• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Teacher fired over "how comfortable are you" assignment

Status
Not open for further replies.
K

Kuroi Gogeta

Member
echoshifting said:
As a parent, I would be bothered that such a delicate and complex subject is being treated with obvious carelessness by a teacher who doesn't seem to have spared a thought for age tailoring or even, apparently, read the questions. If my child told me they were forbidden to bring the questionnaire home to talk about it (something that might have had some value for some kids, actually!), that is another red flag. I would not have demanded she be fired or anything but the principal would certainly have heard my concerns.

There is value in discussing bias from a very young age within a peer group, but you have to put the tiniest bit of thought into it, at least.
Click to expand...

Fair enough. I agree that it could definitely have been tailored by age group and more customized but I think the parents overreacted. I think that talking about race and racism are very important especially at an age where kids will be turning into teenagers and developing their identities. If biases are not recognized and challenged early, then it's so much harder to change toxic attitudes.
 
D

digdug2k

Member
Has there been a thread on here about the guy in England who's school fined him for taking his kid out of school for a vacation for a week? I'm really curious what a bunch of people who will never have kids themselves here on GAF think (i.e. I know its morbid, but I do love arguing).
 
S

SolidusDave

Member
My single issue with this that several of these questions are targeted at adults only and make no sense for a 12 year old.

Still does not warrant an outrage or even firing the teacher.
Especially not with the reason given as I don't see how these questions are racist or sexist - only the rating on them can be.
This smells like religious parents who see this as an attempt to turn their kids gay or something.
 
A

Alienfan

Member
It seems like it was coming from a good place, no? Just needed some work. I can't help she was fired for Florida ass Florida reasons
 
L

Leona Lewis

Banned
War Peaceman said:
It comes from a good place, but it wouldn't work.
Click to expand...

Alienfan said:
It seems like it was coming from a good place, no? Just needed some work.
Click to expand...

Ghazi said:
It was coming from a good place, it just needed some work.
Click to expand...
6dc4ec10d6c97e88073b47b74eea7416.gif
 
P

Phu

Banned
Shoulda just stuck with the tolerance and kindness lessons.

"Don't stereotype people, even if it's a 'positive' stereotype", everyone has a different background, etc...

I mean, at least to start the dialogue. Also, at least make the lesson relevant to the age group.
 
C

Conor_Fool

Banned
Alexlf said:
I'll be honest, I don't see an issue with this at all, especially considering how the teacher was planning to use this to point out how prevalent bias was. The teachers response to showing parents was weird, but apparently justified.

EDIT: Oh, they're twelve. I instinctively assumed high school or Uni. Questions could have used some work lol.
Click to expand...
Even in high school, they aren't even old enough to go to a bar. Hell, ~half of college students aren't even old enough
 
P

Puppet Shadow

Member
You're waiting at the side of the road for your friends, when you notice two policeman walking towards you. You also notice you are black.
 
K

kmfdmpig

Member
Puppet Shadow said:
You're waiting at the side of the road for your friends, when you notice two policeman walking towards you. You also notice you are black.
Click to expand...

LOL. What a prompt. Why not just start with "You are black and are waiting...." instead of "You also notice you are black."?

This assignment only makes sense with a good goal in mind - helping people realize that even if they don't consider themselves biased they may have some biases. It is horribly designed in general, and particularly for a 12 year old audience, however.

I've seen many GAF threads in which teachers did worse that couldn't have come from a good place and were able to keep their jobs, so while this teacher was dumb I'm not a fan of the firing.
 
L

low-G

Member
"Your live-at-home daughter announces she's gay. How do you feel 12 year old?"

"Your teacher comes up to you and says "Oh hey, you had a kid when you were -8 years old? That's pretty irresponsible," How uncomfortable are you?":
 
N

Neverforget

Member
Any adult telling kids to keep a secret about their activities from their parents is a major red flag.

If the teacher was 'innocent' they would not have made the kids keep it a secret, they know the assignment was not age appropriate and went for it.
 
R

RenditMan

Banned
My friends kid got the assignment "Was Jesus real?" at a school here in the UK.

WTF was the kid supposed to do with that?
 
S

Shrike_Priest

Member
The should have adapted the situations to be relatable to their age. Not appropriate, but relatable. Hald those questions are stuff they just literally won't understand. But the assignment itself is fine. I can't tell from the article if it was anonymous or not. If there wasn't any pressure to reveal the identity of the students the basic setup of questionaiire and following discussion is fine. I've done similar things before (though with students slightly older, admittedly). If anything, the teacher could be critiqued for sloppiness in not taking the time to adapt the material. But firing them for doing something "inappropriate" is bullshit. Like when one lf the kids complain that it's racist. Well yeah, it's measuring and highlighting racist attitudes. It's far more effective to explain people's racism to themselves if they know what they've answered. But it's not inciting or promoting racism.
 
A

Alucrid

Banned
if you google how comfortable am i the first link is this quiz which is from the mid-atlantic association of college and university housing officers. why you're giving a questionnaire meant for college students to 12 year olds? i have no clue

i guess the place it's coming from is laziness?
 
