Question for parents

[impressive]

I'd probably (a) call the newspaper and (b) create a blog to shout about it -- 'cause when it leaves the classroom, it becomes all kinds of wrong. Until then, it can be an exercise.

 

[Liar]

Would this bother you as a parent? What if your kid didn't care for that candidate? What if you didn't care for that candidate?

The mailing it in is clearly over the line.

Or will it be followed by a note that says "the kids didn't do this voluntarily and had no say in what they wrote"? Heh, probably not.

On another note, kids are not their parents. Whether I as a parent like the candidate or not should not weigh in. Let the lil critters make their own choice.

 

[Lee Chambers]

This is some manner of BULLSHIT!!

First off, these kids are in sixth grade. Why the fuck should they be having to write letters to a politician that they may or may not know jack shit about and may or may not have even chosen if they were able to make that choice.

Second, who the FUCK does this mother fucker think they are by saying "If you don't write a nice letter congratulating this person that I have picked in the guidelines that I've laid out you FAIL." BULLSHIT!!!

Third, what the FUCK was going through their mind when they decided it would be okay to mail out these letters to the politician. Are they going to include a note along with them to the winner that lets them know "These letters were written under the threat of blackmail."

Everyone from the god damned school board to the mother fucking janitor would hear about this bullshit. This fucker has NO RIGHT to make these kids write a letter like this for their own political purposes.

You need to let not only the administration know but also any parent you can find and the local news. This is NOT democracy in action. This is OPPRESSION.

 

[SensualCealy]

Okay, so stepping back and seeing what this project is really about- letter writing.

You can write the 'winner' without supporting his cause.

Simply commend him for the efforts he put out to win the campagne, complement him on his drive, work ethic etc. You don't have to say one word supporting his beliefs, or any of the promises any candidate will surly lie about at some point in time. Don't forget you can be negative without being negative, "You did an admiral job in showing the American public how people who know absolutely nothing about ... can pursuede others into believing what you say is true." Nothing negative-right? lol

THEN, I would write a well written letter, without being too in your face, to the teacher, principal, v-p, superintendents, and trustees or who ever the rank flows to. I would write one letter and make sure you show on the bottom of the letter who all is getting a copy. This will make the teacher and principal pee their pants most likely.

C- and yes, Id be pissed if my kids were asked to do the same.

 

[3113]

No need to Tar-and-Feather yet....

I'm in agreement that there are two points on which this crosses the line, but I think it's a little early in the game to call newspapers, post blogs, and get out the torches and lynch mob.

The teacher has made two mistakes:
1) Choosing the politician. If this is an exercise in writing gracious letters, then the teacher should actually require all students to pick a winner that they don't like and use this as an exercise in doing what McCain did in graciously congratulating an opponent in defeat. This would be a valuable exercise as it would teach kids to see the good in others, even those who oppose them, and teach them how to accept defeat without bitterness. Also good manners.

Picking the politician for them defeats any and all purpose.

2) The teacher should not mail off the letters. That should be entirely up to the child and/or their parents. These are not kindergardeners doing pretty pictures for the new president, they're sixth graders writing an assignment. Not kosher!

However, before you lead the whole PTA in an enraged body into the classroom, there to grab their children away from this monster and her evil propaganda attempt, try going first to the principal--like tomorrow with your kid!--and meet with him/her and the teacher. Point out these two problems, calmly but forcefully, and explain that you are seeing this as the teacher forcing partisan politics on the children rather than teaching them anything about politics or winning/losing or letter writing.

If the teacher will not budge, and the principal is firmly on her side and will not mediate between you, THEN it will be time to go to the board of trustees, the newspaper, etc.

Right now, while you've every right to be angry, there is no need to take this to the tar-and-feathering stage. Teachers are in great demand, small supply, overworked, underpaid, and they are human. They make mistakes. Give the teacher a chance to correct the mistake and learn a lesson, and, for that matter, for your kid to learn a lesson in how to handle problems like this, before you bring in the big guns.

Edited to add: Do make sure that you tell both principal and teacher that you won't be satisfied with them just letting your child off the hook for this assignment. This is a question of ethics and teaching, and the assignment should be changed for all, not just for the squeaky wheel.

 

[TE999]

"Tears streamed down Winston Smith's face. He loved Big Brother."

That's not a class assignment, it's a re-education.

 

[DesertPirate]

Reminds me of a teacher that wanted some 6th graders to send cards to a Govt. Representative about holding talks with another Govt. It seems ten parents found out and the teacher left town. They didn't want their kids writhing to the North Vietnamese in 1969.

 

[cloudy]

Reminds me of a teacher that wanted some 6th graders to send cards to a Govt. Representative about holding talks with another Govt. It seems ten parents found out and the teacher left town. They didn't want their kids writhing to the North Vietnamese in 1969.

