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I read this thread and think...
Parents have the most important job in the world. Their job is to raise their children.
So, if the parents make mistakes due to ignorance, due to not knowing better, not teaching their children the correct way, does that mean they should lose their jobs?
If a parent doesn't teach a child how to tie his shoes the correct way, does that disqualify him from being a parent? What about if the parent fails to be at the child's side when said child falls off his bicycle and skins his knee? Should that parent be relinquished of the responsibility of seeing to that child's physical wellbeing?
How about - if the parent doesn't teach the correct shoe-tying procedure, AND neglects to be present to prevent said knee-skinning trauma, AND fails to ensure that yes, indeed, Sonny has done ALL of his homework? Three mistakes - shouldn't that make for a prompt dismissal of the parent from his parental duties?
No? Why not? If an elementary school teacher can get fired over the mistake of ignorance with regard to proper speech, then why shouldn't a parent be fired over the mistake of ignorance with regard to proper childcare?
Edited to add: The above is rhetoric. I don't advocate for parents losing their jobs as parents just because they can't get their kid to tie their shoes right, or they can't keep their kid from pulling stupid bike tricks and flying knee-first into a rock, or magickally know that their kid had homework he forgot to mention.
I also don't advocate for firing teachers for talking funny.
Finally, I do get annoyed when people are judgmental and sanctimonious over two words in a 15 minute conversation and think they have the moral high ground when it comes to causing someone to lose their livelihood over mistakes they themselves make.
yeah, I find it pretty despicable as well...
Once, I had a teacher who was very apostrophe-happy. She taught us to always put an apostrophe after abbreviations or singular upper case letters, as in, "I received A's in all of my classes" or "the CPA's helped me with my taxes," to put an apostrophe if making a day of the week plural, as in "Monday's are the worst days of the week," and that yours should be "your's" instead. Somehow, I turned out fine and eventually learned the correct way No one got fired, and my parents were not scared their poor little child would have improper grammar for her entire life.
I can assure you that this teacher's contract was not renewed based on my conversation with her. I never mentioned it to anybody at all, not even my child and while I wanted to speak to the principal I did not. I also find it interesting that some of you are so sure of how this meeting went, how long it lasted, what was said while as I remember, we were the only two people in the room.
I do not expect perfection from teachers or anybody at all. I also do not have an education degree or hold myself out as a qualified teacher. I'm not standing up in front of other peoples' children claiming to know how to educated them. I'm not paid to educate any children, least of all my own. I am a professional but not an education professional. If I was any of those things I can assure you I would know how to properly communicate. The education of our children in this country is slipping among other civilized countries and we as parents should not be satisfied with the dumbing down of our society to the lowest common denominator.
As an aside I watched a video from UK after Margaret Thatcher's death where a majority of those interviewed under the age of 30 did not even know who she was. I found that pretty sad.
The teacher misused TWO WORDS. Move the goal posts much?
SHE DID NOT USE SLANG, DID NOT USE DOUBLE NEGATIVES, etc. Do I need to go line by line and show all of the things this teacher DID NOT DO?
You have now taken my idea; that all people make the occasional mistake (even you, as evident by your posts) in their speech, spelling, grammar, etc. and should not be fired over it and twisted it to the ridiculous statements above.
Why are teachers expected to be PERFECT when doctors aren't even expected to be perfect and they deal in life and death?
Because people like to look down on others is the final sum answer.
Doctors can be sued for malpractice, maybe the OP should have sued this teacher. If the teacher doesn't know basic grammar then it's time for the teacher to look for a job in another line of work. Why do you insist that teachers should not have to know the material they teach?
What the OP did was the right thing to do. More than once, my kids have brought home an assignment where a teacher marked a correct answer as wrong. I let it slide, but I think now that's a bad approach. I might be able to show my kids how their answer was actually correct and they can realize their teacher is incompetent, but what about other kids?
It's sad that today parents have become so lax about having standards that we accept the fact that today a high school diploma means very little. Children are the ones being ripped off.
Doctors can be sued for malpractice, maybe the OP should have sued this teacher. If the teacher doesn't know basic grammar then it's time for the teacher to look for a job in another line of work. Why do you insist that teachers should not have to know the material they teach?
