Bingo. For the love of God, don’t wreck the kid’s life by doing this. Coaches have a LOT of power of the lives of their players- life and death in some cases. Remember the stuff in the news this summer about high school and college athletes who died from being pushed too hard in footbal practices when it was flaming hot out?
Not that I think this guy will KILL your kid, but he’s very likely to ride his ass in practices and make him miserable. Coaches can also very effectively embarass people if they want to.
He didn’t spend any time on the conspiracy angle (as opposed to my world civ teacher, who spent a week teaching creationism) and he’s not testing for it. Let it go.
If the teacher wanted to engage his students in a debate and discuss the validity of the opposing viewpoints in a fair and ubiased manner, that would be great. But he did not do that.
It looks to me like the teacher was saying “I, your authority on this subject, personally disagree with the material I am required to teach you. It is my opinion that I am feeding you a pack of lies.” His statement completely undermines his and the school’s credibility. Sure, in this particular case the students understood he was a kook, but what about the other nutty but plausible-sounding theories he has?
This teacher has every right to his opinion, but he has no right to poison his students with it. A teacher, of all people, should not be spreading ignorance!
'Zactly. The teacher that I mentioned earlier in this thread had a very bad influence on the kids in there – I’m convinced that a lot of 'em went out knowing less than they came in with.
well, on coaches teaching “real” classes, i would like to say that one of the basketball coaches teaches my Honors Algebra II class.
he’s a nice guy and all, but he does two things i don’t like;
1.) he takes his basketball enthusiasm into the math room. well, it doesn’t really bother me, but using that sort of excess pep grates on a lot of people, and i’m the one who has to listen to my friends bitch about him, which they do a lot.
2.) he may be good at the math, but he’s not so great at teaching it. he makes tons of arithmatic and procedural errors, and he tries to hide them by getting the class to chorus a confirmation after each step, supposedly to check for mistakes he makes “intentionally” to check and see if people understand the material.
really, there are so many errors that i’ve decided to just keep my head down and stop pointing out at least the more embarassing errors cause i really sorta like the guy.
though, i still pretty much teach myself out of the book, just using the assignments he provides as a benchmark/ way to keep myself from procrastinating the heck out of everything.
[conspicuous lack of an “[/hijack]” statement]
Document. Wait. KSA will not be in high school for ever. When KSA is out, bring it up.
I’d respect your kid’s wishes. It sounds like he has his head screwed on straight and won’t be unduly influenced by these goof ball ideas. But it also sounds like you have some concern for other students.
I agree that the problem was not in mentioning the view, but in mentioning the view and then shutting down the debate. If a teacher gives a controversial opinion - even one labeled clearly as an opinion, it should be used as a learning experience for everyone to look at it. If he doesn’t want the debate, stick to the ciriculum.
I too, vote for the “hide and wait” approach. While I do not actually agree with his methods, the teachers did get the kids to think and question, rather than to just accept blindly what they are told.
OTOH, I found out this week that my daughter’s English teacher from last year admitted to her class that she smokes marijuana. I am still pondering that one.
I actually like it when someone in an educational setting takes a patently ridiculous position about something like the Holocaust or the moon landing – It’s like a stupidity vacination. The evidence gets fully aired and debated, usually in dramatic circumstances that leave a lasting impression. It’s far better to learn to deal with ignorance and irrationality in school rather than face it for the first time in the real world.
During one of my bouts of schooling, some Holocaust-denying group somehow managed to take out an ad in the student newspaper. Various groups were furious. “This is ad is offensive, painful to victims and their relatives, newpaper must apologize, can’t be allowed to happen again, etc., etc.” However, as a result of this ad, there were lectures, letters to the editor, op-eds, rallies, visits by Holocaust survivors and their children etc., not to mention thousands of private discussions. During the process, the evidence, significance and lesson for the future of the Holocaust were thoroughly vetted. Students on that campus now have a much deeper understanding of what happened.
So, I to vote for letting it go. Your son made his point, in class. Outside of class, he’s had (courtesy of you and the SDMB) an invaluable lesson in critical thinking and actually knows far more about the moon landing then he would have otherwise. So kudos to you! If you want to call someone, try calling the parents of the other kids who aren’t as lucky as yours. That should be an interesting experience!
It may be relevant to point out that the coach/teacher in question was not teaching a science class nor a history class - it was a geography class.
It seems unlikely that the moon landing was an integral part of the curriculum. More likely this remark was made after the class’ discussion had gone off on a tangent.
I’ll snicker at this guy along with the rest of you, but I’m also inclined to cut him some slack outside his area of competency. Staying on the alert against other bizarre utterances seems appropriate, though.
(BTW, Bad Astronomer, I’ve been to your site in the past and just loved it. It’s exactly the kind of resource I’d have suggested AbbySthrnAccent should examine with her son.)
I am a teacher. (After loads of IAAL law threads, it’s great to be able to start with the equivalent!).
It depends on the context, and the reasoning behind the statement.
The two ends of the scale are:
if a teacher is teaching pupils the syllabus, so they can learn (and pass exams), then they should stick to the facts.
if you’re organising the debating society, then any controversial opinions are fine.
I teach at a Christian School. (Of course our biology department teach evolution!). I stick to my subject during the lessons.
But I also have lunch with the pupils (my main responsibility is to 10-12 year olds). Here my role is to get them to use good table manners while having an interesting conversation. I tell them (if asked; they choose the subject for discussion) for example that my personal opinion is that there is not enough evidence for me to believe in God. We might then define atheist and agnostic. (Our School Chaplain has no problem with any of that - in fact we have had some excellent debates.)
I have discussed many things with pupils out of class (bullying; faster-than-light travel; computer games; ghosts). If these interesting topics are raised in class I automatically reply “That’s interesting, but we’re doing computing now. Ask me after class.”
