Is my 7 year old daughter being prepped for disclosure by her school?, page 1

reply to post by scobro

Very interesting...

What you really need to consider is that some teachers are stuck in a system that they despise. It's not necessarily the job that they despise, it's the way in which they are dictated to, by their curriculum authority, with regards to the dry and boring content that they MUST deliver. Education is spoon-fed corporatism that doesn't teach students to think. It teaches them to learn and specialise. I despise modern education.

I suspect that this teacher has a personal interest in UFOs and is using the context to frame some type of curriculum task, which achieves goals in a fun way. I don't see a problem with the UFO landing in a park task, as it's just as plausible as asking the kids what they would do if they saw a faerie in the park, etc...

Similarly, a teacher could use questions about angles of elevation of aircraft (in a maths class), but replace the aircraft with UFOs. If pressed by parents or school administration, then the teacher could justify that anything seen in the sky, which is unusual could be a UFO. From a real world perspective, a student would want to know something about angles of elevation if they were looking at something unusual. How many students look up to watch a plane pass by? Not many, as they know what planes look like. I know teachers who create worksheets with subtle mentioning of fringe topics, that can be justified.

Now, the only precarious situation this teacher is placing herself in, is predicting an alien event in July. This is not as easy to defend, with regards to particular curriculum goals. She would have been better off asking the students to rank in order of liklihood a few different events and include "Aliens land in July" as one of the events. The teacher could justify this, as there are bookmakers who take bets on aliens landing, etc.

A teacher must gag one's self of all personal opinions, in order to collect their pay cheques. However, they can still manage to push an agenda, if they're smart about it. Very carfully, very subtely.

Here's something for you to do: CALL THE TEACHER. Get her side of the story. If she's a little reluctant, then tell her that you're NOT baying for her job, just mention that you thought it was unusual what she did/said. She may appreciate the advice and she probably needs a gentle nudge to know her limits, before the annoying lot of parents start to complain. If you didn't mind what she did, then say so, she'll probably be glad for some positive feedback instead of the constant negative stream of criticism from moronic parents.

By the way, how old is the teacher? For how long has she been teaching?

[edit on 16-7-2008 by tezzajw]