# Has there been a formal debunking of this "note home from teacher"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 5, 2009, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-been-a-formal-debunking-of-this-note-home-from-teacher/505477 "2009-08-05T22:22:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2009, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-been-a-formal-debunking-of-this-note-home-from-teacher/505477/41 "2009-08-06T14:27:29Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > The typical ElHi teacher’s view of instilling respect for authority is to insist that authority is always right. And many kids are smart enough to know teachers aren’t always right and so this backfires big time. It’s not authority if it’s wrong." I would tend to say that it’s still authority, but the proper way to show respect in this instance is “With respect, I think that’s not right, and here’s the reason why.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2009, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-been-a-formal-debunking-of-this-note-home-from-teacher/505477/42 "2009-08-06T15:05:29Z")
The note itself is probably fake. But I can believe something like that happening. My brother (who goes to a “special” school) got in trouble for insisting that a) the sun is not in fact the largest star in the solar system, and b) for using the word “teetotaler” instead of “sober”. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanTigerTamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@SuntanTigerTamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanTigerTamer)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2009, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-been-a-formal-debunking-of-this-note-home-from-teacher/505477/43 "2009-08-06T15:17:39Z")
Try being in 5th grade at a private Christian school and, while learning about Adam and Eve and whatnot (in History class), asking about cave-men. They do not like that at all… ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2009, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-been-a-formal-debunking-of-this-note-home-from-teacher/505477/44 "2009-08-06T15:22:36Z")
> [@](#): > > the sun is not in fact the largest star in the solar system I hope he meant “the galaxy” or something like that. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2009, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-been-a-formal-debunking-of-this-note-home-from-teacher/505477/45 "2009-08-06T15:23:49Z")
I don’t want to jump on teachers who, in my experience, have been gracious, hard-working, and interested in knowledge. However, the only teacher who I know well has almost zero intellectual curiousity. She only reads magazines and I was unsuccessful in convincing her that, in addition to wasps, bees also have stingers. Very depressing to think of her teaching children. ---
**Author:** ![zut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zut/32/2875_2.png) [@zut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zut)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-been-a-formal-debunking-of-this-note-home-from-teacher/505477/46 "2009-08-06T15:25:04Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > The note itself is probably fake. But I can believe something like that happening. My brother (who goes to a “special” school) got in trouble for insisting that a) the sun is not in fact the largest star in the solar system, and b) for using the word “teetotaler” instead of “sober”. a) The sun _is_, in fact, the largest star in the solar system. It’s the \*only \*star in the solar system. b) “Teetotaler” is a noun. “Sober” is an adjective or a verb. They are not equivalent. I’m not sure if your bother should have gotten in \*trouble \*for insisting the sun isn’t the largest star in the solar system and “teetotaler” = “sober,” but he should at least have been gently corrected. ---
**Author:** ![MagicXylophone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@MagicXylophone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicXylophone)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-been-a-formal-debunking-of-this-note-home-from-teacher/505477/47 "2009-08-06T15:25:17Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > The note itself is probably fake. But I can believe something like that happening. My brother (who goes to a “special” school) got in trouble for insisting that **a) the sun is not in fact the largest star in the solar system**, and b) for using the word “teetotaler” instead of “sober”. Bolding mine. :dubious: How was he right to insist that the sun isn’t the biggest star in the solar system? ETA: What \*\*zut \*\*said. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-been-a-formal-debunking-of-this-note-home-from-teacher/505477/48 "2009-08-06T15:25:52Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > The note itself is probably fake. But I can believe something like that happening. My brother (who goes to a “special” school) got in trouble for insisting that a) the sun is not in fact the largest star in the solar system, and b) for using the word “teetotaler” instead of “sober”. The sun actually iS the biggest star in the solar system, and oddly enough, it’s also the smallest. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-been-a-formal-debunking-of-this-note-home-from-teacher/505477/49 "2009-08-06T15:29:08Z")
The note itself is almost certainly a fake, probably an attempt at satire. I’m sorry, but the people we think are jerks or hypocrites or tyrants are NEVER considerate enough to state explicitly in writing that they’re jerks, hypocrites or tyrants. They may say or write things from which we can justly INFER that they are, but that’s about it. Have there been countless REAL incidents that resemble the scenario described in the letter? Sure! Are there countless REAL teachers who believe children should just shut up, do as they’re told, and uncritically parrot whatever they’re taught? Sure- but none who SAY that explicitly in a letter. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2009, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-been-a-formal-debunking-of-this-note-home-from-teacher/505477/50 "2009-08-06T15:31:03Z")
