Elizabeth and one of her friends have first period English together in the local public middle school.
This friend called Elizabeth right after dinner today and was talking to her about some things that were going on, and many of these things disturbed me...enough so that I felt the need to pour them out here. Am I using this blogspace too much like a diary? Maybe. But sometimes writing about things helps me to see them more clearly, and often you, my readers, have insights and thoughts that help me see things in a different light or help me see that I am truly seeing things the way they are.
The thing that bothered me most was that Elizabeth said that this friend had already started on a project that the teacher had not yet assigned, but that was available on Blackboard, the teacher/student communication area. I asked how this project was getting done if NOTHING at all had been said about it. Elizabeth informed me that well, yes, there had been SOMETHING said about the project...
That this was the first of their 'BA' projects.
BA Project? What's that? Jo looked up expectantly to find the answer to that one, too.
Elizabeth's eyes slid sideways as she said, "The teacher calls them big...uhhh...fanny...projects."
In other words, the teacher is telling the kids that they are being assigned big a** projects.
Really?
Yes, Mom, all the teachers curse.
Now, that may be an exaggeration, that ALL the teachers curse, but how does even one or 2 make it past the doors to educate our children?
How can our children learn to respect their teachers and respect education in general if their very teachers are using off color language in the classroom?
Now, don't get me wrong. I am very excited about the opportunities that the public school is offering Elizabeth. It is great that she will be able to finish college course credits while still in high school, and it is wonderful that she can test through classes and be put into the classes that really fit her level.
But at what price?
We choose the movies that we watch very carefully. We do not allow bad language in our house.
And yet, I send our daughter off to school with a prayer and a kiss every morning to sit and look at a teacher, who is supposed to be respected and honored for their level of education and their dedication to our children. But she is not so much basking in the light of higher learning as much as wallowing in the slime of low end vocabulary so that she can leave the class thinking...
wow!
If I want to teach, be respected, and make a difference, THAT'S the way you do it!
So...
Am I over reacting? Perhaps and probably.
But Elizabeth spends waking hours in school than she does at home, with us.
That's a lot to fight against.
Now, a lot of people would say, well, that's the real world.
But it's not.
She's a child.
And it's school.
Wow. At the elementary level, we work hard to make sure our kids don't even say the lead-in "What the", prohibit the "s" word -- "shut up", and make children walk laps at recess if they utter "crap", which many of their parents think is fine.
ReplyDeleteI bet other parents would be concerned, too.
I'm with you on this one. I think that people, teachers included, assume everyone has loose language.....and so it becomes the accepted norm. We talk about what the kids hear when they are 'out and about'. It's amazing what they hear from friends and family and just walking down the street or sitting in a restaurant...or even from us! I know that I have been guilty of using words I wouldn't want them to repeat though I'm sure most would consider them not even to be swear words. All that to say, you are right to be upset. And you should contact the teacher with your concern. He/She needs to know what language is appropriate and to be more concerned with parental approval than sounding 'cool' to the kids.
ReplyDeleteWOW, really?! I would be RIPPED!!! Really!!! I mean, to me, an educated person knows enough educated words that they don't need to behave like...sorry if this is offensive...uneducated white trash. I've always though that a person who is smart can control their mouths. An ignorant person has no control, no education to use appropriate words. I'm disgusted with the way cursing is becoming so casual...it's sickening. But then in Noah's day, before the great flood, it was filled with cursing and violence... the two go hand in hand. I would confront the teacher, but then that's putting your daughter on the line and making her feel like she can't tell you what goes on. Maybe an anonymous letter? I don't know, but I'd have to do something! But then, I tend to get really aggressive sometimes when it involves my kids, like, "bite your face off if you harm my child" aggressive, so I may be a little hot right now to give good counsel. :S
ReplyDeleteOK.. so on occasion I have been known to cuss like a sailor. I do however, feel that in an English Honors class the teacher should be aware on how to use a Thesaurus. If she uses words to name her projects they will certainly at some point begin to use them in their projects. How about a nice gift of a Thesaurus for back to school night with a bookmark under huge (cause mine does not have a listing for big A**)...
ReplyDeletebehemothic, bulky, colossal, cyclopean, elephantine, enormous, extensive, gargantuan, giant, gigantic, great, gross*, humongous, immeasurable, immense, jumbo, leviathan, lusty, magnificent, mammoth, massive, mighty, mondo, monster*, monstrous*, monumental, mountainous, outsize, oversize, planetary, prodigious, stupendous, titanic, towering, tremendous, vast, walloping, whopping