One hardly compares to the other.

 

[sr71plt]

Unless you are about to move your child out of the school anyway, I don't think it will serve your child's interest to zip right past the teacher with this. I think it would be best to see if you can get the teacher adjusted in as nonthreatening form as possible first without going farther.

 

[DesertPirate]

One hardly compares to the other.

Indoctrination is indoctrination and has no business in a school.

 

[cloudy]

Indoctrination is indoctrination and has no business in a school.

I agree, but you can't compare writing to a political winner in our own country to writing to a government that we are at war with.

(get over those grapes yet?)

 

[tickledkitty]

I think I might just tell the kid to do the assignment and let it go. Is it really worth the effort of making a big deal out of it? I mean, it's just one assignment. All they're doing is congratulating the winner. They're not being asked to espouse the person's beliefs or anything. *shrugs*

I don't know. Maybe I'm too blase about he whole thing.

 

[DesertPirate]

I agree, but you can't compare writing to a political winner in our own country to writing to a government that we are at war with.

(get over those grapes yet?)

Haven't had any grapes in a month.
Buying a pistol tomorrow while I still can.
Got powder today for the reloading bench.

 

[cloudy]

I think I might just tell the kid to do the assignment and let it go. Is it really worth the effort of making a big deal out of it? I mean, it's just one assignment. All they're doing is congratulating the winner. They're not being asked to espouse the person's beliefs or anything. *shrugs*

I don't know. Maybe I'm too blase about he whole thing.

Thank you. My take on it, too.

It's a letter, ffs, not a lifetime commitment.

 

[Wildcard Ky]

I think I might just tell the kid to do the assignment and let it go. Is it really worth the effort of making a big deal out of it? I mean, it's just one assignment. All they're doing is congratulating the winner. They're not being asked to espouse the person's beliefs or anything. *shrugs*

I don't know. Maybe I'm too blase about he whole thing.

I disagree on that one. I am very diligent in teaching my children about basic American freedoms. They know exactly what freedom of speech is. She knows that this assignment is infringing on her freedom of speech. She's being forced to say political things that she doesn't want to say or suffer the consequences. My child is very politically astute for someone her age. She researches where candidates stand, and makes up her own mind. I DO NOT force my opinion on to them. I make them come up with an opinion, then be able to explain it on an 6th grade level.

I have chosen to allow the child to form her own opinionss, and sau what she wants to say within reason. I feel that this teacher is usurping my daughters right to free speech, but also my right to raise my kids the way i see fitl

I will be calling the school early in the morning to set up an appointment with the teacher. It will be just me and the teacher at first. If I'm not satisfied with how that's going, then I'll start to involve others from further up the chain.

I will either get this matter resolved very locally, or all the reast of you may be hearing about it on CNN in a few weeks

Of course, if this thing blows upi and goes nationwide, My cover as a mild mannered part time porn writer may be in jeaopardy....

 

[cloudy]

Something to consider:

Are you making such a big deal out of this because of the way you feel about the election?

Or because of the way your child feels about the assignment?

There's a huge difference. It isn't about you.

It's your child, of course, and by all means, do what you think is right, but be careful. If the fuss is really about you and not her, you could be making things extremely uncomfortable for her in the future.

Again, just some thoughts.

 

[swampian]

I wouldn't have a problem with it. While the teacher could have been better in allowing the children to choose the winner, the basics of praising accomplishment is good. In fact, praising the accomplishment of someone you don't like might be even better.

 

[Guest]

Sixth grade is not too young to learn about this. Many children are well-informed, or at least, have strong opinions because of their parent's views.

The fact the teacher selected an actual politician, not fictional, and actually plans to mail the letters is a problem.

As a parent, I wouldn't have a problem with a letter writing assignment to a fictional winner. Or I wouldn't have a problem with a letter writing assignment to the candidate of the student's choice.

But to be forced to write a congratulatory letter? No. That's distasteful.

In our district, we aren't allowed to discuss our specific political views in the classroom. Staff and students aren't allowed to wear T-shirts or buttons or whatever supporting/not supporting specific candidates.

Meeting with the teacher should take care of it. Most teachers, unless they are completely clueless or very, very new, will quickly realize the gaffe.

I also don't see anything wrong with informing the administration. Just an FYI sort of thing. They should be made aware of this, in case it happens again.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

We had writing assignments in school, but in every case the letters were to people who did some kindness to us students. But congratulating an election winner is inappropriate as a required task.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

So what did you do? I'd love to know.

I talked to the teacher first, telling her I thought it was inappropriate. She replied that she had been using that particular assignment for twenty years (yeah... that I believed) and had no intention of changing her lesson plans. (Believed that, too.)

So off to the principal I went. WHO DEFENDED THE TEACHER? Wow.