What the OP did was the right thing to do. More than once, my kids have brought home an assignment where a teacher marked a correct answer as wrong. I let it slide, but I think now that's a bad approach. I might be able to show my kids how their answer was actually correct and they can realize their teacher is incompetent, but what about other kids?
It's sad that today parents have become so lax about having standards that we accept the fact that today a high school diploma means very little. Children are the ones being ripped off.
You can't teach what you don't know. How some teachers get their credentials, I really wonder. I'm a qualified teacher, by the way, and it wouldn't occur to me not to make sure what I teach is fine.
I can assure you that this teacher's contract was not renewed based on my conversation with her. I never mentioned it to anybody at all, not even my child and while I wanted to speak to the principal I did not. I also find it interesting that some of you are so sure of how this meeting went, how long it lasted, what was said while as I remember, we were the only two people in the room.
I do not expect perfection from teachers or anybody at all. I also do not have an education degree or hold myself out as a qualified teacher. I'm not standing up in front of other peoples' children claiming to know how to educated them. I'm not paid to educate any children, least of all my own. I am a professional but not an education professional. If I was any of those things I can assure you I would know how to properly communicate. The education of our children in this country is slipping among other civilized countries and we as parents should not be satisfied with the dumbing down of our society to the lowest common denominator.
This is where I am coming from as well, I think. There are cored competencies that are required for my job. The other day, I made a mistake on the statistical analysis on the result I produced. My core competency requires that I get the correct result. The statistical analysis on the result is NOT an expected part of my job competency. A mistake around about your job is lovely. The difference is that teaching children English is part of the necessary core competency for teaching elementary school. It was not so much that she made a mistake, but that she was not competent in a core area of her job as evidenced by her not even recognizing the error.
Elementary school teachers should be held to a higher standard than doctors, lawyers, presidents and basically everyone except newscasters because YOU say so?
Oh, and btw, many students especially younger ones, those at risk, etc. will relate to a teacher better if they teacher will modify their speech to be more accessible. In the south this may mean the occasional, "y'all" or a "wicked ah-some" in Boston.
And oh the irony! Just wondering of the people who complain about people's grammar in this thread, when you make all the errors in your posts, those are just "typos", right? LOL.
You seem awfully angry. Were you the teacher that wasn't asked to come back?
OP - it doesn't sound like you were trying to create trouble for that teacher - at all. As a parent, you had a concern, you voiced those concerns directly to the teacher in a respectful manner. I haven't read the whole thread but I think your points about her grammar issues were valid.
As far as her contract not being renewed - you have no way of really knowing why that happened or really even if that happened. Maybe she went on medical leave or there was some other reason she is no longer at the school? Hard to tell.
Doctors can be sued for malpractice, maybe the OP should have sued this teacher. If the teacher doesn't know basic grammar then it's time for the teacher to look for a job in another line of work. Why do you insist that teachers should not have to know the material they teach?
Enough with the making things up. You have no idea if she knew how to teach or not, not over TWO WORDS.
And lets look at the doctor example. You can sue if you have damages. The OP has not stated her child was damaged in any way. As a matter of fact said child is apparently speaking just fine.
Quote:
What the OP did was the right thing to do. More than once, my kids have brought home an assignment where a teacher marked a correct answer as wrong. I let it slide, but I think now that's a bad approach. I might be able to show my kids how their answer was actually correct and they can realize their teacher is incompetent, but what about other kids?
Well, lets see, children learn the vast majority of their language from their parents. You are after all, THE primary teacher of your children right? And clearly if misusing two words makes a teacher incompetent than your posts prove you are guilty of gross negligence. Shall we take your children away based on the spelling and grammar errors in your posts? Because that is the exact same logic as firing a teacher OVER TWO WORDS.
You seem awfully angry. Were you the teacher that wasn't asked to come back?
Just sick of the self-righteous and yet error ridden posts in this thread.
I would not take anyone's livelihood away for two words.
Clearly the majority of people in this thread would have a woman fired over TWO WORDS. Yet again proving why tenure is necessary.
A reminder about the FACT that this man held the highest office in the land and despite his near illiteracy at times, no one was calling for him to be FIRED.
A wildly appropriate one:
"Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?" George W. Bush
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No one got fired, and my parents were not scared their poor little child would have improper grammar for her entire life.
