Teacher fired after assigning violent math problems to third graders

[Nova]

I think it's cruel and disrespectful to assign vile math problems to children. Very disrespectful. I don't know if I could control myself if I were one of the parents. I always expected my children be treated with dignity by their teachers.

One of the problems was about cooking Americans and Africans in an oven. That isn't funny. Imagine an 8 year old picturing people in an oven. How dare a teacher bring that kind of imagery to his charges?

But we don't know which problems were actually assigned, do we?

 

[Mira]

as a third grader i would have loved this teacher! about that time i learned that rice was maggots and spaghetti was worms and beets were turnips soaked in bloooood!

maybe i was weird, (and i was) but this sounds like it would have put some fun in the classroom.

ah well...

 

[not_my_kids]

If my son went to school, talking about the things he had learned at home, and tose things involved blood, people in ovens, or dying, I would have child protection authorities at my door, looking to fire me from my job as a parent, because I'm exposing my kid to something inappropriate.

I guarantee you, if the roles were reversed, and my kid came home from school talking about those things, I would want the person that put those things in his head fired immediately. Because I go out of my way to protect him from violent video games, violent television, and other things that might negatively influence his mind.

Just because parents are getting crappier at their jobs, and letting young children be exposed to a lot of things they shouldn't be, doesn't mean that teachers should get a free pass on the same crappy behavior, just because they have to "compete". Teachers have been competing with crappy parenting and media distractions for years, and haven't had to resort to this.

 

[jjenny]

I think the math problem about marbles is hilariously funny. I don't know why it was necessary to fire the teacher over this. They could have just retrained the teacher, firing sounds way too extreme.

 

[Kimberlyd125]

I find nothing funny about children dying, grieving fathers, or friends attending a child's funeral.

Very inappropriate for 3rd grade students.

 

[not_my_kids]

It doesn't want to let me edit to add this to the previous post, but I did want to say that if it had been high school kids, I would not feel the same, because your average kid, by high school, has already been exposed to this crap, no matter how hard their parents or others have tried to protect them. You can't shelter them forever.

If he were reassigned somewhere to teach kids of high school age, that were older, could see the humor, and were less literal, I would have no problem with it. For me, it's simply the age of the kids involved that makes it so offensive to me.

 

[butwhatif?]

I'm not sure what that means. At first, the unnamed teacher claimed that to whom?

(Obviously he didn't tell his superiors he had been ordered to assign the problems. So I'm guessing he gave the first reporter who called some lame excuse. Not very clever, but he's hardly the first person to lie to a reporter.)

And we don't even know which problems he gave to his students. The article just says all the problems dealt with inappropriate subject matter.

(This is not to blame you, butwhatif?. I think the linked article is unclear.)

Frankly, this case reminds me of two teachers in my high school who were fired when the press learned they had assigned an article from Playboy magazine to an English class. They xeroxed the article, mind you, so no student had access to the centerfold, but they were fired nonetheless. Both were excellent teachers and a real loss. And it's not as if any of their students hadn't seen an actual Playboy magazine before.

You're right. The article isn't very clear.
I took to mean that when parents complained about the math problems, that he told them it wasn't work set out by him, but those above him. And that those parents went to the principal or AP, and it was discovered that way.

I recognise that I'm likely projecting because my DD had the teacher from hell last year who played by her own rules, and never took responsibility for her continuous poor judgement .But neither did the pincipal or AP. They covered for her, despite her breaking confidentiality laws, not following the curriculum, being a big bully to the kids, and getting them to read a book that was not designed for their age group that I and many other parents found offensive.

It was so bad we had to change schools,and it was the best decision I ever made because now DD has an awesome teacher and now she loves, rather than dreads going to school.

JMO

ETA:

"I was absolutely distressed," says Dr. Beverley Wheeler, the CEO of Center City PCS, which oversees its Trinidad elementary school in NE.
"It doesn't follow anything we do. We are about character, excellence and service and I found them to be violent and racist," said Wheeler.

Several parents have insisted that the teacher, who they say is a minister, would never have sent those problems home, unless someone made her do it.

"Not true," said Wheeler. She explained that the mistake was worthy of firing because parents trust the school to look at what they're putting in front of their children.

