NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/misc/kids/31353

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-01 | 9.2 KB

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From: [e-mail] (Eric Lee Green)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 1 Jan 93 01:43:49 CDT
Newsgroups: misc.kids,misc.education
Subject: Re: Protecting children at Public School
Distribution: world
Organization: Eric's Amiga 2000 @ Home
References: <[e-mail]>
Lines: 171

From article <[e-mail]>, by [e-mail] (David L. Hanson):
> I saw this posted on USENET last week. Since my children are homeschooled,
> they are not subjected to these kinds of indoctrination and prying but for
> those who children are incarcerated in the public school system, this
> information can help protect them. I think it can be helpful for home
> school parents to know what their children are missing, also.

   [Then follows up with letter which gives a long list of what a teacher
    cannot do:]

>           Psychological and psychiatric treatment that is designed
            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>           to affect behavioral, emotional or attitudinal character-
                      ^^^^^^^^^^
>           istics of an individual or designed to elicit information
>           about attitudes, habits, traits, opinions, beliefs or
>           feelings of an individual or group;

  I am a teacher, not a psychologist or psychiatrist. I do, however, apply
BEHAVIORAL interventions: To whit, there are certain behaviors which I
expect from ALL children in my classroom. For example, no fighting, sit in
your seat and work quietly for the entire period, raise your hand before
speaking. I don't care about your religious scruples that say that
"behavior modification is an evil thing." All teachers engage in behavior
modification. Most don't know it by that term, but all teachers who are
"good disciplinarians" are engaging in behavior modification.

Strictly applied, this paragraph means that the teacher would have to get
the parent's consent each time the child must be disciplined.

>           Values clarification, use of moral dilemmas, discussion of

"I have one rule in this classroom. It is the most important rule in the
world. It is the rule from which all other classroom rules come. That rule
is: Do not hurt people. Who can tell me some of the ways that you can hurt
people?"

First day of school, every year. Whoops. Now I need parental consent.

>           Contrived incidents for self-revelation; sensitivity train-
>           ing, group encounter sessions, talk-in, magic circle
>           techniques, self-evaluation and auto-criticism; strategies
>           designed for self-disclosure including the keeping of a diary
>           or a journal or a log book;

Hmm. Every Monday I have the "Monday Rap", a language development exercise
where the children tell about what happened to them during the weekend.
They learn sequencing skills and self-expression skills. I make no attempt
to pass moral judgement on any of the events expressed there, because that
could result in a reduction of expressiveness (i.e., the kid clams up).
Whoops. Now I remember. I just failed the "Hatch Test"! I.e., one day a kid
tells about his gang riding bikes and shooting guns at some other gang of
kids. I say "Guns?". He says defensively, "Well, they're always shooting at
US!" I ask him, "Does that make it right?"  Whoops! A moral dilemma! Call
the Thought Police! I just raped the mind of an innocent young lad!

[long list of activities which do not belong in the schools deleted...
includes "sensitivity training", "death training", and so forth]

>           Discussion and testing on interpersonal relationships;

I do much discussion here, simply because the children I teach don't KNOW
how to behave towards other people. Somebody must teach them how to behave
towards other people, and I seem to be It, because the parents simply
aren't doing the job. Thus this conversation: Me: "Eddie, you made only an
85 on your multiplication facts. [I hand him a deck of flashcards]. You
need to study these." Eddie: "Yes sir. May Jack help me?" Me: "It's okay
with me, but you'll need to politely ask Jack." Eddie (to Jack): "Would you
like to help me, Jack?"

Whoops. Disccusion on interpersonal relationships... warning Will Robinson,
teacher permission required....

>           discussions of attitudes towards parents and parenting;

I do not discuss these with my children. Their parents are their parents.
They love their parents, each and every one of them. Discussion of whether
their parents have good parenting skills or not would only confuse them.

>           Organic evolution, including Darwin's theory;

WHOA!!! Now I'll have to object. I am a teacher. I teach the facts as
currently verified via controlled experiments in reputable scientific
journals or via direct observation of phenomena inprocess. I also include
the scientist's interpretation of those facts where appropriate... for
example, Darwin's observations on the differences between the finches on
different islands in the Galapagos, and his explanation for those
differences. I do not censor them just because of the parent's opinions
regarding the facts.


>           Discussions of witchcraft, occultism, the supernatural, and
>           Eastern mysticism;

Ah. In other words, I cannot use Shakespeare, because Shakespeare used
witchcraft, occultism, and the supernatural in his works. Oh well. Hmm,
let's see, what CAN I use? Nope, not the Bible, the ACLU already zapped
that one... I know! I'll use dull boring crud published as a basal primer
by a large New York publishing house! (Gag me, please... have you ever READ
any of this tripe that is being pushed on our kids?).

Whoops! I forgot. I already violated this clause! Stupid me... I told one
of my children, "There is no such thing as a ghost." Whoops! For your child
I would need to get parental permission first!

>
>           Political and/or religious affiliations of student or family;
>
>           Income of family;

None of the above matter to me.

>           Non-academic personality tests; questionnaires or personal
>           and family life attitudes.

I *DO* give a questionnaire to my children at the beginning of the school
year. I do it for sound behavioral reasons though: I need to learn as much
as possible about my students in order to be able to effectively teach
and discipline them. Whoops! Need parental approval first!

>           The purpose of this letter is to preserve my child's rights
>      under the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (The Hatch Amend-
>      ment) to the General Education Provision Act, and under its
>      regulations as published in the Federal Register of September 6,
>      1984, which became effective November 12, 1984.
>
>           These regulations provide a procedure for filing complaints
>      first at the local level, and then with the U.S. Department of
>      Education.  If a voluntary remedy fails, federal funds can be
>      withdrawn from those in violation of the law.
>
>           I respectfully ask you to send me a substantive response to
>      this letter, attaching a copy of your policy statement on
>      procedures for parental permission requirements, to notify all my
>      child's teachers, and to keep a copy of this letter in my child's
>      permanent file.

If notified of this letter by my principal, I would respectfully ask the
principal and parent to remove said child from my classroom. I am a
teacher. I teach. I teach academics, and I teach children how to think
about academics. I do not teach fuzzy wuzzy occult or "pop psychology"
stuff. I do not teach religion, I do not talk about sex. I do not even have
round-table discussions with my students, except about books that they have
read. I teach. Academics. And behavior, that behavior which is needed in
order to perform adequately in a school environment.

I could not teach a child with such a letter in the student's file. Too
many things that I say and do as an ordinary no-nonsense straight-forward
disciplinarian and academic teacher would require explicit parental
consent. If the principal refused to remove said child from my classroom, I
would then contact my teacher union's lawyer and find out what my options
were. I seem to recall that under Texas law I cannot be required to teach a
child that I cannot educate, and I submit that with a letter like this in
the student's file, I would be incapable of educating said child. If I must
worry about a parent's objections to simple statements like "It's bad to
hurt people and it's good to help people", well... I'm sorry. I won't do
it. If necessary, I would even resign. As a teacher in a high-demand field,
I won't put up with nonsense beyond that already imposed by the school
system.

It's well and good to be concerned about what teachers are teaching your
child. I certainly would not want a teacher telling MY child that ghosts
are real, or that Eastern mysticism is anything other than hogwash. As
for "sensitivity training"... bah humbug. But surely there is a better way
to express this concern besides a letter that even no-nonsense teachers
like myself find objectionable.

--
 Eric Lee Green  [e-mail]   Dodson Elementary
 [phone]                             Houston, TX
                "Kids are kids, no matter what"