Towelheads? She really said that? A teacher?

[babylady4]

mom'sfolly :

This person is in a classroom spouting personal beliefs. The teacher is a position of authority over the children in the classroom; this is different from an educator posting personal opinion on a blog.

Everyone is entitled to free speech, and everyone is entitled to an opinion. However, a public school classroom, is not a free speech zone. As a teacher you are not allowed to say to your students "people who have a different faith, political persuasion, race, are blankety, blank evil, no good, scum who cause all the trouble in the world".

As a parent, your job is to educate your children. Camelot's son recognized that this was inappropriate, and brought it to her attention. This is no different than if the teacher had said "girls don't belong in this class, because their brains can't handle math" or "blonds are stupid" or "those bible-thumping Christians caused the Oklahoma City bombing".

AMEN!​

 

[Camelot Farms]

Quote:
I certainly do not have the power to get this teacher fired. There are policies and procedures in place for instances such as this. I am simply looking to address this with the school system which I think is highly appropriate. I am not sure that I am comfortable going directly to the teacher. In all honesty, I believed that a tenured teacher ought to be aware of the boundaries between personal and professional positions.

If she had said this in front of me personally, you bet I would have called her on it right then and there. But since I am hearing it 2nd hand, it seems as though a 3rd party ought to be the one investigating the details. And who better than someone in her own professional backyard?

I dont think anyone has set a time and place for a heretic hunt, moved to have her license revoked or put her in poverty.
When it comes to responses on a thread, I do what I hope everyone does...take the best and leave the rest.

 

[math ace]

Quote:
Amazingly insughtful observation !

My grandma used to say "you catch a lot more flies with honey than vinegar".

The Bible says "blessed is the peacemaker"

If you want change, you have to choose the correct path to that end.
Otherwise, you may end up in a place you never intended to go

 

[PineappleMama]

Quote:
Exactly. You aren't unbiased and neither is the teacher so hand the issue to someone who is. That's why we have civil court, any courts really, so that a third viewpoint can weigh in. In this case the best option would be the district. They can see both sides... don't want to lose a teacher, face a union... but they also don't want dozens of parents upset either. And they most definitely wouldn't want to be held accountable if one of those kids took her words and escalated to more than just talk. So, yeah, I think they'll weigh both sides and make the best decision they can.

You going and confronting her, bias against bias, could be considered YOU being aggressive and ignoring the 'chain of command'... imagine if the roles were reversed. If it was a student who interrupted class to have that little rant and the teacher, rather than dealing with it through school channels instead marched up to your home/work and had it out with you. Would not work, bad idea. There's a reason all that staff, APs and Principals all the way up to Supers are there. There's a reason that contact info for those people is available to parents, and even citizens without kids in school. It's so communication is possible.

As to finding out why the woman has issues... that isn't the student's job, and it's not the parent's job. Maybe the district's, but they've got a fine line to walk... one wrong question and the teacher/union will sue... so they seem to wait until parents bring a problem to their attention, then they can point to the why. It isn't just a hunch, or something about this person, that kind of thing can be considered harassment, targeting, etc. Districts are know for covering their bums, they've got to with parents and teachers suing them all the time. If this woman has issues it's her responsibility to seek help for them, no one else's. The fact that she hasn't (or what help she's sought didn't work) sort of indicates that she doesn't see her 'views' as anything bad... the fact that she's spouting it in class confirms that... just my thoughts, but your health is your problem, not every other person on the planet's.

Anywho, definitely keep us posted.

 

[math ace]

FYI - - Those who have responded on this thread that teachers should have to take classes on how to behave . . . .

Teachers who are EDUCATION MAJORS - - spend half of their their college career taking classes in the subject matter and the other half taking classes on educational theory, how to correspond to parents, how to manage a class, what is acceptable to talk about in class, etc. Teachers are just regular folks trying to do a very hard job that has many dynamics to it. The colleges train the teachers to do it one way, principals ask for it another way, and the government wants to see it taught from a totally different perspective.

I've seen many fine folks who could not find a job in their choosen field decide to "make a difference and teach". After 90 days, many had packed their bags and said "you can't pay me enough to do this job". It is more difficult than you can ever imagine.

You will run across a bad apple here and there, but overall teachers are very caring individuals who work extremely hard. They are PROFESSIONALS who went to school for at least four years and had to pass numerious state exams to even walk in the door to teach.
HOWEVER, at the end of the day, teachers are just regular folks who experience the same things the rest of us do - - - marriage, divorce, life, and death. They are not super human beings incapable of making mistakes or errors in judgement.

 

[Boyd]

Quote:
Very wise sentiments

I am a backyard armchair sociologist/theologian. I have no formal training but I have done quite a bit of reading of many of the books folks think of as Holy. Now without getting into a religious discussion on it, there are SOoooooooo many common points to most of the religions out there if folks would only open themselves to the possibilities life wouldn't have to be so hard.

 

[michickenwrangler]

Towelhead is as much of an ethnic slur as a religious one. DH and I once got into it when he referred to a Pakistani as a "Arab" and not only did he find out how wrong he was, he also got a long lecture on the linguistic and cultural differences between the Indo-Europeans and Semitic peoples. Was HE ever surprised when he ound out that the Iranians, Pakistanis, Tajiks and northern Indians are "aryans" and distant cousins of his German/Nordic ancestors.

He just loves my history degree

One of my big pet peeves is a lot of times people use ethnic slurs without totally realizing what they mean and don't even use the correct slur in some cases. No, they shouldn't be used at all but stupidly assuming all people who follow Islam are Arabs just isn't true.

Like Boyd and others have said, basically all religions are the same anyway God is God whether S/He is called Jehovah or Elohim or Zeus or Vishnu or Al-ilah or Erde or Diana.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

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[Sonoran Silkies]

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Absolutely inappropriate.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

Quote:
I converted to Islam in May, 2001 and my conversion class got smaller in September. I saw hatred from both sides at that time, and I never want to be part of encouraging hatred. What concerns me the most about extreme reactions to the actions of others is that it accelerates our differences instead of leading to reconciliation and resolutions. Too often extreme reactions are about one's own self and will, and not about doing what is right, just, or good.

As a convert, I took my conversion very seriously and studied with a Shaykh from Mauretania, Shaykh Salek bin Siddina. When a Muslim says Allahu Akhbar, it means God is Greater, no matter how great you conceive God to be, God is more than that. The God of all Revealed Religions - Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism - is the one Supreme Creator and Sustainer of the Universe. In my opinion - and I am NOT a religious scholar, and I don't play one on the Internet - when God sent each people a Prophet, that Prophet had to talk to them in ways they could understand. If we focus on God we get along far better than when we focus on the differences in how we focus on God.

One of the ways that many Muslims focus on God is to contemplate the 99 names, or attributes. There is a wonderful book by Shaykh Tosun Bayrack al-Jerrahi al Halveti called the Name & the Named which a Muslim can study to qualify oneself with the qualities of God - by studying these names one can transform the soul as one realizes that "the human being is the microcosm of the macrocosm where God's attributes are reflected." As I understand it, all religions have this concept of the improvement of the character by studying scriptures and God and since none of us are perfect, I think we should do more of it.

That's my opinion, and I am sticking to it.