She said that even if a teacher were told to send those problems home, she or he should question it.

http://wusa9.com/news/article/19390...r-City-Public-Charter-Schools-Trinidad-Campus

It's a little more grey for me now whether this was the teachers decision or it had been assigned by someone else. That last sentence sounds very CYA-ish to me, even though in theory I do agree with it.

 

[jjenny]

I find nothing funny about children dying, grieving fathers, or friends attending a child's funeral.

Very inappropriate for 3rd grade students.

I realize not everybody likes black humor.

 

[Nova]

If my son went to school, talking about the things he had learned at home, and tose things involved blood, people in ovens, or dying, I would have child protection authorities at my door, looking to fire me from my job as a parent, because I'm exposing my kid to something inappropriate.

I guarantee you, if the roles were reversed, and my kid came home from school talking about those things, I would want the person that put those things in his head fired immediately. Because I go out of my way to protect him from violent video games, violent television, and other things that might negatively influence his mind.

Just because parents are getting crappier at their jobs, and letting young children be exposed to a lot of things they shouldn't be, doesn't mean that teachers should get a free pass on the same crappy behavior, just because they have to "compete". Teachers have been competing with crappy parenting and media distractions for years, and haven't had to resort to this.

Nobody defended giving the assignment to third graders. (In fact, nobody really knows what assignment was given.) I just said that firing him was an overreaction.

Taking your children away because they show an interest in gory subjects would be an even worse overreaction.

Firing anyone should be a last resort, not the first response to every poorly considered action.

 

[jjenny]

Nobody defended giving the assignment to third graders. (In fact, nobody really knows what assignment was given.) I just said that firing him was an overreaction.

Taking your children away because they show an interest in gory subjects would be an even worse overreaction.

Firing anyone should be a last resort, not the first response to every poorly considered action.

ITA. The teacher is human and humans make mistakes. I don't see anything that horrible that should have resulted in firing.

 

[Kimberlyd125]

I realize not everybody likes black humor.

Black humor has no place in a third grade classroom.

 

[Nova]

I have been blessed in my lifetime with a half-dozen truly great teachers, who changed my life by changing the way I think and view the world. (That's six or seven out of 23 years of formal schooling!)

Every one of those great teachers took a creative approach to teaching and was frequently in trouble with his or her superiors for not treating students like products on an assembly line. Most of them were eventually fired (or "pushed out") for one silly thing or another.

Lucky for me I had them before they left the classroom.

Parents erupting in hysteria and demanding a teacher's head every time an assignment seems unorthodox is just one of the reasons our educational system--once the envy of the world--is in dire straits.

 

[Kimberlyd125]

Has it been reported that the parents erupted in hysteria or demanded the teacher's head?

Or, did concerned parents bring the assignment to the attention of the administration and THEY acted how they saw fit.

I have not read about hysterical parents.

 

[Kimberlyd125]

Has it been reported that the parents erupted in hysteria or demanded the teacher's head?

Or, did concerned parents bring the assignment to the attention of the administration and THEY acted how they saw fit.

I have not read about hysterical parents.

Actually I just read the article again and the only thing mentioned about the parents at all is that some parents said the teacher is a minister.

Nothing about hysteria or the calling of a head.

 

[Donjeta]

But we don't know which problems were actually assigned, do we?

I think it's these ones:
http://wusa9.com/news/pdf/math_problems.pdf


The link can be found here:
http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=193679

READ: See all the problems here

Some of them are OK, a few problems are in bad taste imo. In one problem aliens round up bad maths teachers and suck their blood; the children might have enjoyed that one

 

[Nova]

Has it been reported that the parents erupted in hysteria or demanded the teacher's head?

Or, did concerned parents bring the assignment to the attention of the administration and THEY acted how they saw fit.

I have not read about hysterical parents.

Then you haven't read the parents on this thread. I've said and continue to say that while the teacher was wrong, firing him is an overreaction.

You may well be right that in this case, administrators overreacted before parents even got the chance. If so, it's because administrators are well acquainted with how parents are likely to react. It doesn't change my basic point.

(Kimberly, if some parent didn't raise an uproar, how did the media get the story in the first place? It's not like today's media outlets have the staff to have a regular reporter on the "elementary school beat".)

