Is it just me? (O/T)

[AMBush]

My youngest daughter, Teaghan, came home and told me that her PE teacher got angry with the class because they were being too rowdy and noisy and she called them "retards". Teaghan was outraged. She believes this is an offensive thing to say, right up there with racial slurs. Besides Teaghan, one other girl in the class has a sibling with special needs, and one of the girls in class has autism.

I was horrified when she told me, and I called the 6th grade assistant principal and left her voice mail telling her just how inappropriate I found this to be, and not just as the mother of a child with special needs. She called me back an hour or so later and advised that she was unable to talk to the teacher involved but had talked to another coach, who indicated that the one in question had told the girls to "shut up" but that the "R" word was not used.

Well, I got off the phone with the assstant principal and told Teaghan what she had said. Teaghan was (again) outraged, saying that the coach the principal talked to hadn't been in the locker room when her coach used the "R" word. I told Teaghan that unfortunately, we were entering into a "students v teachers" situation, and -- unless the other 37 girls in the class are willing to speak up -- we had done all we could.

I don't think that the Assistant Principal put my voice on the phone together with me as Marijke's mom and Mrs Wilson's (the developmental teacher at the school) daughter. In any case, I'm peeved for two reasons now -- the coach's unbelievably poor judgement, and the assistant principal implying that my daughter lied to me.

[LIZARD]

No, it isn't just you. I have nothing but contempt and disgust for anyone who flings that word around, especially a teacher, who's supposed to set an excample to her students!! It's also especially sickening that she used it in front of her students. As far as I'm concerned, the derogatory use of the R word is every bit as demeaning and offensive as the N word or the C word.

Please stick to your guns, and praise Teaghan for telling you. I know that took courage for her to do.


LIZARD

[smitty]

That is just a terrible thing to have happened to your daughter! Good for her for telling you about it and shame on the school for speaking to her that way and then covering for the teacher.
I would be very upset too! You are not over reacting.
Smitty

[alizesmom]

Good for your daughter. It's sad she has to learn so soon how telling the truth doesn't always win but she deserves praise for her actions. Karen

[MegNJaxMom]

I agree with Karen... it is too bad she got the lesson that sometimes the truth doesn't win.

Good for her, and I just hope that the principal spoke to the "coach" anyway...

[Nat Hyland]

it is not right for a teacher to tell a student to "shut up" either. Such comments can remain in a child's memory a lifetime. I still remember one day I was in grade 5 (25 years ago) and I opened my desk (one of those with the lids you lift up) to start work, thinking that the teacher had finished speaking. She obviously hadn't, because she then said to me "Shut the desk Natalie - leave your head in there, it might knock some sense into you" ! It is hard to believe that any teacher would say that to a student, who was obviously just eager to start their school work. But it was very hurtful at the time, and still is now !

I suggest that teacher should be disciplined, and receive some sort of education into the correct way to speak to children (and people in general, by the sound of it).

Nat.

[LIZARD]

Originally Posted by Nat Hyland

"Shut the desk Natalie - leave your head in there, it might knock some sense into you"

(((((((((((((Gnatty))))))))))))))))).

No teacher would ever get away with that today! I know it isn't much comfort, but I hope it at least helps some to know.





LIZARD

[Jazz]

People just do not get why it is offensive. Everyone around here uses it without giving it a second thought. I don't get why it's so difficult to understand.