Teacher, last ten minutes of class today:
Please stop talking! We are going to play this music now to try to get you all calmed down at the end of the day and you need to listen to it. Or would you rather go outside?
Gillian: I want to go outside.
Teacher: Fine, go outside!
Gillian: Wanders around/goes to the bathroom (depending on who you ask)
Teacher: You will lose recess tomorrow.
After school when the teacher was telling me this information (side note, this is not her normal teacher but a Title I reading teacher who comes in to help get the classroom under control) I made a big deal about how Gillian was going to be better tomorrow in class, etc.
But in the car on the way home, I started thinking about it--if you ask a 6 year old if they would rather go outside and you expect them to say that no, they would rather stay inside... well, isn't that weird?
So then Gillian asked me what she should have said and I was perplexed. What are the options here?
1) Lie because that is what adults want to hear.
2) Say "Is that rhetorical?"
3) Say nothing, sit quietly and don't answer the teacher's questions
What would you tell your child?
Lame! She did nothing wrong. Even if she had though, I would tell her the rules don't apply to her because she's moving to Utah next month.
ReplyDeleteI would tell her to yell out "my mom thinks you're stupid!" and then run away. But I'm mature and stuff.
ReplyDeleteThat doesn't even qualify as a rhetorical question. A rhetorical question is used to make a point. (This teacher needs to take my class. I teach the art of rhetorical questions through the works of Thomas Paine and Patrick Henry!) What sort of point is this teacher trying to make with that question!
ReplyDeleteWas she trying to IMPLY to six year olds that wanting to go outside would be a punishment? I don't even understand.
Teacher lost her cool and her logic. (<--that is an example of a zeugma--fab rhetorical device. I own a lot of useless knowledge about syntax and stuff. )
Why did Gillian lose recess? I'm lost as an adult. The teacher told her to go outside. She did. That's compliance. Not defiance.
My son's teacher asked me if she thought he got too much homework. I chickened out and said..."Sometimes." Ugh. I'm such a wimp. If his teacher likes me, maybe ONE DAY he'll earn student of the month. The local moms think that bribery works in getting student of the month. The evidence supports this. Moms who donate time and crackers have children who earn student of the month.
Going shopping for apples, pencils, and crackers!
Clearly a case where the teacher opened her mouth to say something effective and nonsense came out instead. And she didn't feel brave enough to retract it. Lame. Gillian obviously did nothing wrong. Sadly, I think option #3 is the best when an adult refuses to reason...
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