I got sent to the office in high school for correcting the computer teacher one too many times. The lady only half knew the material, I couldn’t help it. Why teach incorrect facts? I don’t remember if she or the office sent a note home, but I don’t remember getting in trouble with my parents. And speaking of incorrect textbooks, the Virginia SOL (standards of learning) test materials have many grammatical errors. ---
**Author:** ![leandroc76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bb73d2/32.png) [@leandroc76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leandroc76)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2009, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-been-a-formal-debunking-of-this-note-home-from-teacher/505477/51 "2009-08-06T15:37:15Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > made my mom decide to run for the school board. I had a spiffy book I got for Christmas, Portraits of Nobel Laureates in Medicine and Physiology. The teacher said that Dr Walter Reid was the only inventor of the yellow fever vaccine. I objected and pointed out he shared the discovery with several other doctors, and showed him the book. I got slammed for correcting the jackass, and yelled at for having a non school book in my desk in class. I got sent to the office and put on detention for a week. My mom was ripping pissed, and she brought in the actual textbook he was supposed to be teaching from, where it even said that it was Dr Reid and a team that discovered the vaccine … she also pointed out that not only did I have a 4.0 average in the class, I had aced every single test and pop quiz, and submitted every single assignment on time and done correctly. She pointed out that that sort of teacher was why the quality of education was declining, and she told them that I was not going to finish that class with that jerk. I hung out in the library, and handed the questions in the book to the librarian to be graded, and took the NY state testing at the end of the year and still had my 4.0 grade … and the next year I went back to private school [where I was treated as a person, not a body filling a seat.] She got elected and kicked ass .. a number of teachers got put on probation for the way they were treating the students and the overall test scores improved over the next 5 years. I live in Western CT. Challenging a teacher through the years seemed more of an “invitation” than a “sin”. I challenged my teachers all the time. They seemed to like it. For them it meant that we were actually paying attention! Of course our teachers were young… I think the oldest teacher we had was an art teacher who was in love with Jackson Pollock… IN LOVE with him. What was sick about it, was he was in 70’s, not Pollock, the art teacher! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2009, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-been-a-formal-debunking-of-this-note-home-from-teacher/505477/52 "2009-08-06T15:37:52Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > If I am not mistaken, it was Sam Stone who some time ago discovered his child was being taught that beavers are amphibians. Some Beavers are classified as amphibians. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-been-a-formal-debunking-of-this-note-home-from-teacher/505477/53 "2009-08-06T15:42:19Z")
I got punished in second grade for reading ahead in the Dick and Jane book. Between that and setting up the meth lab in the janitor’s closet, I spent quite a bit of time with my desk facing the wall. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-been-a-formal-debunking-of-this-note-home-from-teacher/505477/54 "2009-08-06T15:42:34Z")
> [@zut](#): > > b) “Teetotaler” is a noun. “Sober” is an adjective or a verb. They are not equivalent. I’m not sure if your bother should have gotten in \*trouble \*for insisting the sun isn’t the largest star in the solar system and “teetotaler” = “sober,” but he should at least have been gently corrected. For teetotaler/sober, the implication wasn’t that they were the same, but that teetotaler was being used preferentially. We can’t know if brotherMIS was correct without the context there. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2009, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-been-a-formal-debunking-of-this-note-home-from-teacher/505477/55 "2009-08-06T15:45:02Z")
> [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](#): > > Some Beavers are classified as amphibians. Which? (I’m guessing you’re not talking about a vehicle of some kind.) ---
