My little sister gets suspended for conspiracy theorizing...?

reply to post by PurpleChiten


Glad you found my sarcasm so humorous. Now if you could just learn to spell prerogative.... :p

So let me get this straight... It's not acceptable to teach a child about conspiracy theories but it's perfectly fine to teach young children that they need to accept Jesus or suffer eternal hellfire?? Really?

Originally posted by JiggyPotamus
My personal opinion is that being disciplined for something like this is just moronic. But on the other hand, I disagree with what you have been teaching her. Hear me out. Others teach that the truth is something else than what you are teaching, but if you do not make sure she knows what others think, and that they believe the same things, she may be in for a rude awakening one day...And children are still developing at this time, and you don't want to confuse her, even if only subconsciously.

And then there is the problem of teaching conspiracy theories as the "truth." Most of them do not have any proof to back them up, and therefore they should be taught as possibilities rather than as truth. That's basically my only point. So even though you weren't really asking for advice, I thought I would voice that concern to you, just in case you hadn't thought of that.

You usually make good points.... I think the big thing here is that we're only getting one side of the story. For her to have been suspended, this couldn't have been an isolated incident. I gave a possible scenario back on page 19 of the thread

Let's look at it from another perspective that can be gleaned from the OPs comments.

A teacher has a class full of students and is doing her job, teaching them to read and write and do arithmetic. There is one young girl in particular, every time they discuss any new topic, that one little girl blurts out that the teacher is lying and not telling them the truth. If the teacher says 2+2 =4, the girl shouts that "It's all a conspiracy!!! The answer is clearly 7!!". The teacher calms the class, and moves on with the lesson, reminding the girl to not interrupt the class or shout in the classroom. They move on to reading and have a lovely little story by Dr. Suess to better learn phonics and pronunciation. The girl again screams out "Dr. Suess was a spy who was working for the gubment!!!!!". It takes the teacher at least a half hour to calm things down, all the while the girl is shouting at her, calling her a filthy gubment liar who wants to keep them from the truth (and the teacher just wants to get through the lesson plan with as little stress as possible). They move on to Social Studies and are discussing the Statue of Liberty where millions of immigrants gasped and cried as their ships sailed into the harbor, where millions of people visit each year and the little girl again pipes up, screaming about lying and conspiracies and goes on and on and on.
Now, this is normally a very patient teacher, perhaps too patient to have put up with this for so long, but somehow she manages to get things under control again.
The teacher is ill and has to miss school, the class makes nice little get well cards for her, a very thoughtful gesture. Of course there's one.... just one, who writes this:

"Good luck with your flu,
we miss you,
conspiracies to do,
so I'll see you"

What goes through the teacher's head? "so I'll see you"??? Is that a threat? I know the child is off her rocker but is she a stalker too??? ... Good luck with your flu..... is this actually food poisoning of some sort? Did that strange child do something to my lunch and is laughing about it now? ... conspiracies to do... is she saying I'm lying about being sick since she screams that everyone is lying about everything else?? Sheeesh, I can't even take a day off to get over the flu without this child tormenting my life!!!
Being patient and professional, she takes the card to the principal and explains what all has gone on and asks his opinion. The principal thinks "yeah, that child is definitely a nut-job, her older sister was a nut-job too...". And the choice is made to discuss this with the child. While discussing it the child screams at them "This is a conspiracy, you are out to get me!!! I know you are, my sister told me so!!!".... well, that's not only out of line for a student, it's also a sign of serious mental derangement. The girl's parents are called in and talked to, they assure the principal that they will address the situation and convince him to not have her wheeled away in a straight jacket. They go home, the mother is very angry and calls her step-daughter and rips her good for filling the small child's head with all this craziness. The step daughter gets online to try to find people to take her side because nobody in her real life will due to knowing the whole story.

The information provided by the OP isn't all the information that exists and chances are, we are getting a very one-sided depiction of the events.

reply to post by PurpleChiten

Actually, it's not really a debate site, it's a message board/conversation site...
I see why you are taking the approach you are taking now, but that's not the intent of the site.

this is the hegelian dialectic.

two opposing forces engaged in a confrontational debate in order to distill the most valid conclusion from the known data.
i have heard that the motto of this place is "deny ignorance".

i can't really say what the intent of this site is, but the best way that i know to "deny ignorance" is through a good ole-fashioned confrontational debate.

don't they have an actual message board area called "below top secret"?
oh snap... they combined them like a year ago if i remember correctly.

Originally posted by MsAphrodite
reply to post by PurpleChiten

 

Glad you found my sarcasm so humorous. Now if you could just learn to spell prerogative.... :p

eh, at least I'm consistent!

...never was much on "speeeeeling"
I tell my college students that as long as they don't spell "green" as b-l-u-e, it's all good

Originally posted by libertytoall
So let me get this straight... It's not acceptable to teach a child about conspiracy theories but it's perfectly fine to teach young children that they need to accept Jesus or suffer eternal hellfire?? Really?

They don't teach that in school either and the students aren't allowed to interject it just as they aren't to interject the conspiracy theories. If they want to do either one on their own time, during lunch or recess, have at it, but neither is appropriate for the classroom

Originally posted by PurpleChiten

Originally posted by MsAphrodite
reply to post by PurpleChiten

 

You are taking the teacher's side. You are doing the same thing you accuse me of doing.

Yes, I most certainly am. And until I am shown wrongdoing by the teacher, I will continue to take the teacher's side because the teacher is a trained professional who is responsible for the education of the students in her class. Until I am shown, by a direct observation or by a court of law that she is at fault, I will take her side over that of a teenage throwing a fit that "they were so meannnnn to me"

T'was in response to this...Pay attention man.

reply to post by Annee


But they are too stupid, immature, incapable to understand "other truths?" You certainly do pick and choose don't you?

