Teacher Tells Kids There Is No Santa Claus

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jillio said:
I would certainly hope that we don't have any book burners on this forum, as well. I was pointing out the irony of people who support teaching kids magical events in one context, yet forbid it in another. Santa Claus is a nice little magical story. Children should not be led to believe that it is absolute truth.
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hence.... my Grinch-like posts in here :)
 
jillio said:
I would certainly hope that we don't have any book burners on this forum, as well. I was pointing out the irony of people who support teaching kids magical events in one context, yet forbid it in another. Santa Claus is a nice little magical story. Children should not be led to believe that it is absolute truth.
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Believe me, there are people on this forum who think that a teacher who teaches love and kindness ought to be pepper sprayed.
 
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jillio said:
I can see both sides of this. Evidently it was in the curriculum for her to be teaching a section about the North Pole. How could she actually do a section on the North Pole if she had to support the idea that Santa and a workshop full of elves and flying reindeer populate the North Pole?
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True, it's not even on land. I remember reading that it's just a floating ice shelf with a population of zero, no animals, no plants. Although they do have some research facilities there, but there's no permanent population.
 
Jiro said:
how? we always give away on Christmas Day and we still do. why give gifts to those who have everything?

if that's me being scrooge, then you must be a naughty boy.
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That is not being a scrooge. It is keeping the true spirit of Christmas and the tale of St. Nicholas in your holiday.

Some are just too, what's the word for it....


Greedy.

Me, me, me! Mine, mine, mine! We see it demonstrated quite nicely on Black Friday.
 
VacationGuy234 said:
Sex isn't a lie your parents told you...
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..... yes but I was talking about simply saying "ask your parents."

Honestly, I don't see much difference between this and lying about their father being in jail.

Some people may believe that it's better to lie to a child when they are young, and tell the truth when they are older. Others believe that you should just tell the child right away that their father is in jail.

But why the hell would a teacher go ahead and say "Your father is in jail"? Do you believe that the teacher has the right to say that?
 
TXgolfer said:
Why did the teacher stop with Santa anyway? Why didn't she tell Johnny that his folks are only staying together through the holidays? Or tell Sally about mom being an alcoholic? Maybe she could explain the "walk of shame" one day when she comes to school a little "wrinkly" Or, she could tell Bobby about the lithium dad takes and how he once showed up at a PTA meeting painted gold like the "FTD guy". Maybe she could have broken down the stats on how many of them would end up in prison and homeless or so addicted to drugs they wouldn't know their name. Perhaps delve into the fact that for some of them even a 1st grade education is a waste of time because they will probably OD before they are out of high school. Or perhaps gunned down by gangs. Maybe she could tell them how the few of them that actually make it into the real world are going to spend their lives in jobs they hate, paying bills they don't want to pay while raising kids that will eventually blame them for everything that goes wrong in their lives thanks to the shrink that they pay for. Maybe they could take a field trip to the cemetery and she could tell them "it really doesn't matter what the f%#@ you do with your life, you all end up here". She could even tell them how the school lunches are going to cause some of them to lose a foot someday because someone in a suit decided pizza was a vegetable and apple juice with 32g of sugar is healthy.

Why did she choose Santa of all lies?

Falalalala lalalala
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Because none of the other stuff has anything to do with a geography lesson on the North Pole. Santa and the elves and flying reindeer living there and making toys year round does.:roll:

You people are acting like she just walked into a classroom and blurted out, "Hey kids! Guess what? Santa Claus doesn't exist! Now get out your math books."
 
Beach girl said:
She could have been a little better prepared for the inevitable questions. I could imagine a teacher saying something like "There is a North Pole of geography, that we're learning about today. Santa lives in a magical North Pole, and I don't know very much about that one."

Or something like that. Second-graders are just on that cusp of believing in magical things and learning about the real world. A good elementary school teacher should know how to navigate that passage for her students better than this one did.
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People didn't intend to portray him as a real person in the first place. The flying reindeer was introduced in the famous poem, “A Visit From St. Nicholas".