Kadayi

Kadayi

Banned
SolidusDave said:
My single issue with this that several of these questions are targeted at adults only and make no sense for a 12 year old.

Still does not warrant an outrage or even firing the teacher.
Especially not with the reason given as I don't see how these questions are racist or sexist - only the rating on them can be.
This smells like religious parents who see this as an attempt to turn their kids gay or something.
Click to expand...

As others have pointed out the questions are principally designed for much older students. If the teacher somehow doesn't possess the basic intelligence or common sense to comprehend this, would you trust them to educate your kids across the board?
 
O

Onaco

Member
Why is knowing prejudices bad? I see this as a social experiment to correct whatever fears you may have about very touchy subjects. We may be trying to find solutions at a government level for comfort levels, but knowing what kids have been raised to believe, or what they have come to believe themselves is something we need to break down too. This is a good way to start a discussion and see yourself in the real world. It's blunt and going to ask some tough questions, but they are questions we should be asking. The bar one is a bit odd given the age group, I will admit.

If the teacher was doing this for racist, homophobic, or other negative intentions, then firing the teacher is justified. But I think the parents are just not willing to admit their deeper opinions by fighting fire with fire.
 
C

caliph95

Member
Kadayi said:
As others have pointed out the questions are principally designed for much older students. If the teacher somehow doesn't possess the basic intelligence or common sense to comprehend this, would you trust them to educate your kids across the board?
Click to expand...
If anything that is just straight up lazy i don't think she should be fired but even the laziest teachers i had would at least edit that to make it appropriate for 12 year olds.
 
A

Aytumious

Banned
The teacher, who has not been identified, was still on her probationary period when she was fired.
Click to expand...

I'd say that is appropriate given how incompetent you'd need to be to give this questionnaire to a bunch of 12-year-olds.
 
T

Tye The Czar

Member
I'd say this is more age-inappropriate.

This, in theory could be helpful in helping people to notice and challenge fears and prejudices. But there's likely a better place and age group for that.
 
A

Alienfan

Member
Tye The Czar said:
I'd say this is more age-inappropriate.

This, in theory could be helpful in helping people to notice and challenge fears and prejudices. But there's likely a better place and age group for that.
Click to expand...

12 year olds can be extremely homophobic and racist (at least that's what I remember growing up). I'd say it's a great age to start a dialogue, this wasn't a good way to go about that sure - but I understand and support the intentions
 
B

bman94

Member
I get the intent, but that was the worst possible way to teach that.

Alienfan said:
12 year olds can be extremely homophobic and racist (at least that's what I remember growing up). I'd say it's a great age to start a dialogue, this wasn't a good way to go about that sure - but I understand and support the intentions
Click to expand...

Yep. I teach middle school. The shit you hear in hallways or just passing by from students is awful. They suck up all media around them (especially YouTube) and just regurgitate it. They don't understand the implications of the Holocaust and think screaming "Nien Nien Nien" is a fucking joke. If they foster these opinions now it's just going to get worse in high school. Then when you get to college for higher learning stuff it's way too late to try to teach diversity and how to be a basic well mannered human being.
 
S

siddx

Magnificent Eager Mighty Brilliantly Erect Registereduser
Good intentions, poor and lazy execution. Rather than fire her she should have been paired with a veteran teacher to help her with her planning. All new teachers are supposed to have that anyways, but schools often throw new teachers into the deep end alone. At the very least she should have had a team to run it by.
 
A

ahoyhoy

Unconfirmed Member
Seems like they were fired for incompetence more than anything.

At least alter it for Middle Schoolers ffs.
 
H

hey_monkey

Banned
bman94 said:
I get the intent, but that was the worst possible way to teach that.



Yep. I teach middle school. The shit you hear in hallways or just passing by from students is awful. They suck up all media around them (especially YouTube) and just regurgitate it. They don't understand the implications of the Holocaust and think screaming "Nien Nien Nien" is a fucking joke. If they foster these opinions now it's just going to get worse in high school. Then when you get to college for higher learning stuff it's way too late to try to teach diversity and how to be a basic well mannered human being.
Click to expand...

Yep. My son is a little younger, but the things i hear from kids around him sometimes are just WOW. (Un/lucky for him, I'm a teacher, so he gets long discussions on social behavior all the time.) But a worksheet like this, clearly out of context for them... that's not a great idea. Seems like teacher wanted to address these behaviors, which is good - it should happen in schools. But just didn't really know how to go about it or didn't think it through.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

  • Locked
Gina Carano was going to get her own Star Wars spin-off before the internet mob got her fired
2
75
4K
ahtlas7 replied
My family has owned a lot of pet's. I want to tell you about them
25
2K
Badlucktroll replied
  • Locked
NYP: I have a micropenis — this is how I break the news to sexual partners
2
81
7K
Days like these... replied
Ancient Roman figures brought to life via AI
Science 2 3
100
7K
Dirk Benedict replied
‘Wednesday’ star Jenna Ortega’s rude comments should kill her career — but they won’t
2 3 4
197
30K
Zephyrus0 replied
Top Bottom