 

[Nova]

I think it's these ones:
http://wusa9.com/news/pdf/math_problems.pdf


The link can be found here:
http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=193679


Some of them are OK, a few problems are in bad taste imo. In one problem aliens round up bad maths teachers and suck their blood; the children might have enjoyed that one

Okay, thanks. Yeah, some of the problems push boundaries. But they do so with deliberate exaggeration that makes them akin to the violence found in children's cartoons.

 

[butwhatif?]

Actually I just read the article again and the only thing mentioned about the parents at all is that some parents said the teacher is a minister.

Nothing about hysteria or the calling of a head.

It seems to be the opposite:

Re-quoting from the new article.

Several parents have insisted that the teacher, who they say is a minister, would never have sent those problems home, unless someone made her do it.

I don't think being a minister has anything to do with poor taste or judgement, but maybe the parents do.
I am beginning to thing this teacher was a scapegoat.

We don't have charter schools over here so my opinon was based on the general public school system.

I looked it up on wiki: (BBM)

Charter schools are primary or secondary schools that receive public money (and like other schools, may also receive private donations) but are not subject to some of the rules, regulations, and statutes that apply to other public schools in exchange for some type of accountability for producing certain results, which are set forth in each school's charter.

Some charter schools are founded by teachers, parents, or activists who feel restricted by traditional public schools.

So I guess my feelings have changed, and they shouldn't really be expecting the norm, if the idea is not being restricted by traditional public school practices.

I was just looking at the school website and it seems a little odd to me anyway.
Even seeing the supply list would turn me off the school.

3rd grade:
1 large pink eraser (why does it need to be pink, or is that a brand?)
Boys: 2 containers of clorax wipes
Girls: 2 containers of baby wipes ( other grades don't appear to discriminate between girls and boys wipes). :waitasec:

There is a huge supply list that needs to be purchased for each grade, which is fine, but they aren't allowed to label most of the things as their own.

My kids attend a public school and we are encouraged to label all the supplies we purchase.
Sorry, for going so OT.

 

[Kimberlyd125]

Then you haven't read the parents on this thread. I've said and continue to say that while the teacher was wrong, firing him is an overreaction.

You may well be right that in this case, administrators overreacted before parents even got the chance. If so, it's because administrators are well acquainted with how parents are likely to react. It doesn't change my basic point.

(Kimberly, if some parent didn't raise an uproar, how did the media get the story in the first place? It's not like today's media outlets have the staff to have a regular reporter on the "elementary school beat".)

I apologize. I thought you meant THIS case.
Going by reading the article, I hadn't seen any parental hysteria.

I am a parent. I would have brought this to the attention of the administration. I feel it's inappropriate for the children as third graders.
I would not have been hysterical and I would not have asked for the teacher to be fired.
But, what they decided to do with the information would be out of my hands.

 

[Kimberlyd125]

It seems to be the opposite:

Re-quoting from the new article.



I don't think being a minister has anything to do with poor taste or judgement, but maybe the parents do.
I am beginning to thing this teacher was a scapegoat.

We don't have charter schools over here so my opinon was based on the general public school system.

I looked it up on wiki: (BBM)


So I guess my feelings have changed, and they shouldn't really be expecting the norm, if the idea is not being restricted by traditional public school practices.

I was just looking at the school website and it seems a little odd to me anyway.
Even seeing the supply list would turn me off the school.

3rd grade:
1 large pink eraser (why does it need to be pink, or is that a brand?)
Boys: 2 containers of clorax wipes
Girls: 2 containers of baby wipes ( other grades don't appear to discriminate between girls and boys wipes). :waitasec:

There is a huge supply list that needs to be purchased for each grade, which is fine, but they aren't allowed to label most of the things as their own.

My kids attend a public school and we are encouraged to label all the supplies we purchase.
Sorry, for going so OT.

Maybe I can help you understand the wipe situation. They need both types. So they ask boys to bring one type and girls to bring another type.
It's not that the genders use different types.
One type is used for the desks and the other type is used for dirty hands.

Another example of this that I have seen is...
Boys... Gallon sized zipper bags
Girls... Quart sized zipper bags

And as far as the erasers go, the large pink ones work the best on paper without ripping it. A large pink eraser was on my child's list all through elementary. Same goes for fiskars scissors, elmers school glue, and crayola crayons. They just work better.

I can see labeling personal items like scissors, notebooks, pencil boxes...
But no need to label things that will be used for the class as a whole such as paper towels, wipes, zipper bags, tissues....

JMO