Granted, we lived in a tiny little community that had, oh, I don't know, twelve, fifteen, fundamental baptist churches who all fought for the kids' attendance during their summer bible school classes (they would literally bribe kids with candy to try to get them to go).

So I took it up with the superintendent, who finally listened and agreed that, oh yes, there IS such a thing in this country as separation of church and state.

The teacher was reprimanded, the "ditto" in question (it was actually a ditto, too, not a photocopy) was removed from the curriculum.

And my kid got the shaft from that teacher for the rest of the year. Thankfully it was April, I think, when it happened.

So definitely be aware, a parent taking a stand while that child is still in the classroom WILL have negative consequences, even if you can't see them directly.

But there are some things, I think, that are more important than being comfortable. My kids still talk about the time mom took on the Harper Valley PTA. *grin* (Not, ya know, that I did anything but talk on the phone to the superintendent, but it's family legend now... ) And next year, he had a different teacher, and Mrs. Beaver retired.

Don't you love tenure?

 

[Boota]

Total bullshit assignment.

And since when is this political indoctrination part of the curriculum? It never happened when I was in school. Last week my son's fourth grade class held a mock election with the Presidential candidates. His teacher came around and warned all the students ahead of time that if they voted for Barack Obama that a tall man with a beard was going to come and kill them and their families. Then she said to come home and ask their parents not to vote for Barack Obama in the real election. She told the class that George W. Bush was the best President we'd ever had and that John McCain would carry on his "great work".

One thing it did achieve was to open a lot of discussion about Presidents and government. Mojo, my son, is hungry for knowledge about every little thing. For the last week we've been talking about this stuff. All the kids have been really interested in the election, though. We let them stay up on Election night to witness the history of it.

The other good news is that the fourth grade class, despite the admonitions of Mrs. Doomsayer, voted for Obama by 82%.

 

[jomar]

Total bullshit assignment.

And since when is this political indoctrination part of the curriculum? It never happened when I was in school. Last week my son's fourth grade class held a mock election with the Presidential candidates. His teacher came around and warned all the students ahead of time that if they voted for Barack Obama that a tall man with a beard was going to come and kill them and their families. Then she said to come home and ask their parents not to vote for Barack Obama in the real election. She told the class that George W. Bush was the best President we'd ever had and that John McCain would carry on his "great work".

One thing it did achieve was to open a lot of discussion about Presidents and government. Mojo, my son, is hungry for knowledge about every little thing. For the last week we've been talking about this stuff. All the kids have been really interested in the election, though. We let them stay up on Election night to witness the history of it.

The other good news is that the fourth grade class, despite the admonitions of Mrs. Doomsayer, voted for Obama by 82%.

Seriously? If the teacher really said that, for me it would be an automatic upgrade to talking at least to the principal. Open up discussion, sure, but the bogeyman? Can't let that pass.

 

[Wildcard Ky]

Here's the update for the situation:

I had a talk with the teacher this morning. I have several suspicions, but I won't go into all of that.

The teacher backed down on this assignment. NOW, the kids must still write A LETTER. They can write it to a candidate of their choosing. They are not required to sign their name to the letter, and the teacher will only mail the letters if a kid asks her to.

This is the second incident I've had with this teacher this year. The first one was over her telling the class "There's no such thing as proper english".

Yes. she is an english teacher...........

 

[Liar]

Here's the update for the situation:

I had a talk with the teacher this morning. I have several suspicions, but I won't go into all of that.

The teacher backed down on this assignment. NOW, the kids must still write A LETTER. They can write it to a candidate of their choosing. They are not required to sign their name to the letter, and the teacher will only mail the letters if a kid asks her to.

Works for me. Glad a little indignation did the trick.

This is the second incident I've had with this teacher this year. The first one was over her telling the class "There's no such thing as proper english".

Well, that is actually true. Technically speaking.

The English vocabulary and grammar is descriptive instead of prescriptive - telling us how the language is used instead of how it shall be used. Which is pretty rare. I think there are only one or two more western languages that works that way. That being said, telling that to 6th graders... eh... kinda irresponsible, unless you're very, VERY good at explaining what it means.

 

[3113]

The teacher backed down on this assignment. NOW, the kids must still write A LETTER. They can write it to a candidate of their choosing. They are not required to sign their name to the letter, and the teacher will only mail the letters if a kid asks her to.

Good job, Ky. The assignment is not a bad one, in fact, it's a very good idea to teach kids to write letters to people congratulating them, thanking them and such. It teaches good manners and good writing. But those two points were sticking points and I'm glad you got them worked out.

My suspicion is that the teacher was probably hoping to get her fifteen minutes of fame--maybe just local fame--by having her class on the news for letters of congrads written to a candidate, something like that.

Good to know she'd been pulled back into remembering that it isn't about her, it's about the kids and what you're supposed to be teaching them.