singularity75: (Default)
singularity75 ([personal profile] singularity75) wrote2003-03-05 12:53 pm

Teachers accused of harassing soldier's children

I saw a post in a friends journal. But there were links in it that I feel need to be shared and need to be rebutted.

Original article. First comment link. Second comment link.

Um, wow. That was a most interesting read. I even checked out a number of the links in the article and read the other two links related to this post due in large part to proffesional interest. I really don't know where to begin in all of this. I hope I don't ramble on to much and that you can follow it.



First, I want to say, IF this happened, it was a horrible thing to do. I have no idea what kind of governing body Maine (or other states involved) have that would deal with these things, but I'm sure something similar to them or them will be looking into this and punishment will be given IF something had indeed occured. If something had happened and they were negligent, then I'll be one of the first say they need to be punished.

The fact that there are some rather dramatic differences in what happened is interesting. But I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that no one has talked to the teachers involved. The parents heard what their kids said, then passed this on in family assistance meetings which continued on in the military and finally to the media, all without talking to the teachers involved. When you deal with kids of that age, you can not always take things literally, and you have to be careful how you get information from a child since they have a tendancy to want to please and tell what they think their parents want to hear. So having all this happen without talking to the teachers involved was just plain stupidity. If you have a problem with something going on in your child's school, go to the school, don't go to other sources and ultimately, let it be handled int he media. (yes, they didn't go to the media about it, but they are allowing things to continue without talking to the teachers/schools).

If some of this came out during a debate, holding the teacher responsible is again, idiotic unless you know the details and you won't know those till you talk with the teachers. If the teacher allowed it to continue without reprimanding the students or calling it off, then yes, the teacher messed up. But if he/she stopped it or reprimanded those involved, then blaming the teacher is wrong. Once again, talk to the teachers involved. One of the articles in the comments section suggested that only one incident happened in the classroom and that it was from a teaching assistant. Teaching assistants are not teachers. If true, then blaming a teachers lessons is completely wrong.

The idea that this many teachers are all doing it is odd. What are the chances that so many teachers across the US are all doing this to their students? Not likely. Using what may have happened to take pot shots at all teachers was reprehensible. If say five teacher did do this, do you blame all the teachers? If a new teacher comes into a school that has one of those teachers, do you believe that the new teacher will automatically do what the bad one says? I didn't think so, but that's what the article is saying we should be doing.

As for curriculum, that's when I became really interested when there was a pot shot at teachers from my province with absolutely no explanation except a link. I went to the link, but all it had were comments and emails about the issue, not the actual material involved. Shameful to be blaming something on Canada again with no factual information involved. Why do I say that? Well, I did some searching to find the offending article. In less than five minues of mostly following links I discovered several things: 1) he cited the wrong issue, 2) the article actually comes from an American magazine and is clearly stated beside the issue title in the archives:

"Note: In the December edition an article entitled, "Why America is hated" should have been attributed to Z Magazine (Oct. 2001). This was an error of omission on the part of the editor of D12 Voice, Doug Little.
Z Magazine is a popular progressive American magazine with Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman on its board.

The author of this particular article was Stephen R. Shalom. For an electronic copy of the complete article see:

http://www.zmag.org/ZNET.htm"

3) To call it a learning resource is a bit extreme. It's something a teacher can use, but it is not sanctioned by the government. Just like you can go online and get information to use, it's not sanctioned by the government as part of the curriculum. 4) I think it was used to take another pot shot at Canada for no justification again when he says: "It's hardly new. It's hardly noticed." My response: not the first time, won't be the last time something like this happens.

The other links he cites for inappropriate lesson plans were suspect as well. If we all do as he suggests, we will simply be doing as he accuses, except it would be for those on the right. He wants all discussion silenced, all counterpoints removed and critical thinking development stopped. He wants indoctrination of all the young into the extreme conservative right. Critical thinking is supposed to allow students to think for themselves, to consider points of view and then come up with their own ideas on the topics. When you stop that development, many will not be able to do it and will simply accept what they are told.

Yes, this is part of the Liberal agenda, they want people to think critically, they want people to fully explore an issue before making a decision. To do this, you have to present both sides of a conflict so that the students can see what happened/may happen and see the consequences of such conflicts. I hardly consider this to be a negative thing. Some of those post-9/11 lesson plans were simply about trying to stop any racial discrimination/hatred/bigotry towards groups who do not deserve to do that. What better way to do it than show what happened in history. This will hit much closer to home for many people, so they showed the propoganda from World War 2 and it's consequences to show this. If you can see that during a time of conflict and crisis that you should not jump to conclusions and harm segments of your population, then good. But if you don't do that, then discrimination/hatred/bigotry will only grow and lead to bigger problems in the future. What if people with your ancestry/religion/cultrue were being blamed for something that happened? Would you like to be insulted/attacked and even killed due to you belonging to that group? I doubt it. That's why this is taught in the schools, to try and stop it from happening. If we do as the extreme right wants, then those things will happen again and again and only get worse in the future. I don't want that kind of future and neither do most people, but it's what will happen if the extreme right has it's way.

It was also dissapointing to see that some still think along the lines of: "Those that can, do. Those that can't, teach". Nothing can be farther from the truth. Most people in teaching want to be there and absolutely love their work. They have many problems with other things, but the actual teaching aspect they enjoy to do. I know things are different in the US, but here, you can't teach unless you have a teaching degree and to have that requires a few years in university. To say I can't do other jobs related to my education is an insult. I choose to do teaching because I think it's a noble profession and one I do love. If you don't love it, you'll hate it after a short time because it's not an easy job to have. I would challenge anyone who thinks differently to try it for a few weeks, along with all the work involved and see what they think then. Teachers have a lot of crap thrown at them by the public when it's unjustified and we simply have to sit back and take it. When we try to protest, almost always we are rediculed by those who are inconvenienced. Is it any wonder that some would become dissillusioned and not care anymore? That their views may translate into teaching by accident? I don't know about you, but trying to keep a grin on my face and stay energetic all through the workday is not easy. Can you keep that up every day and not allow the outside world to creep in? Neither can a teacher.

So to blame them and attack them in the media when no one has even talked to them about what happened is rediculous. If you have a problem with a teacher/school, GO TALK TO THEM. If nothing is done to your satisfaction, then there are channels for dealing with it.

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