Tell kids the truth about Santa = get in trouble.

[HEMI6point1]

Link: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/c...XrJQOuuFceLfkN

I knew from day one that there was no way that a fat guy in a white beard could deliver presents to millions of kids in a 8 hour span. This teacher was letting these kids know the, um, cold hard truth that they need to be thanking their parents for all those gifts, not a mythical figure.

Saying she should be fired for this is just, well, cold.

[Andara Bledin]

It doesn't matter what you, I, or the kids in the class knew, it is not the teacher's place to make that decision.

I don't think she should be fired, but she does need to educate herself about what is and isn't appropriate in a class full of 2nd graders.

^-.-^

[FormerCallingCardRep]

My 18 year old mentally challenged nephew still believes in Santa. It is so cute to see him telling his younger (by three months) cousin Little Bits about going to see Santa and what all he asked for. Especially when he askes her what she asked Santa to bring her

[boringscreenname]

I agree, it's not the teacher's place to tell the kids Santa isn't real. I don't think the teacher deserves to be fired though.

[Kelmon]

Ridiculous. A teacher's job is to teach the facts, as best as they know, and not to engage in lying to preserve some fairy-tale world view.

This would be a non-issue in my country.

[Hyena Dandy]

I think she overstepped her bounds a little. It's really not her decision on that. But fired? Really? I mean, I could see "Calmly asked not to do it again." Or even "Slightly sternly asked not to do it again." But she shouldn't actually get in trouble for it.

[Kheldarson]

Ridiculous. A teacher's job is to teach the facts, as best as they know, and not to engage in lying to preserve some fairy-tale world view.

This would be a non-issue in my country.

Beliefs are a parent's purview. If they choose to continue to tell a child that Santa exists, what right does a teacher have, especially one of an impressionable age group, to override that decision of the parents?

[MaggieTheCat]

Ridiculous. A teacher's job is to teach the facts, as best as they know, and not to engage in lying to preserve some fairy-tale world view.

This would be a non-issue in my country.

There is a reason religion is not taught in public schools in the U.S. It's because each family has their own beliefs, and the beliefs of the teachers and staff of a school should not be shoved onto a child whose family does not agree with those beliefs.

I do not believe in the Christian god. Should I go tell a class of 2nd graders, or my neighbor's kids, or my nieces and nephews that I think the Bible is a farce? No, because that's not my place. Their families can raise them as they see fit, and if parents want their kids to believe in Santa Claus while they're young, it's not your, mine, or any teacher's place to say otherwise.

[Kelmon]

Beliefs are a parent's purview. If they choose to continue to tell a child that Santa exists, what right does a teacher have, especially one of an impressionable age group, to override that decision of the parents?

If said belief contradicts with reality as taught in school - every right.

Are you telling me a teacher is not allowed to tell students that both men and women have 24 ribs each, when for example their parents raised them to belief all men have one less because Eve was formed from Adam's 6000 years ago?

Or, to maybe go for a less religious example: Would a teacher not be allowed to tell a student the earth is round if their parents told them to believe it is flat?


There's a clear difference between teaching religion and "un-teaching" religious belief "by accident" because it clashes with the school's syllabus.

EDIT: spelling.

[anakhouri]

I would be beyond furious if some other adult in a position of authority (someone like a teacher, that he would trust) told Khan there was no Santa Claus. It is absolutely no one else's place to say such a thing to him. His father and I want him to believe in Santa Claus, there is no harm in him believing in Santa, so it is no one else's business.

I would be incensed as well if some teacher told my kid God hated gay people or Xenu killed all the aliens living on Earth with volcanoes. There is a way I want my kid to be raised. When he is older he can make his own decisions. Until then, Santa brings him presents and the Tooth Fairy takes his old baby teeth, and God loves everyone no matter who they are.

Kids are encouraged to grow up ever faster these days. They will learn the cold hard realities soon enough. I want my child to live peeking into every old-fashioned wardrobe he comes across, just in case. I definitely don't want some joyless old hag to destroy his fragile faith in magic at such a young age.

We are not denying science. My husband is a biochemist. We know science, we accept it as reality. How does Santa clash with reality? Who's to say magic doesn't exist somewhere in the cracks and corners of the world? Part of being a good scientist is keeping an open mind.

Should she have been fired? Maybe not, but absolutely disciplined.

[Bright Star]

After a certain age, kids figure it out all on their own that Santa doesn't exist.

[Andara Bledin]

Kids are encouraged to grow up ever faster these days. They will learn the cold hard realities soon enough. I want my child to live peeking into every old-fashioned wardrobe he comes across, just in case. I definitely don't want some joyless old hag to destroy his fragile faith in magic at such a young age.

We are not denying science. My husband is a biochemist. We know science, we accept it as reality. How does Santa clash with reality? Who's to say magic doesn't exist somewhere in the cracks and corners of the world? Part of being a good scientist is keeping an open mind.

Should she have been fired? Maybe not, but absolutely disciplined.

This. Every single sentence.

^-.-^

[Kelmon]

There is a way I want my kid to be raised. When he is older he can make his own decisions. Until then, Santa brings him presents and the Tooth Fairy takes his old baby teeth, and God loves everyone no matter who they are.

I kinda fail to grasp how anyone can think lying to their kids, training their brains to readily accept superstition and having them find out at some point that they can't trust what persons in authority tell them is a good idea.

[anakhouri]

I kinda fail to grasp how anyone can think lying to their kids, training their brains to readily accept superstition and having them find out at some point that they can't trust what persons in authority tell them is a good idea.

So don't do that to your kids. I really don't care how anyone else chooses to raise their children, I only know what is important to me: imagination. And no one gets to define the limits of my son's imagination.

[Panacea]

I look at it this way: what the teacher did was a dumb shit thing to do.

Why? Well certainly, the parents have the right to make those decisions for their own kids, and a public employee has no place in challenging them. It's a valid point brought up by others here. But that's not why I think the teacher did a dumb shit thing.

I think she did a dumb shit thing because she was unnecessarily cruel to those children. Yes, we all know Santa Claus is a modern myth. And yes, it's been commercialized all to hell.

But millions of children enjoy the myth and legend. Taking that joy away from them is simply insensitive and uncaring; not traits I'd associate with early education.

These kids have plenty of time to figure out what a shithole world they live in. Taking away someone's happiness for the sake of the "truth" is a horrid thing to do to anyone, especially when that happiness is based on a "falsehood" that harms no one and brings said happiness to the individual at hand.

Such an act is mean spirited and on THAT basis the teacher should be disciplined.