The gift-exchanging we do today is largely due to what the merchants did back in the 19th century. They did it as a way of getting rid of their inventory by the end of the year. Before that, people usually got nuts, sweets and clay toys. There's also the orange which represents the gold. St. Nicholas used to give gold to the poor.
 
jillio said:
You people are acting like she just walked into a classroom and blurted out, "Hey kids! Guess what? Santa Claus doesn't exist! Now get out your math books."
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Exactly. People sure know how to be dramatic when it comes to this sort of thing.
 
Daredevel7 said:
..... yes but I was talking about simply saying "ask your parents."

Honestly, I don't see much difference between this and lying about their father being in jail.

Some people may believe that it's better to lie to a child when they are young, and tell the truth when they are older. Others believe that you should just tell the child right away that their father is in jail.

But why the hell would a teacher go ahead and say "Your father is in jail"? Do you believe that the teacher has the right to say that?
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Children should be told as much truth as is appropriate for their developmental stage. They learn not to trust adults to tell the truth when they are lied to. Then comes the time that you want them to believe what you are saying, and they ignore it because you have taught them that adults lie and tell you it is for your own good.
 
Banjo said:
True, it's not even on land. I remember reading that it's just a floating ice shelf with a population of zero, no animals, no plants. Although they do have some research facilities there, but there's no permanent population.
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But we can't teach our children accurate things about the earth!:roll:

It is no wonder that education is in the sorry state it is in.
 
Beowulf said:
Believe me, there are people on this forum who think that a teacher who teaches love and kindness ought to be pepper sprayed.
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Oh, I have no doubt. I have seen demonstrations first hand.
 
Jiro said:
hence.... my Grinch-like posts in here :)
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I don't see your posts as being Grinch like. I see your posts as being much closer to the true meaning of the tale of St. Nicholas than many here.
 
Beowulf said:
Believe me, there are people on this forum who think that a teacher who teaches love and kindness ought to be pepper sprayed.
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Oh no, I am scared now! Who will pepper spray me? Who? :eek3:
 
jillio said:
Children should be told as much truth as is appropriate for their developmental stage. They learn not to trust adults to tell the truth when they are lied to. Then comes the time that you want them to believe what you are saying, and they ignore it because you have taught them that adults lie and tell you it is for your own good.
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Yes I know, I'm not defending nor even questioning the parent's choice to lie or tell the truth. I'm not even gonna tell my hypothetical kids that Santa is real.

I'm questioning IF a teacher has the right to do that. I mean come on..... let's get real, do you really want teachers to act like a vigilante for a parent's white lie? There is sort of an "unspoken" rule among adults to not reveal about Santa. Sort of leave it up to the kids to figure it out.

Hell, if I ran into an elementary school and yelled out "SANTA IS NOT REAL!!! SANTA IS NOT REAL!" for "the kids' sake", don't tell me that people would be on my side....
 
Daredevel7 said:
Yes I know, I'm not defending nor even questioning the parent's choice to lie or tell the truth. I'm not even gonna tell my hypothetical kids that Santa is real.

I'm questioning IF a teacher has the right to do that. I mean come on..... let's get real, do you really want teachers to act like a vigilante for a parent's white lie? There is sort of an "unspoken" rule among adults to not reveal about Santa. Sort of leave it up to the kids to figure it out.

Hell, if I ran into an elementary school and yelled out "SANTA IS NOT REAL!!! SANTA IS NOT REAL!" for "the kids' sake", don't tell me that people would be on my side....[/QUOTE]

:lol:
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Babyblue said:
Jillio, Did your son believe in Santa Claus?
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Sure. Until about the age of 5. He then figured it out on his own, approached me, and I told him the truth. Most kids figure it out a lot sooner than their parents suspect, but the kids never mention it because they don't want to upset their parents by letting them know they don't buy it.
 
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