Prick of a teacher

[Crazed Rabbit]

Here's a story about a real prick of a teacher. She told a bunch of six year olds that Santa doesn't really exist. Apparently a substitute teacher couldn't get her head out of her *** and realize she was talking to little kids, not adults.

http://www.ldnews.com/fastsearchresults/ci_3334327


“The poem [A Visit from Saint Nicholas] has great literary value, but it goes against my conscience to teach something which I know to be false to children, who are impressionable,” said Farrisi, 43, of Myerstown. “It’s a story. I taught it as a story. There’s no real person called Santa Claus living at the North Pole.”

Farrisi doesn’t believe in Santa Claus, and she doesn’t think anyone else should, either. She made her feelings clear to the classroom full of 6- and 7-year-olds, some of whom went home crying.

Somebody needs 50 cc of holiday cheer.

Crazed Rabbit

[Viking]

Seriously... I`ve never believed in Santa.

[Devastatin Dave]

What a shame...:san_sad:

[Ice]

That is a prick of a teacher. Little kids should believe in Santa because it just makes Christmas all the better.

[Mongoose]

I don't know...i think it will give them more trust and respect for their parents if they aren't lied to, even if the lying is a kind gesture.


But the teacher telling them that is just wrong.

[Ser Clegane]

Farrisi doesn’t believe in Santa Claus, and she doesn’t think anyone else should, either

What a self-righteous person - hardly her decision to make :no:

She makes it look like without her generous help these kids would have believed in Santa Claus for the rest of their lives
(EDIT: well, actually she doesn't - perhaps I should bring up the patience to read an article to the end :san_laugh: - but the point stands: none of her business)

[Goofball]

Hmmm. Tough issue. While I don't believe we should require teachers to directly present Santa Claus as a fact to their students (that would be almost as silly as teaching ID in biology class), I also don't think it's up to teachers to take it upon themselves to dispel this childhood myth either.

If she was worried about her own integrity (i.e. not lying to the kids), there are many creative ways she could have dodged the issue without either confirming or denying the existence of Santa.

[Gregoshi]

:san_shocked: I think every wacko that lives in Pennsylvania has made the news this year.

You are right Ser, it is not her decision to make on such things. Sometimes you just have to smile and say nothing if you don't agree something. My best friend lives in Myerstown. I should have him look up this teacher's address and leave a bag of coal on her doorstep Christmas morning.:san_grin: Eh, it would server her right but why ruin her Christmas just because she ruined it for a class full of first graders? 'Tis the season to be jolly. Merry Christmas Theresa Farrisi! :san_smiley:

[Taffy_is_a_Taff]

give me a 'B'.
B
give me a 'I'.
I
give me a 'T'.
T
give me a 'C'.
C
give me a 'H'.
H


:san_cry:

that story made me sad.

it also reminds me of all the leftwing secondary school teachers (Edit:well, there weren't exactly many rightwing ones where I went to school in the mid-late 90s) who'd take time out from teaching us to try and convince us of the rightness of their cause. Not that that ever made us cry, more just roll our eyes and think "why?".

Shut up and teach the subject in hand Goddamn it!!!


:san_angry:

Edited for content.

[Strike For The South]

Its times like this where vigilante justice would come in handy

[Marcellus]

Somebody needs 50 cc of holiday cheer.

100 at least.

[InsaneApache]

Just wait until Satan hears about this. I reckon she's lysdexic :san_laugh: ....it lures ko u know :san_kiss:

[t1master]

i don't know, i have a daughter who's all about santa coming and trying to be good so she'll get presents. i hate when my wife tells her to do something or trys to correct her obnoxious behavior with the veiled threat... 'cause santa is watching'..

of course i won't tell her there is no santa, cause she's allready hip to the whole thing, but i wouldn't have ever indoctrinated her in the whole claus bs if it were up to me....

[TB666]

Well atleast she told the kids the truth behind the myth, that's always something.

[Adrian II]

What a naughty girl. :san_kiss:

[Soulforged]

I don't see the issue here, she said that she told it like an story, you can believe in the story as you believe in Santa or not...Besides probably the little children will believe more in their fathers than in their teachers.

