Using visual and hands on items is the best way for some children to remember the lesson. She said what her favorite book is. She didn’t try to teach lessons about it did she?. She shouldn’t be bringing it up numerous times during the lesson, or she needs to work at a parochial school.
So, what would have been better? Having them guess the moral? The school day is only so long! It could taken days before someone guessed the right thing.
I’m much more upset about her spelling and punctuation errors.
It depends on if it were a “science experiment” or a “try and see” experiment. If the former, then it isn’t a good sign. If the latter, then she sounds a little touchy-feely, but it doesn’t say anything about her academic potential.
The spoiler doesn’t change my feelings.
Home school. All the motives and hidden agendas are yours.
Frankly, I don’t see the big to-doey about her favorite book being the Bible. Religiousity aside, the book has great stories.
I had an English teacher in the 11th grade who was a very vocal atheist and yet appreciated the book so much that she required one of her classes to read it.
Is the teacher in question an American? Eight years ago I arrived to my first day of a (required) Special Issues In Education class, and learned the theme of the class - moral perspectives in education. I hated the class, mostly because I feel as you do: teaching moral lessons is supposed to be the sole domain of parents. However a lot of people training educators disagree with us, so we spent an entire semester on learning how to teach morals to children in a secular manner. :rolleyes: She may have been coached to teach the same way.
I don’t have anything to add to my previous remarks, so either you skipped ahead without reading them, or the arguments don’t seem adequate to you - in case it’s the former, here’s what I said about why I see a potential connection between her evangelical Christianity and her use of classroom time on morality lessons:
But…he is in school to learn academics! What you say sounds nice at first, but imagine that he has shown an interest in and aptitude for music and so I have set him up with a piano teacher, who turns out to spend all her lesson time talking about how important it is to be kind. Would you say “the teacher may not have the skills to teach him music, but there’s a whole lot else he could learn?” I don’t think so – you would switch teachers (not a choice for me, alas) because you would have engaged the teacher to teach music, damn it, not “touchy feely” stuff. Also, the school has spent most of the last five years on “touchy feely” stuff.
OIC. Thanks for the clarification.
AHHHHGGGGGHHHH! I’m not sure it is a good idea for me to know that. Thanks for making that connection. I think. :eek:
YES, having them guess the moral would be much better - a few leading questions could be tossed in if needed to guide them. (If they are smart enough to understand the lesson, they are smart enough to figure it out with a good teacher.) If there is enough time for the lesson at all, there should be enough time to do it right. If time is in short supply, maybe they should get busy on math and spelling and all those things.
Yes, she moved to Egypt many years ago in support of her husband, whose expressed intent was to prosyletize and build a Christian community in Cairo. I don’t know that the church he built has been all that successful in converting Moslems, but it has created a vibrant community of conservative Christians among expats.
Well, look, if he’s 99th percentile in science, there’s not much chance the school’s curriculum is going to challenge him unless he’s in some kind of special program geared towards it. An ordinary classroom just can’t teach towards the far end of the bell curve, correct? Dangermom’s resources are probably what you really want.
FTR, my favorite music teacher did teach us about issues above and beyond how to play our instruments. “Socialization” is more than just “don’t kill each other at recess” – dealing with different adults’ agendas is valuable, too.
But if you’ve had your fill with these particular kinds of lessons in this particular setting, that would be understandable.
And if you don’t see your son living in her version of society, perhaps you would be better off substituting your own.
The concept that you should be careful about what you say doesn’t sound like the teacher is teaching a set of personal morals or values yet. The moral to a story or learning experience isn’t the same as a code of ethics that might vary from person to person, is it? Aren’t there a few standards that are universal?
Possibly:
Don’t be greedy.
Do your best.
Be kind to others.
Whether they intend to or not, a teacher will teach values to students – even if it is only by example. It needn’t take up a great amount of class time. But every teacher teaches a whole and integrated student. One subject overlaps with another.
Cairo, you do have a very good attitude about how to approach any problems. Like you, I would always start with the teacher. Parents who are in close contact with school make a world of difference in their children’s education.
My biggest concern at the moment would be her carelessness with spelling and punctuation on anything that is prepared for or given to the students.
Count me among those who don’t see any connection between the toothpaste lesson and the teacher’s Christianity – actually it strikes me as kind of bizarrely conspiracy-theorishy.
You said your kid couldn’t articulate the lesson to be learned, but that’s not correct. The moral was the lesson, and it was reasonable. I’m sure someone could have come up with a better methodology, but it worked, and the point was not to have the kids figure out a way to re-load the paste, it was to show them it couldn’t be done easily, which also worked.
OTOH, I would be somewhat disturbed about the bible reference, totally divorced from the toothpaste distraction. And I would ask my kid to keep me informed about what else the teacher says about Jesus or the bible. I’m not sure what if any options you have, other than removing your child from the school, if the teacher begins teaching Christianity 101. It’s not a public school in the States, so you might not have any other legal recouse to force a behavior change. If it happens, I suppose you would just have to inform the administration and hope for the best.
Most elementary schools that I’m familiar with do focus on “touchy-feely” as well as academics, as part of civilizing the little savages. 
Of course, these are public schools in the US where many parents are not teaching “share; don’t hit; be kind to others” at home.
CairoCarol, is switching schools an option? You sound dissatisfied overall with his school–“the school has spent most of the last five years on “touchy feely” stuff”–and they may simply not be able to provide him with the advanced academics that you want.
How did the toothpaste get in the tube in the first place? Why can’t you use that method to re-tube it?
No, burundi, unfortunately changing schools isn’t an option. My son loves the school (he’s not keen on this teacher, but his reasons are different from mine - it is the stuffed animals that bother him, not her literature choices) and it would be silly for me to force him to undergo the trauma of a switch when in all likelihood we will leave Cairo in a year or so anyway.
I think I’ll do the following:
-
Keep an eye on the extent to which the “touchy feely” stuff plays a role in the classroom. I can hope that it will not be excessive; don’t yet know what I’ll do if it is.
-
Look into options for science education outside the school. (Fessie is right in observing that ordinary academics probably won’t do the trick anyway if he’s that advanced.)
-
Talk to her privately, in a non-threatening way, about the spelling and punctuation errors. (I’ll wait until I have a few more examples; at the rate they are coming it will not take long.) I can offer to volunteer to proofread class handouts for her.
That sounds very reasonable. The spelling and punctuation errors are *waay *more of a red flag for me than the toothpaste and Bible stuff. Good luck!
Well I thought she was going to segue from the toothpaste to the whole “you can’t unfuck somebody” thing so I guess it could be worse.
I too would be more worried about the spelling and punctuation errors. As you have said, her primary concern is teaching these children academics, and that kind of grammar is exactly what kids of this level are learning right now. Never mind putting the toothpaste back in the tube, these kids will never be able to use apostrophe “s” correctly!
God created all the toothpaste (in tubes) on the 5th day. Proctor and Gamble doesn’t make toothpaste, they mine it.
He put the best toothpaste in the USA, and the shitty toothpaste in China.
He was also smart enough to make trial size tubes that can fit in the TSA approved plastic bag for carry on baggage.
Snort. That’s almost right, Dag. But surely you meant to say:
God created all the toothpaste **(in tube’s) **on the 5th day.