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Jesus Christ did not use belittling sarcasm. He said love thy neighbor not berate and humiliate thy neighbor. Sarcasm is also a form of judgment which is also against the bible. It is not right.
Quote:
Originally Posted by skreem2
Jonathan Swift, Voltaire, Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain, Jesus Christ - the greatest minds in the world employed sarcasm as a tool of expression. I'd like to train children to follow in the steps of the greatest minds of history rather than wallow in self indulgence and fragile coddling.
The age of a kid makes a difference here. What is incisive and educational for a high school student is not always the best means of communication for a first grader.
Jesus Christ did not use belittling sarcasm. He said love thy neighbor not berate and humiliate thy neighbor. Sarcasm is also a form of judgment which is also against the bible. It is not right.
All I can say in reaction to this reply is you simply haven't read the New Testament very carefully at all.
You're right Mike. I don't want to hijack your thread.
I say there is nothing wrong with sarcasm in and of itself. The age of the kids and the context of the sarcasm make a difference, but sarcasm is extremely effective as an educational and behavior altering tool. Under the right circumstances, I say go for it.
I think sarcasm is belligerent. There is a famous Pink Floyd song that says "we don't need no dark sarcasm in the classroom"....."hey teachers leave them kids alone"....
Sarcasm is does not have to be belittling or humilatating. There are times when children appreciate a little humor. I would have to see an example of this before I judged the situation. If you are a teacher, don't worry about others, find what works for you.
I may be oversimplifying here Building on Sam82's (and others') premise, the level and incidence of sarcasm seems to be the issue. The right amount of embarrassment can quell a behavior while the humor allows the culprit to save face. The line between an effective wise crack and a humiliating insult is thin indeed. Maybe the teacher Mike in TN knows is one of the very, very few whose keen wit is combined with knowing how sarcastic is just sarcastic enough.
When one of my students tries to hand in a paper with just their first name is say,"Mike (or whatever their name is) who? Smith?" They laugh and put their last name. There is no harm done and it works just as well as telling them to write their last name. I don't think that any child is damaged by my sacastic joke.
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