Hallelujah!

So true!!! I love when my students share their opinions and think for themselves…

But what scares me the most is that these kids only know about Barak and Hilary because of the innumerable democratic primaries; republicans can’t buy this publicity. PS~Hilary’s wants to represent our country; she doesn’t even show up to our NYS Senate meetings, which she’s getting paid for, plus don’t forget her free car and health insurance for life…

“So, for big things like politics and sex education to protect the teachers as well as the students, I think there should be a well identified curriculum.”

Hilary’s responsible for NCLB, so I’d bet she’d support this. When do we want to test them on this, too? 1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th, etc…??? What ever happened to learning for the thrill of learning!?!?!
We need less government oversight, not more!

Absolutely! I do not allow “Bush sucks” comments in the classroom, regardless of my feelings. If they want to intelligently discuss why they do not like Bush (or Hillary, Obama, McCain), I’m all for it. If their info is incorrect, let’s pull up Google and do some research. I’m the first to tell students that I, along with all other teachers, do NOT know everything!

It can be a really slippery slope, because most children idolize the teacher. We represent the “truth” in their eyes. It is so crucial to be objective and leave your personal opinions on holidays, sex, politics, and religion at home. It is our job to present all of the facts, and let them draw their own conclusions.

Allsion G., that is most bizarre that she wouldn’t even spell out Christ though.

But, I’m not even talking about those overt crossings into opinion. Those are obvious and scary. But, I really do believe that most teachers try to do the right thing (I mean teachers are paid pennies for hard work), but sometimes they might not even realize that they’re crossing a line. So, for big things like politics and sex education to protect the teachers as well as the students, I think there should be a well identified curriculum.

Rita said:
“They worship their teachers at these young ages and it is such an abuse of power for teachers to be presenting their opinion on any of these things.”

I’ll always remember this day. Back when I was in first grade, we had to write a paragraph about what we were going to do over Winter Vacation. I asked my teacher (who was Jewish in faith) how to spell ‘Christmas’ and she replied with “X-mas”. I asked her a couple more times “No Mrs. R, ‘Kriiiissss Miiisss’, like that.” And she still replied with “X-mas”. She would not spell out C-H-R-I-S-T at all.

I’ll never forget that day when a teacher’s views/opinions squashed a child’s learning opportunity. Really, would it have been a complete betrayal of faith to just answer the damn question?????

Teachers need to remain neutral, and just stick to teaching the 3 R’s……..[/quote]

That sucks….which beings me to being PC during Christmas time….it isn’t Christmas break anymore, it is winter break…and no Silent Night in the school, only Jingle Bells….holiday trees this year, not Chirstmas trees….Give me a freakin break…we have to be PC to all the other faiths, but what about good ole Christianity????

Rita said:
“They worship their teachers at these young ages and it is such an abuse of power for teachers to be presenting their opinion on any of these things.”

I’ll always remember this day. Back when I was in first grade, we had to write a paragraph about what we were going to do over Winter Vacation. I asked my teacher (who was Jewish in faith) how to spell ‘Christmas’ and she replied with “X-mas”. I asked her a couple more times “No Mrs. R, ‘Kriiiissss Miiisss’, like that.” And she still replied with “X-mas”. She would not spell out C-H-R-I-S-T at all.

I’ll never forget that day when a teacher’s views/opinions squashed a child’s learning opportunity. Really, would it have been a complete betrayal of faith to just answer the damn question?????

Teachers need to remain neutral, and just stick to teaching the 3 R’s……..

I remember to this day, back when I was in 1st grade, we were to write a paragraph about Winter Vacation and what we planned to do. I remember asking my teacher (who was Jewish in faith) how to spell ‘Christmas’ and she replied “X-mas”. And I asked her a couple of more times “No, Mrs. R. ‘Kriiissss Miiiisss’ like that.” And she kept replying “X-mas”.

I never forgot that day, and how her own beliefs/opinions squashed a child’s question. Would it have been such a betrayal of faith to just answer the damn question?????

Teachers need to remain neutral and just stick to the 3 R’s……..

[/quote]

That is bad. I remember when my son was in second grade and he came home with all these “facts” about the war, which just made me furious. They worship their teachers at these young ages and it is such an abuse of power for teachers to be presenting their opinion on any of these things. Kids don’t understand the difference yet, and when you have to explain the difference, it ruins the entire credibility of the teacher and the whole educational system for the kids. They see things in black and white–either the teacher was right or she was wrong. She told the truth or she lied. They don’t understand the gray area of opinions yet. It puts US in such a difficult position at home.

I know, this might seem like it’s contradicting some of the other things I’ve said in the past (about presenting the concept of alternate family situations and the like). But, I don’t think so (LOL), because those things would be part of a curriculum, not teacher opinion to present or not present in whatever way they deemed fit. You know?

If the war, or the election or politics are going to be presented in elementary schools, then I think there should be some guidelines by the governing powers for how they should be presented, not just left up to the teachers to do. Well meaning teachers inadvertently can overstep boundaries too easily in these young ages. JMO.[/quote]

Great post potty mouth just kidding…..OK???
I hate to see our children indoctrinated by a teachers POV….my daughter grew up in Mormon country, and we are not of the popular faith. She was teased and terrorized in 1st and 2nd grade because she went to the “wrong” church…was told she was going to hell, etc…I could go on 4-ever. See the churches in Utah are divided into “WARDS”. Each neighborhood has a wardhouse were the members go to church, and the public school is a block away. So everyone knows who is and isn’t Mormon. The teachers know too, obviuosly, and she was treated terribly. Teachers need to teach school and keep their personal thoughts at home!

[/quote]

That is bad. I remember when my son was in second grade and he came home with all these “facts” about the war, which just made me furious. They worship their teachers at these young ages and it is such an abuse of power for teachers to be presenting their opinion on any of these things. Kids don’t understand the difference yet, and when you have to explain the difference, it ruins the entire credibility of the teacher and the whole educational system for the kids. They see things in black and white–either the teacher was right or she was wrong. She told the truth or she lied. They don’t understand the gray area of opinions yet. It puts US in such a difficult position at home.

I know, this might seem like it’s contradicting some of the other things I’ve said in the past (about presenting the concept of alternate family situations and the like). But, I don’t think so (LOL), because those things would be part of a curriculum, not teacher opinion to present or not present in whatever way they deemed fit. You know?

If the war, or the election or politics are going to be presented in elementary schools, then I think there should be some guidelines by the governing powers for how they should be presented, not just left up to the teachers to do. Well meaning teachers inadvertently can overstep boundaries too easily in these young ages. JMO.