What's the problem between believing in the existing of fat-gift-giving and not believing in it? I see the problem with the teacher taking it as her prerrogative, but I repeat she said it was an story...

[Gregoshi]

What's the problem between believing in the existing of fat-gift-giving and not believing in it?
Soulforged, the difference is the look of wonder and that beautiful smile that results from the child's very active imagination thinking of Santa's magic, flying reindeer, elves and such. There is nothing quite like experiencing it (as I recall) and it may even be better watching it in your own kids.:san_smiley:

[Soulforged]

Soulforged, the difference is the look of wonder and that beautiful smile that results from the child's very active imagination thinking of Santa's magic, flying reindeer, elves and such. There is nothing quite like experiencing it (as I recall) and it may even be better watching it in your own kids.:san_smiley:
Yes I recall it too, but I still believe that this is not an issue. Personally, perhaps this is a unexperienced commentary but I'll say it anyway, I believe that it's better to not say anything at all about this kind of myths, but that's just me.

[Samurai Waki]

I can just imagine the conversation that one of the kids had with their parents when they come home.

Dad: So Timmy, how was your day?

Timmy walks in crying: My Teacher said Santa doesn't exist

Dad: Well, Timmy... *takes Pipe out his mouth* Your teacher is a tool for the new age anarcho-liberalist movement.

Timmy: Whats that?

Dad: It means she covorts with the devil, she doesn't want you to believe in Santa Claus, because if you do believe in him, she can't have sex with Satan, and that upsets her very much.

Timmy gives a confused look and scratches his head

Dad: You understand now son?

Timmy ponders for awhile: So what your telling me, is my teacher says Santa Claus isn't real because my teacher wants to have sex with satan? That sounds a lot like the story you told me about mom when she left us.

Dad: Indeed it is son, because any woman who wants to break the sanctity of a Christian relationship is having some sort of sexual deviancy with the devil.

Timmy: Thanks for setting me straight Dad! *Timmy leaves the room*

Dad puts pipe back in his mouth: Damn Straight son, Damn Straight.

[Major Robert Dump]

Well, as the Superintendent said "we have no santa clause policy" so maybe the blame lies a little with the school district, too.

Whats ironic here is that parents are demanding she be punished and insisting to their kids that Santa IS real even after they have had their hearts broken here. So in a few years when the kids figure out that Santa is, in fact, not real they will also realize that their parents got a woman fired or disciplined for not perpetuating a myth and then lied to them by essentially claiming the teacher was lying, making them believe in Santa all over again until they find out that is was all make believe to begin with, something they will probably find out from bigger kids in the school while getting wedgies on the playground. Yay for litigous parents!!!!!

Kids are smarter than you think, and it doesnt take long for them to realize that they still get presents from Santa even if they are bad. Then the little materialistic turd thats inside us all kicks in, and by age 8 they are taking the presents back to Wal Mart to exchange for something else. By age 12 they are trying deftly to find out what the parents got them and resort to sneakery and shennanigans, and by age 15 the parents just say "F** it what do you want for christmas this year?"

What a beautiful holiday

[Kralizec]

??? The hell? “The poem has great literary value, but it goes against my conscience to teach something which I know to be false to children, who are impressionable,”
How about you just don't SAY anything about it, you dumb heck.

But wait, I'll have to agree with her. And by her logic, we can also tell children that the stories of where babies come from (storks, cabbage, whatever) are all lies, and give them sex ed at the age of 6! Brilliant :san_rolleyes:

It was none of the woman's damn business and it infringes upon the parent's right to raise their children the way they see fit.

[Soulforged]

But wait, I'll have to agree with her. And by her logic, we can also tell children that the stories of where babies come from (storks, cabbage, whatever) are all lies, and give them sex ed at the age of 6! BrilliantActually...that's the idea on many western countries lately....:san_cheesy:

[Rodion Romanovich]

Why is it so bad to say Santa doesn't exist? Why is it so bad to teach the children that their Christmas presents are gifts from their parents and a result of their hard work?

Teaching sex is different, as most children don't even have thoughts about sex or where children come from, so no statements are needed to correct their errors. But they do think about santa, if we lie to them and tell them that a santa exists.

