It had already been a...trying...day at best with my students when a parent pulled me aside after school and very sweetly but seriously got on to me about using the word "stupid" in my class.  It seems that her daughter and a number of the girls from my class had been together over the weekend and told "Mom" that Ms. D had told the class they were asking stupid questions.  I had told them "There are NO stupid questions" (!!).  I explained that to her and promised that next time I would choose a...different word.  When did the word "stupid" become as criminal as the "f" word?  Sh**!

I am more bothered by this than I was during a worse incident in which I got in trouble for saying, "sit your ass down" to a disturbed teenager at an alternative school that had very noisily threatened to shove a pencil in my juggular vein!

Stupid woman.

  Sorry you had such a crappy day.  I have a huge amount of respect for teachers and the amount of bs they have to put up with now.  I am only a parent...but I swear watching some kids and some of their parents, Id dearly love to reach out and gibb slap 'em across the back of the head for some of my kids teachers.  You'd like me as a parent...I have no prob with the word stupid...and if one of my kids threatened you with a pencil, id be putting their asses on the floor, not just a chair

*hugs for ya* Hope your days get better!

It seems to me that there are a couple of girls that want to make trouble.  I guess I would have a conversation with the girl, and apologize for the "misunderstanding", looking her straight in the eye as I did so.  But then that's why I'm not a teacher.  I have respect and awe for you guys for having to put up with such crap.

Ok from now on, it's gonna be.....

there is no such thing as an unknowledgable question and then have to explain to them!

isn't it nice to have a castle to vent in, knowing none of them are broad minded enough to ever stumble upon it?  

Reminds of the time my niece was visiting with her new dog, a sweet Boston terrier.  I was playing with him and very sweetly in a playful tone and baby-talk actually said, "who's a monster dog?"  Cute, huh?  I thought so, until my niece told me quite seriously in her schoolmarm voice (BTW this is NOT a young woman) "Please don't use negative words with my dog."

Whu??  

Some people read too much pop psychology.

sorry you had such a bad day... (chocolate)...  you are a much better person than I !!! I could not be a teacher of school aged children
or work at wal-mart  :roll:

It was a much better day today.  I counteracted all that yucky stuff with being very positive and kind toward them both today (mother and daughter).  I don't think Mom knew how to take it.  Perhaps she expected me to be a bit more snotty with her, but two wrongs don't make a right, and the only way to counteract ickiness is with non-ickiness.  (At least it works when I remember to do it!)  I also "watched my mouth" today...

This reminds me of an incident from my own long-ago grade-school years.  My social studies teacher was attempting to allay racist sentiment among the class by explaining that Jesus, considering his geographical origins, just might not have been as fair-complexioned as we might have liked to believe.  We all listened intently; we'd never thought of it that way.  The next morning, lo and behold, Mr. Van Winkle--not his real name--was standing before the principal, explaining why he called Jesus a n-----.

Hang in there.
Monk

Based on the geographical origin, no, Jesus was a dark complexioned person.  Anybody have a problem with that?

...and they all thought Jesus was European?  Interesting.  The pharoahs weren't white either, but my husband is a dark man, especially since his roots hail from upper Egypt.

Oh man it's these same kind of women that let their kids watch Saw 5 or whatever number its up to now, but think the word stupid (insert any other harmless word here) is not ok.  :roll: I've known ppl like that.

This is why I could not be a public school teacher.  I love kids and have endless patience with them.  But I can't freaking stand parents.  I have a hard time with most adults in general but rarely have to deal with them for longer than it takes to ring them up and take their money.  It is some times hard to watch parents letting their kids run wild with no rules or guidance.  I want to shake them and ask "What the hell are you thinking?"  Because then those precious children grow into teenagers who should know how to behave but just don't care about any one or any thing, including themselves! At which point I want to bitch smack the lot of them.


Yeah... I am better off not having to deal with parents.  I don't see how you can stand it.

You know, Indigo, one of the things that motivates me every morning, even as a 2nd grade teacher, is that, despite what the "stupid" parents do to their kids, at least they have one positive role model in their lives that they might remember some day when they need it the most.  If I have nothing else in this life to give, at least I can give them a piece of sanity for 8 hours a day.  
I have one student who's mother is not in the home and is not allowed to visit her girl because she has a problem with drugs.  Dad just lets her do whatever (and, mind you, this is an Islamic school, so these kids are supposed to be "endowed" with certain "morals". *snort*...).  She calls me "mommy".  Doesn't even Call me Miss D.   She truly is an emotionally needy child.  I give her a sense of stability, I think.  I don't pamper her as she gets way too much of that by the adults that she is around.  When she gets naughty, I give her consequences, just like the other kids, and I think that she respects that, as they all do.  
I guess its easier, as a teacher, to put myself in the place of the parent.  (I have three of my own which do not live with me).  Parents forget, sometimes, that we DO have their kids...AWAKE...for 8 hours every day.  They only see them, IF they see them, for 4-5 hours before they put them to bed.  In some ways, I know their kids better than they do, and that's really sad.  I am not their parent, and I would never dream of putting myself in their place, (hell, I wouldn't WANT to), but I do feel that I am a "surrogate" of sorts when they are "mine" during the day.  My place is to teach them.  That doesn't mean just teaching them 'readin', 'ritin', and 'rith'matic.  I am obligated as a human being to teach them how to be responsible, loving, problem solving adults.  Sometimes its extremely difficult, but, as I have found from my experience, never impossible.  They may go back to whatever they knew previously in their lives after they finish the second grade, but, at least I will have given them something that they will remember and take with them for the rest of their lives, that maybe no one else can ever give them.

  Ahh SeaMonster, so beautifully put.  Can I package you up and ship you over to the land of Aus to teach my kids??? The dedication and passion for your work is so obvious in the way you write...wish there was more like you!

Akina