When your kids smarter than the teacher

[Van]

He's still wrong even when he's right and gets punished for it.

- Pumpago

 

[Cyclone]

I'm sure the kid was being punished for being a smart ass and not for just pointing out the error.

Still, it must have been hard for the teacher to put the error in writing in the letter. Unless of course they really are that out of touch.

 

[navychop]

I'd respond that he will be taught to disagree more respectfully, but questioning obviously incorrect information is desired. Dogmatism is not to be encouraged.

 

[Charise]

Teaching "tact" is good. Questioning is good. Do something nice just for him to ease the school punishment.

Is this another example of zero tolerance in the schools? What a ridiculous concept!

 

[VinceT3]

that's one moron of a teacher..

Teacher says "I accept that I'm a moron who doesn't know the difference between a kilometer and a mile, but you should never question my incompetence!"

 

[Derwin0]

If I were the parents, I'd fight the punishment. Especially after the "better off simply accepting my teaching without resistance", when it's clear the teacher is wrong.

 

[TNGTony]

I was always in trouble in school because I never, and I mean NEVER accepted what a teacher told me at face value. Though as an adult I know now I went a little overboard, I ENCOURAGE people to question what they read, hear, or are taught!

Since I was not there 14 years ago when this incident happened, I can't comment on the specifics. But once you have made your point that you challenge the validity of the information, then you shut the hell up and take it up with the authority figure privately as to not challenge authority of the person, just the information disseminated. That is what the child is most likely being reprimanded for.

BTW, anyone figure out where the teacher goofed? S/he was thinking volume (Gallon/Liter) not distance. Honest mistake. The bigger mistake was not immediately recognizing the error and apologizing for the human error!

See ya
Tony

 

[Derwin0]

But once you have made your point that you challenge the validity of the information, then you shut the hell up and take it up with the authority figure privately as to not challenge authority of the person, just the information disseminated.

There I disagree. I think you hold your ground when the information is incorrect. If you shut up and let the "authority" keep giving wrong information, then the rest of the class suffers due to the incorrect information.

The teacher should have pulled out a text book to prove her point, and then apologize when she sees she is wrong.

Being in charge is no license to not be questioned on factual material. The kids are there to learn, not be indoctrinated.

I've proven teachers wrong before in class, and to their credit they would verify the information before telling me to shut up. This teacher evidently did not like being challenged.

 

[Derwin0]

BTW, anyone figure out where the teacher goofed? S/he was thinking volume (Gallon/Liter) not distance. Honest mistake. The bigger mistake was not immediately recognizing the error and apologizing for the human error!

How do you get from distance to volume? They are completely different concepts?
Nothing in the attachment mentions volume, it even specifically states "length". I could understand if the teacher said volume, but she didn't. The teacher was wrong, plain and simple.

 

[snathanb]

How do you get from distance to volume? They are completely different concepts?
.

I get what he meant to say. The three most common comparisons people think of are liter to quart, meter to yard, kilometer to mile. Liter is more than a quart, meter is more than a yard, but a kilometer is less than a mile.

While the teacher obviously made a mistake, a child accusing the teacher of lying to the class is inappropriate, and should be addressed. I don't think the punishment was out of line at all.

 

[snathanb]

Do something nice just for him to ease the school punishment.

If my son brought home that letter, he would have received some additional consequences for being disrespectful to an adult, not a reward...

 

[VinceT3]

If my son brought home that letter, he would have received some additional consequences for being disrespectful to an adult, not a reward...

I would have told my kid that he shouldn't be disrespectful to the s**thead even if he is a s**thead.. then I would have screamed bloody murder up the school's chain of command for what a moron the teacher is and that he should be challenged when he's incorrect..

 

[mdonnelly]

Smarter than the teacher - that happens a lot. Good teachers deal with that daily. The troublemakers are the kids who THINK they're smarter than the teacher, and look for situations to show off.

Better informed than the teacher on the subject at hand - that's just wrong. A good teacher needs to be prepared for every lesson, and encourage honest discussion.

 

[TNGTony]

We also don't know this child's history in the class room. Is he a smart ass (class clown) that is constantly really making trouble and this was the one time the teacher should have double-checked? We don't know. Still... pretty bad mistake and worse letter to send home.

see ya
Tony

 

[GeorgeLV]

I have a dumb teacher story for you:

In university I had to take an MIS 101 class for my degree requirements. We had a group project to design a website. Turns out one of the members of my group photoshopped some graphics from another website he was the webmaster of. Evidently somebody else in class didn't like him too much and turned him in for cheating (um, from himself).

So the professor emails everybody in the group that he would have to fail us and we will be scheduled to appear before the academic discipline committee to see if we "could salvage our academic careers."

After some research, I confidently replied that I committed no academic wrongdoing, was a expert in the field, currently employed as a computer programmer, and if he did not immediately cease, desist, and retract any statements damaging my good name that the original jurisdiction of my counterclaims would be in district court not university kangaroo court.

Needless to say, after he forwarded my reply to the dean the project was graded and the academic discipline case never happened.

 

[navychop]

Good one!

 

[Bobby]

About 27 years ago my son was in kindergarten. My wife received a phone call from school and they said that our presence was requested for a meeting with the principal and his teacher to clear up some behavior issues. I had to take the day off of work to attend.

So, we go to the principal's office at 11AM to see what is going on. My son's teacher says that our son is being very disruptive in class. I asked "in what way?" She says that she calls him Joshua and that he continually states that is not his name. I asked what he says his name actually is. She says he says it is Josh. I tell her that his name is really Josh. She tells me that is ridiculous, Josh is a nickname for Joshua. I tell her that we have named our son Josh, not Joshua. She insists that his name is Joshua, not Josh. The Principal steps in and asks me if we can prove that his name is Josh and not Joshua. I tell him "you bet, would like to see his birth certificate?" He says that he would. I ask him to pull out the records that the school owns and take a look. He calls for them. The records, a copy of his birth certificate, his immunization records and our application for admission to the school all show his name to be Josh not Joshua. I ask the principal if he has any further questions. He smiles and says "not at all." I ask the teacher if she has any questions. She says "who in their right mind would give their child a nickname instead of a real name." The Principal steps in again and tells us that all is well and he will have discussion with the teacher. From that time on Josh was very comfortable with his name and every teacher he had willingly used it properly.

 

[navychop]

Reminds me of teachers that refused to call Hispanic kids "Jesus" and insisted on pronouncing it "Hey-sus." I think someone actually took that to court. Talk about religious ignorance!

 

[mdonnelly]

Reminds me of teachers that refused to call Hispanic kids "Jesus" and insisted on pronouncing it "Hey-sus." I think someone actually took that to court. Talk about religious ignorance!

I don't understand. Wouldn't his parents call him "Hey-sus" at home? If a kid is named Jose, I'm not gonna call him "Josey".

 

[navychop]

Many pronounce it the same way we do. It's a fairly common name, south of the US.