I don't think a child gets a richer youth by believing there's a santa. It's worse to later come to the hard insight that such a character doesn't exist, than it is to never have such an illusion.

[Lazul]

so what?... since Santa doesnt exist - except in crappy Disney-films - whats the problem? its not like she lied.

Santa is just like god(s), they both have a huge problem proving their own existance.

[Meneldil]

What a lot of posts for such a pointless issue. I didn't even know kiddos still believe in Santa nowadays.

[Ser Clegane]

Why is it so bad to teach the children that their Christmas presents are gifts from their parents and a result of their hard work?

It's not per se bad that the kids find out about it - and at some point they will get the truth anyway.
The point is simply that this is the parents' job to deal with and not the teacher's.

As a teacher she should be aware that parents consciously keep the myth of Santa Claus up for their children - thus she should also be aware that her decision is liekly to directly contradict the decisions of the parents of her students.
Not a such a big issue that it should cost her a job - but seemingly either very poor judgement or a rather selfish act from the teacher's side.

[Vladimir]

Actually...that's the idea on many western countries lately....:san_cheesy:

It's a concession to the pedophile lobbyists. After all, who are we to judge? :2cents:

[Sjakihata]

Well, I dont believe in elves, orcs and dwarves. But that doesnt mean I dont like watching or reading LotR!

[Navaros]

That teacher is not a prick.

Teachers who flagrantly lie to children and say Santa does exist; those are the pricks.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Ah. I assume then that you will tell your children about the terrible barbarics of war, dictatorships, and other various examples of man's inhumanity towards man, and that whenever a child is blissfully, innocently happy, you will act quickly to drill the horrifying realities of life into them, thus depriving the poor child of all joy.

Crazed Rabbit

[doc_bean]

While I agree that it isn't the teacher's business, I'm not sure lying to kids about santa Claus is actually a good thing. Some of my friends believe that I was born a cynic, but I'm pretty sure the turning point was when I figured out my loving parents had been lying to me for years...

Then again, it teaches children not to blindly believe anything they are told, even if it's told by a lot of people.

BTW teachers tend to tell kids Santa doesn't exist in the third grade here(8y olds I guess), there's rarely a kid who doesn't know it by then.

[Kralizec]

Teaching sex is different, as most children don't even have thoughts about sex or where children come from, so no statements are needed to correct their errors. But they do think about santa, if we lie to them and tell them that a santa exists.

Not speaking from any parental experience here, but I imagine that quite a lot of children would ask their parents "daddy/mommy, where do babies come from?"
Because most parents would rather not tell 4 year olds the truth, they invent stories like that storks brought them or whatever. Then suppose if a teacher comes out of the blue and tells them "well your parents are lying, babies are created by putting a man's genetalia into that of a woman, and after nine months a baby crawls out, usually accompanied by extreme agony on mommy's part"


I don't think a child gets a richer youth by believing there's a santa. It's worse to later come to the hard insight that such a character doesn't exist, than it is to never have such an illusion.

That's your opinion, and you have the right to determin for yourself how to raise your children. As does any parent.

Anyway, Santa sucks. Hurray for Saint Nick!

[Louis VI the Fat]

It's not about lying to kids, or speaking the truth. Santa Claus being real or not is not relevant.

It is about teaching children morality, a sense of right or wrong. One-year olds and pets can only be trained by punishing or rewarding them immediately. Neither has the gift of language or imagination. Humans do and have used it as an evolutionary tool to maintain complex group relations. From the Aboriginals in Australia to the Inuit in Greenland societies tell stories to their offspring. It is an age-old means of passing on morality and knowledge from one generation to the next.

Telling them stories about Santa Claus is just one of the stories by which we in the West happen to teach children to behave themselves.

Santa Claus is particularly well-suited for two to six years olds. They are not under continuous parental supervision anymore. By making them believe in an imaginary, all-knowing character who will reward or punish their behaviour they learn to behave themselves even when the parents are not watching. Good behaviour becomes internalized. This way, small children learn the value of proper behaviour even when unattended so they can function in a complex civilized society.


That teacher is a short-sighted prick.