This has nothing do with political correctness. It has to do with a government employee destroying a shared cultural fantasy for a group of children who are five years old.
Not in the first grade, she shouldn’t. That is not what she was there to teach.
OK, SUBSTITUTE teacher. She is not being fired. One principal is questioning whether she should teach at his school again. If I had that many six year olds freak out on me (and their parents) I would not want her back that year. Frankly, I’d question her ability to teach young children if she doesn’t know AND care that kids that age tend to fall into the True Believers and the I’ve Got a Secret bunch. It’s a balancing act. If you can’t walk that tightrope over this Little Thing and a hundred other Little Things that all add up to BIG Things when you’re 6 or 7, you’re not going to be a very good teach for kids that age.
When I was married, my stepsons were 4 and 7. I left when they were 9 and 12. As far as I know, they were still believing in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy at that age (the older one had some learning and medical disabilities so this wasn’t as WTF as it seems on the surface). I disagreed with letting them persist with this myth, but it wasn’t my decision to make. I felt the longer it went on, the more impactful the truth would be and the bigger chance of it turning into a bullying situation. Still, not my call, and I didn’t break the faith with their mother.
The question is “Does this woman have the judgement and sense to take a class of six year olds for one day and not make the national news?” Answer is NO. She may be perfectly fine with fifth graders, jr. high or high school students. Hell, she may have learned enough from this that she’d be fine with first and K now. (doubt it)
For the record, I was the kid who never believed in Santa Claus or the tooth fairy or Easter Bunny. Even at four, I was giving that one some big ol’ side eye. I was cautioned to just keep my trap shut and let other kids believe what they believed at their house. If I could learn that at four, how difficult is it to learn at 14, 24 or 40?
Keep in mind when older kids say they still believe in Santa, quite often it is because of the probably 70 year old rumor that kids spread to each other that once your parents know that you stopped believing in Santa you get less toys.
Wow, good point. I just went back and edited all references to “crime of the century” out of my posts, and replaced them with references to “childhood cruelty.” You got me there, pkbites. I totally understand being smug about being cruel to other children when you were a child; good show on that.
I couldn’t bring myself to lie to my child. I did consider it harmful. The idea that at some point my kid would realize that I lied, elaborately, for years just didn’t sit well with me.
To me, this is different from watching cartoons and playacting. No one ever tells little Cindy that the cartoons are real or that she actually turned into a puppy when she started barking. This is telling kids that something fictional is real. It’s intentionally duping them. For years.
The only tricky part was explaining that telling other kids SC wasn’t real was out of bounds.
Did the lack of the SC lie hurt my child? Not at all. My kid LOVED Christmas. For us, the holiday had no religious meaning nor was SC ever a part of it. But the spirit of giving was embraced enthusiastically and the season was always fun.
And really, I have no judgment about people who participate in the SC myth. Your kids. Your decision.
As for the teacher: Maybe not their place, but I don’t think any disciplinary action should be taken. Parents have to deal with the possibility of the myth being exposed constantly. They have to continually come up with more lies to continue with the myth. If parents can figure out a way to explain department store Santas so they can keep the myth going, they can handle this.
And really, you’re going to discipline the teacher for telling the truth? About a myth?
I have a deal with my kids. I can act like Calvin’s dad all I want, coming up with bizarre and fanciful answers to the simplest questions, and I can go on and on about it as much as I want. But if one of them asks me, “Daddy, for REAL?” or a similar question, I have to answer honestly.
That’s my approach to Santa as well, and I think it’s very reasonable. (Note that my kids, by the time they’re four or so, recognize what a damn liar I am and know to ask that “FOR REAL?” question whenever things get too weird.)
This is where my 9-year-old son is at. We’ve never explicitly said the old fat man is a myth, any questions he ever had were met with “What do you think?” But he still plays along. My wife was talking with his friend’s mom last year, and she said she overhead the two boys talking about knowing it’s all made up, but they play along to keep the parents happy and keep getting the gifts. We’re all fine with that.
This seems like a good way to deal with it. Kids are all very different.
My kid actually participated in being a “Santa’s helper”. Sorting gifts for Santa to give to needy children. She loved it. She never seemed the least bit upset that Santa was a myth.
This is a decision each parent makes on their own, but the teacher doesn’t have the right to make it for them.
No, disciplining the teacher for usurping parental authority, which you’ve already shown that you respect for parents who make a different choice than yours.
Suppose the teacher told a roomful of kids that there is no God. It’s just a myth. How would the reactions change?
Well she’s just telling the truth about a myth, so no problem right?
In reality, she would probably be tossed out of the district very fast.
So?
Are you really wanting to compare religious beliefs with the Santa myth?
I mean, I see the correlation, but many people would be insulted by this comparison.
Context thing, you need to read through about 8 related posts for it to make sense.
No. But if I were a principal who has a say over what substitutes are called into his school, I agree that I would probably not want this teacher back any time soon. I was a sub myself for a few years. You don’t get called back if the principal has to field calls from a dozen parents and news outlets. She would be too disruptive to be worth it at this point.
That they’d be insulted doesn’t make it a less valid analogy. The point is that even a teacher pretty damn certain that god does not exist shouldn’t get between parent and child any more than they should for Santa. Should a Christian teacher talk about God to a Hindu or Buddhist or Moslem student?
The other difference is that a kid telling his or her parents that he has figured out Santa does not exist is going to come out better than the kid say God does not exist in many cases.
As I said, I think the teacher was out of line. If this is what happens because they used poor judgement, I’m good with it. But formal disciple? I don’t see how you do that for saying a myth is a myth.
I guess my point is that no one, ever has actually claimed SC is real, except to children, as a game and they eventually all admit it is a hoax.
They do claim their religion is real though, right? Do religious people think these two things are the same? I would hope not.
I always thought that perpetuating the Santa myth would make kids more likely to question the religion they’ve been taught. You lie about one magic dude, why would they believe the other one is real?
You use whatever discipline is normally used for when a teacher says something grossly inappropriate in a classroom. There are options usually written into a union contract, although as a sub this teacher may not be protected by all of them. I would have no problem if the school system decided to let this sub go, they typically have little job security anyway.
I was doing their parents a favor. Why should an imaginary fat man get credit for gifts they bought? I was, however, breaking the eleventh commandment (“Never wise up a dummy!”).
But I wouldn’t consider a 7 year old telling other 7 year olds there is no Santa “cruel”.
Except for those I hit over the head with my metal lunch box while I was telling them. That was probably cruel.
Anyone else remember metal lunch boxes? I had the Disney fire truck one.
