pages of work per day for the 10 days in question.

That is not an unreasonable amount of work-- especially if the pages are like the typical ones I have in my text books.

I had the same thought, and a follow up question;

Were all the students given the same 137 page assignment, or just the kid that got pulled out of school by his folks?

 

[JWarren]

Were all the students given the same 137 page assignment, or just the kid that got pulled out of school by his folks?

They'll have a case if the class doesn't have the same work.


However, I do have to say this. When I've had students sent to the ISS building (In-School-Suspension) for behavior infractions, I have had to send more work than the general classroom gets.

This is due to the nature of ISS and the need to keep the kid occupied during the entire day with an ISS teacher.


But this isn't the same thing.




After thinking this through, if this were my kid I think I would have handled it something like this:


"Son, your teacher is a ninny and can't handle it. In life, you will find a lot of ninnies. Do her a favor and talk about hunting on the playground so she doesn't pass out."





-- John

 

[zxcvbob]

"Jared's teacher covered her ears, trying to block the conversation, and singing 'la la la la.' When asked by another school employee about her odd behavior, the teacher claimed she did not want to hear about the boys and their 'killing.' The boys were left feeling that they were not legitimate hunters, but 'killers' in the eyes of an important authority figure in their lives," Bordwell said.[emphasis added]

Nobody is giving the kid enough credit; most kids are quite capable of understanding that their teacher is a lunatic. What's the point of escalating the situation with only 10 days left in the school year?

 

[Husker1911]

What's the point of escalating the situation with only 10 days left in the school year?

To prove an important point? To stand up for ideals? Just sayin'..........

 

[TCB in TN]

C.S.S. come on she is a teacher. They all think poetry and flowers will reform prisoners, and Tom Cruise has the answer to all mental issues with workouts and vitamens

Well I must NOT be a very good elementary teacher then. I am not to big on either poetry, or flowers, and beleive that most violent prisoners should just rot in prison. BTW not a huge Tom Cruise fan either. That said there are a couple of sides to this issue, and as JWarren said, it is the teacher's responsibility to keep order in the class room, and whether she was acting appropriately is depending upon what the instructions for that time period were. BTW in my classes this last year (6th grade Math Science and SS) we discussed not only hunting, and target shooting, we also had a great discussion about the Constitution and especially the 2A and the idea of teachers being armed during that time.

 

[B.D. Turner]

The teacher needs to be on some heavy medication.

 

[mbt2001]

We live in a world now where the culture of many regional areas are under all out attack. Example, a girl graduates college to become a teacher from UC Berkly, sees an opening at North Bennington in Vermont (or similar) and moves there with these silly ideas of "quaint" bed and breakfasts and begins teaching. She shares nothing other than langauge with the kids she is teaching. When they say something they wouldn't say in California, she doesn't know what to do at all.

Since we have a "migrant" work force, this is happening with a higher frequency than in the past. I live in Houston and THANK GOD texas seems to work magic on many people and when they come here they willingly accept the culture... For the most part. I can't imagine everywhere else is that lucky.

I honestly believe in the idea of cultural constitutions. A manifesto for each state of their core beliefs that cannot be ammended or changed. IF you don't like them, find one that fits you....

 

[ArmedBear]

When they say something they wouldn't say in California, she doesn't know what to do at all.

LOL

We have some damn good turkey hunting here and people talk about it. Never had any trouble.

I think it has a lot more to do with what -- oops, who -- becomes a teacher these days. What I see is downright scary.

 

[rondog]

Good thing my 11-year old grandson isn't in her class, and she didn't hear him talking about all the machineguns that he got to shoot with me a month ago. Her head WOULD have exploded!

 

[Eb1]

I am troubled with these issues.

I have a child about to start public school, and I have told my wife that I wanna make it clear to the principal and the teacher that there is to be no opinion forced upon my child.
The teacher is a teacher of the curriculum given by the State. If it is against the law to talk about God Almighty in the classroom then it should be against the law for teachers to push there political agenda on students.

I have told my wife also that this will be made clear to the teacher during any teacher conferences I attend (which will be all that are allowed).

 

[brighamr]

"Better off home schooling if that's what they can expect. because you KNOW this teacher is not alone in her views or her tactics.

the child will probably get a MUCH better education and can skip the programming."


Pretty much what I was going to say. Sure would be nice if they could sue the school and make that teacher unemployed though.

 

[Eb1]

That is my point. If a teacher can get sued and loose their job over religion, why not politics?

 

[Robert Hairless]

I think it has a lot more to do with what -- oops, who -- becomes a teacher these days. What I see is downright scary.

There was a time, not so very long ago, when teachers saw their primary function as to help children learn and develop their minds so that in time they could become reasonably well-balanced, thinking adults.

What I see now is downright scary to me too.

 

[uk roe hunter]

"Wrong. In my classroom, there are things that I'm not going to discuss."

what like a lawful activity carried out in family circumstances. sport is sport, do you believe that kids shouldn't talk about soccer or football or baseball? or is it not to your taste?
The word taste in this is a dangerous line that allows the prejudice of the teacher to raise it's head.

 

[TAB]

All I can say is wow... not from the artical, but by the post here...


None of us know what happend in that class room... For all we know the kid could have been screaming at the top of his lungs that I love blowing the heads of animals. It could have just as easily been a discription of how to tell the diffrence between diffrent animal tracks. We don't know. If it was the 1st, I would hope that a teacher would stop it ASAP...

Way too little info to form any type of "IMO" about this.
We also can't beleave the kid... I know all parents think thier kids are angels and would never lie. Fact is a 10 year thats in trouble and knows it will almost always lie.

Now the 137 pages of "home work" thats only 13.7 pages of work a day. None of us know whats on thos pages, 13 pages could very well be only an hours wroth.

 

[JWarren]

uk roe hunter wrote:

"Wrong. In my classroom, there are things that I'm not going to discuss."

what like a lawful activity carried out in family circumstances. sport is sport, do you believe that kids shouldn't talk about soccer or football or baseball? or is it not to your taste?
The word taste in this is a dangerous line that allows the prejudice of the teacher to raise it's head.

I never used the word "Taste."


Do I REALLY need to explain to you a list of topics that I would not have discussed in the middle of my classroom???

This classroom is at a different age level with different learning objectives. It is quite possible that open conversation skills is part of their learning objectives in that age.

Not in mine.

I have lesson plans and we discuss what is part of that lesson. If it isn't part of that lesson, they can discuss it on their own time. Period.

So, no... Soccer, Baseball, and Football are completely irrelevant and inappropriate in my room.


Dangerous lines? Give me a break. PERHAPS the dangerous line is crossed when we somehow started believing that kids ran the classroom.

My "tastes" and perferences are immaterial in the classroom. My objectives, however, are not. What furthers the objectives is appropriate, and what doesn't is not.




-- John