**Author:** ![Shawn1767](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shawn1767](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shawn1767)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2009, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-been-a-formal-debunking-of-this-note-home-from-teacher/505477/56 "2009-08-06T15:51:02Z")
Well, I AM an elementary school teacher. While I have encountered some “old school” teachers who are set in their ways, I have noticed a trend toward being able to admit when you are wrong to a student. I went back to school to become a teacher about 6 years ago and I am now a mentor to a new teacher. One quality I have noticed in her is her ability to recognize her own weaknesses, which I think is a good thing, and which I try to do so in myself. One thing teachers are trained to do (at least in my district) is to admit their mistakes in front of their students. This is done to show that everyone makes mistakes and that it’s ok to make mistakes once in a while and to help students take more risks when answering questions/volunteering for teacher requests. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2009, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-been-a-formal-debunking-of-this-note-home-from-teacher/505477/57 "2009-08-06T16:06:01Z")
> [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](#): > > Some Beavers are classified as amphibians. :dubious: …who by? ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2009, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-been-a-formal-debunking-of-this-note-home-from-teacher/505477/58 "2009-08-06T16:20:42Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > The sun actually iS the biggest star in the solar system, and oddly enough, it’s also the smallest. It also is the most cube like. And most purple. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2009, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-been-a-formal-debunking-of-this-note-home-from-teacher/505477/59 "2009-08-06T16:37:03Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > Yep, and in that thread I was like “No way!” > > Then I actually contacted the school district in question and asked them about it. And they said “Oops, you’re right, we’ll correct that in the next edition of the curriculum.” > > That’s the kind of thing that makes me not _automatically_ dismiss stories like that related in my OP above. The sad part was that the page in question had been written in, I think, 1996, and had been translated two or three times since then, and not once during that period had any teacher, parent, or translator complained about it. It makes you weep. I find wrong information constantly in my daughter’s handouts, and often have to correct the teacher’s grading. The astronomy unit they took last year had a number of factual and conceptual errors in it. Some of it was trivial enough that I just let it go, because I had been sending so many correcting letters to the teacher I was starting to feel a bit too hectoring. One I did comment on was on my daughter’s unit test where the question was asked, “What is the safest way to observe the sun?” She had selected ‘pinhole projector’, which was correct, and the teacher marked it wrong and said it was ‘looking through welding glass’. To her credit, she gave my daughter the mark and then explained to the class that pinhole projectors were the safest method. I had to grit my teeth and ignore all the errors in the aerodynamics unit, because they’re so commonly taught. I worked for an educational book company for a while, and learned a bit about the process the public education system uses for creating their handout material. It’s no wonder it’s full of errors - the material is often created using education majors hired during the summer. They get hired, are told to produce X exams and related handouts, and left to do it with no supervision. These are people maybe a year out of high school themselves, being paid close to minimum wage, and who may not even manage to graduate from the education faculty by the time they’re done. And education is possibly the easiest faculty in the university, so it collects more than its share of the weakest university students. This is a significant problem, because the school system seems to be relying more and more on such handouts rather than textbook material. Probably as a cost saving measure. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2009, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-been-a-formal-debunking-of-this-note-home-from-teacher/505477/60 "2009-08-06T16:45:36Z")
My own story of bad teaching: When I was in Grade 12, I had a social studies teacher who was rabidly anti-American, and would constantly interject anti-American statements or historical ‘facts’ in the material. One day, she said, “America is the only country to ever have dropped an atomic bomb on an innocent country.” I replied, “Well, they were at war…” To my surprise, the teacher came back with, “The United States was at war with GERMANY. They dropped the bomb on JAPAN!”. An argument ensued in which she stood by her comment that the conflict with Japan was but a tiny skirmish and not a ‘real’ war like the war in Europe, while I patient brought up Iwo Jima, Okinawa, the Solomon Islands, and other major battlefronts. Her eventual response was to kick me out of the class. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-been-a-formal-debunking-of-this-note-home-from-teacher/505477.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-been-a-formal-debunking-of-this-note-home-from-teacher/505477.md?page=4)