I’ve Been Watching My Kid’s Teacher on Zoom, and I’m Horrified

https://slate.com/human-interest/2020/10/teacher-too-strict-zoom-parenting-advice.html?via=taps_top

by evo_9 • 6 years ago

19 24 6 years ago

bdamm3• 6 years ago

Maybe what's going on here is that parents are seeing, for the first time, how human and imperfect teachers can really be. Especially in the early grades. I say this with utmost respect for the teaching profession, some teachers are not good enough for 1st grade. This kind of bullying, complaining, and blaming is absolutely not appropriate for any teacher, and especially one that is supposed to be modeling behavior for 1st graders. If she's spending her Saturday grading, well that sucks, but railing about it to the children is not the way to deal with it. What a disgrace.

swivelmaster4• 6 years ago

First-graders should not, under any circumstances, have homework assignments that need to be graded. Furthermore, berating children as described borders on abuse. This teacher has absolutely no idea what they are doing and should be fired.

engineer_224• 6 years ago

Teachers are people. You may find that hiring perfect persons to teach first grade is difficult. The children will be fine.

xupybd2• 6 years ago

Grades help track progress.

finnthehuman2• 6 years ago

She is very strict in correcting what I see as normal 6-year-old behavior.

I'm sorry, what exactly did they from Catholic school?

FearNotDaniel• 6 years ago

I think that's unwarranted and actually quite offensive. Of course there have been many incidents of hurtful and abusive behaviour by some individuals in a position of trust in some Catholic schools. There are also many, many gentle, loving and supportive people working in Catholic institutions around the world. Please take your lazy prejudices elsewhere.

shaftway• 6 years ago

Can I keep my lazy prejudices about problems with Catholic school after having attended several, and then seeing a variety of non-parochial schools first hand (through my work in schools) and second hand through my spouse (who is an educator) and my kids?

Also, parent comment said "strict", you said "gentle, loving and supportive". It's possible to be both. Maybe you need to look at your own lazy prejudices.

physt• 6 years ago

I disagree. I believe criticisms of the Catholic church and it's educational system are absolutely warranted. The Catholic Church is responsible for hundreds of years of criminal, systemic violence and abuse all over the glove. The church is currently shielding over $2 Billion dollars to limit abuse payout. They aren't denying the abuse. They are just trying not to be held accountable for it.

That includes the abusers, the people who cover for those abusers, and the church goers themselves who refuse to do anything about the systemic sexual, physical and mental abuse. Those gentle, loving and supportive people you speak of are enablers of a dysfunctional system. If they cared at all about the people in those systems, they'd do something to discover and prevent abuse. They don't.

The kind of mistreatment described in the video is par for the course in most American Catholic schools. I attended public school from kindergarten up to 4th. I transferred to a Catholic school in the 5th grade and felt like I'd been assigned to a mental institution. The verbal abuse was constant. The physical abuse was random, sudden and could come from anyone at any time. I, along with class mates, was regularly offered wine by the priests. I didn't learn of cases of actually sexual abuse until I was older and my class mates could talk about what happened.

We didn't know any better and our parents couldn't believe what was reported. When some event did reach a level that required community intervention, it was dealt with quietly and forgotten immediately.

When you factor in that they exist to teach decidedly unscientific, authoritarian thinking, the Catholic Church is a dangerous, abusive organization that has no interest in changing.

Rather than be offended, why don't you spend your time reforming the church so it becomes a better institution?

This isn't a case of a few bad apples. The entire system is made of bad apples. This is a bad apple tree that makes more bad apples.

finnthehuman2• 6 years ago

I didn't think acknowledging that Catholic schools have a reputation as "strict" was offensive. Their reputation as high quality schools is often attributed in part to stronger discipline.

0xdeadb00f• 6 years ago

Offensive? If the point of a catholic school isn't to be more strict, adhering to religious rules and such then what is?

teslalang• 6 years ago

If you care about your kids’ education, home school them.

swivelmaster4• 6 years ago

This is not feasible for most parents.

bdamm3• 6 years ago

We tried; it didn't work. Reason being that there are anti-pattern behaviors built into the parent/child relationship. It's very challenging for both the child and the parent to shift from a kind/loving/on-your-team relationship to a mentoring/structured/pay-attention relationship that is more in line with teaching.

Some people can do it. We could not.

_zzaw• 6 years ago

This is disgusting. I’d record every one of these sessions, take them to the school, and make it clear that either the problem is addressed or they’ll be defending that teaching philosophy to the press.

My dad is a college professor. Two of my closest friends are teachers. They never had any qualms about dealing with goof-offs, and they always handled situations firmly but respectfully. Threatening to tear up a test isn’t class discipline, it’s a loss of composure that suggests deeper personal problems.

We get the future generations we deserve. Raise them to believe mistreatment is normal, and, well, you reap what you sow.

xupybd2• 6 years ago

Since when is a little discipline disgusting?

Being strict doesn't harm kids it equips them for success in the future.

Raise them to be lazy and undisciplined, and, well you reap what you sow.

I’ve Been Watching My Kid’s Teacher on Zoom, and I’m Horrified

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