Originally posted by kyviecaldges
reply to post by PurpleChiten

 

Actually, it's not really a debate site, it's a message board/conversation site...
I see why you are taking the approach you are taking now, but that's not the intent of the site.

this is the hegelian dialect.

two opposing forces engaged in a confrontational debate in order to distill the most valid conclusion from the known data.
i have heard that the motto of this place is "deny ignorance".

i can't really say what the intent of this site is, but the best way that i know to "deny ignorance" is through a good ole-fashioned confrontational debate.

don't they have an actual message board area called "below top secret"?
oh snap... they combined them like a year ago if i remember correctly.

I can see that you very much enjoy the process, but unless all other participants agree with the process, it is seen as very unbecoming as well as offputting, causing people to not really want to discuss anything with you.

I often have to remind myself to temper my vocabularly (luckily my spelling stinks at times) on certain boards or people get upset too. Think of it as being out in the general public and all that entails. There is a wide array of educational levels, intelligence, ability and so forth, so we tend to use the generally accepted methods and vernacular in order to interact in the most effective way. .... I've only been here for a month, but I feel that I've learned a great deal about how the boards work. Of course there is always more to learn just as there is in life.

Originally posted by MsAphrodite

Originally posted by PurpleChiten

Originally posted by MsAphrodite
reply to post by PurpleChiten

 

You are taking the teacher's side. You are doing the same thing you accuse me of doing.

Yes, I most certainly am. And until I am shown wrongdoing by the teacher, I will continue to take the teacher's side because the teacher is a trained professional who is responsible for the education of the students in her class. Until I am shown, by a direct observation or by a court of law that she is at fault, I will take her side over that of a teenage throwing a fit that "they were so meannnnn to me"

T'was in response to this...Pay attention man.

ok....what is the question?

It shows the desire of educators to simply not teach the truth or a least alternative theories to todays topics.
It shows they don't want dissent from the student body, no matter what the age or grade. A think what I think attitude toward education, versus you got a big ole brain, use it.

Teach or kids reading, writing, math, science, social skills... They on their own will learn the truth, ever so slowly, as all of us did, and still are.....How do they expect kids to "think outside the box", when they tape the box shut..

Originally posted by PurpleChiten

Originally posted by MsAphrodite

Originally posted by PurpleChiten

Originally posted by MsAphrodite
reply to post by PurpleChiten

 

You are taking the teacher's side. You are doing the same thing you accuse me of doing.

Yes, I most certainly am. And until I am shown wrongdoing by the teacher, I will continue to take the teacher's side because the teacher is a trained professional who is responsible for the education of the students in her class. Until I am shown, by a direct observation or by a court of law that she is at fault, I will take her side over that of a teenage throwing a fit that "they were so meannnnn to me"

T'was in response to this...Pay attention man.

ok....what is the question?

Where did the OP state what is bolded in your post? You said it. I'm asking you where the OP said it, capiche'?

Originally posted by openyourmind1262
It shows the desire of educators to simply not teach the truth or a least alternative theories to todays topics.
It shows they don't want dissent from the student body, no matter what the age or grade. A think what I think attitude toward education, versus you got a big ole brain, use it.

Teach or kids reading, writing, math, science, social skills... They on their own will learn the truth, ever so slowly, as all of us did, and still are.....How do they expect kids to "think outside the box", when they tape the box shut..

The child in question is 10, not a junior or senior in high school.... she doesn't even know what the box is yet, let alone how to think outside of it

Originally posted by MsAphrodite

Where did the OP state what is bolded in your post. You said it. I'm asking you where the OP said it, capiche?

That wasn't a quote, it was the tone of the post... If it had been a quote I would have used [ q u o t e ] for it

... you forgot the apostrophe on capice' ...and spelled it wrong.... going by the urban dictionary now?

....of course I probably did too, but there's an apostrophe somewhere

reply to post by PurpleChiten

I can see that you very much enjoy the process, but unless all other participants agree with the process, it is seen as very unbecoming as well as offputting, causing people to not really want to discuss anything with you.

thank you for continuing to not really want to discuss anything with me throughout the thread by replying to nearly all of my comments.

sarcasm obviously doesn't translate well through the computer screen.

ciao!

reply to post by PurpleChiten


The "tone of the post." So once again you are determining the meaning of what the OP was saying? You are deciding the tone of her post.

Originally posted by MsAphrodite
reply to post by Annee

 

But they are too stupid, immature, incapable to understand "other truths?" You certainly do pick and choose don't you?

"other truths"?

What the hell does that mean?

Are you comparing a 10 year old understanding "different families" - - - to understanding complex conspiracies?

Really?

Originally posted by kyviecaldges
reply to post by PurpleChiten

 

I can see that you very much enjoy the process, but unless all other participants agree with the process, it is seen as very unbecoming as well as offputting, causing people to not really want to discuss anything with you.

thank you for continuing to not really want to discuss anything with me throughout the thread by replying to nearly all of my comments.

sarcasm obviously doesn't translate well through the computer screen.

ciao!

go back and read my posts if you want to know what I said...
L8R T8R!

....guess that's what I get for trying to be nice to someone who is obnoxious

I thought we were actually accomplishing something, but I see you haven't entered your sophomore year yet....come back when you do

Originally posted by MsAphrodite
reply to post by PurpleChiten

 

The "tone of the post." So once again you are determining the meaning of what the OP was saying? You are deciding the tone of her post.

Yup, I'm just gifted that way..... don't be jealous

reply to post by Annee


Complex sexual behavior is appropriate discussion/learning material for kindergartners, really?