> “parental complaint […] alleging that you made inappropriate comments whilst teaching a class about the royal family […] [and that] *you mocked pupils in relation to this.*”
> He says that while most of his students seemed to agree with his comments, one took umbrage: “This one girl flew at me and said, ‘You must be a Catholic’ […] [and] ‘You must respect the Queen’”.
> The teacher says he replied: “You know, that’s really funny. That’s how my mum responds when I raise this issue with her.” *He recounts that the other students laughed*, while the girl “looked furious” and “stormed off”.
I can’t believe this needs to be explained to teachers but:
Just because the majority of the class thinks it’s funny when you make fun of a student, that does not make it right.
Whether I agree with a teacher’s opinion on something is irrelevant. Their job is to educate not humiliate.
I have absolutely no idea how I managed over a decade in mainstream education without some shit storm following me if this teacher is getting suspended for *that*
Maybe he didn’t do it right? For the uninitiated, teaching has a list of “standards” and one of them is to be politically neutral or not speak in a way so as to influence children’s personal views.
It’s some sort of that.
If some kid said some sack of stupid shit that clearly came from their dickhead parent I’d always ask if anyone disagreed, chances are one kid would, before they spoke I’d say “now, is it [reason A] (my own personal view)” and they’d either agree, have a new point (even better!) or expand but either way the main thing is the thought is conveyed, then you can always do a quick show of hands to see how things change. At the start of the year my classes were usually half religious, at the end only one. I have no idea if it’s got anything to do with me as I would always encourage them to sing the hymns and stuff but some sort of social osmosis can occur and essentially I think the teacher should have done what I did instead of asking it outright.
“Of course, the media coverage is blanket isn’t it? Can anyone think of or know anyone who might not be so sad about her death? And is that okay?” and then maybe segue into “so if a lot of people are not sad, should we consider moving past the idea of monarchies in general?”
Maybe it’s too sensitive a time for all that chat full stop
This seems an over-reaction, however, a teacher must absolutely not mock children. The correct response to a child telling her to respect the queen should point out the necessity of freedom of thought and expression in a democracy, not humiliating a child.
Would he have been suspended for encouraging students to support the monarchy?
So as a teacher I mentioned that the queen’s funeral had increased the anti monarchy movements vocalness on Twitter etc. This was after they had watched a BBC video. I am a republican but at no point did I express my opinion. You have to be impartial. At a place I used to be a Sci tech in there was a kid who wore a UKIP badge (very diverse school and the kid themselves was not white British). Obviously other kids gave him a bit of grief but as a professional you have to accept their right to their opinion and try and prevent students not accepting their right to an opinion. It’s fine to say you have an opinion as a teacher though
For example I told my year 10’s that I voted for Niko Omilana in the mayoral election because the area I was in was very safe labour for councillors and obviously Khan was going to win the overall vote. I just explained my reasoning that I did this as I saw it as a protest vote for the lack of representation of youth opinion in politics. That’s fine too but you can’t turn around and tell a kid they are wrong for disagreeing with you. If a kid turned round to me and said I wasted my vote and should have taken it more seriously that is perfectly valid and shouldn’t be shut down.
And on another post school boy sent home for wearing clarks school shoes. What a great education our kid’s are getting.
Yeah. You get the feeling it’s far more than that, particularly with the bastion of ‘journalism’ Novara picking it up
Imagine thinking novara media are a credible source of information… they aren’t..
Seemed like a light-hearted response for what the kid said to him.
Can we now suspend Science teachers whom job it is to teach evolution as one of their subjects but due to their deeply held Religious belief does a half arse job of it?
​
I still remember my Science teacher, not what she taught, no just how much full of shit she was.
Mind boggles! Why the heavy-handedness? Suspension would mean victory for the teacher. It’s akin to banning a song or a movie. We all know what happens then.
Context is everything.
Hey kids, today we are going to question the monarchy. Personally I think they are bad and there are no good reasons for them. I want you to write hate mail to the new king and if you say you like the monarchy you get detention.
Hey kids, today we are doing critical thinking. There are no right or wrong answers, just question everything. For example is the monarchy good or bad?
Context
Teachers are not meant to tell children what to think. They are paid to teach children HOW to think.
I’d really want to know a bit more about this before expressing outrage, that conversation sounds incredibly contrived. Do people actually speak like that?
What does this have to do with Tories
>The teacher says the apparent restrictions on his free speech point to an anti-democratic tendency within the Tory government.
Its in Scotland. Under Scottish laws and an SNP government running things.
Daft political posturing – if you don’t like the regulations and laws this is done under take it up with the Scottish Parliament.
Misleading title. Teacher wasn’t suspended for encouraging students to question the monarchy. From the article, the teacher was suspended for a wisecrack response that led to other students laughing at a pupil. Whether or not that rises to a level where suspension is warranted is entirely a matter for the school which has a contract with the teacher in question.
Usually I’d be rather against anyone trying to cancel anything but do we really need one?
Would this sub react differently if the kid had shouted “you must be Muslim you must respect Mohammed”?
Nothing to see here, just kids snitching on their teachers for going against establishment thought and them getting suspended for it. No parallels to be had.
“In a letter to the teacher, Janie O’Neill, head of the council’s education and families team, said the reason for his suspension was a “parental complaint […] alleging that you made inappropriate comments whilst teaching a class about the royal family […] [and that] you mocked pupils in relation to this.”
Teacher complains about people silencing anti-monarchy voices, yet he turns around and makes fun of a student who disagrees w his opinion.
Sounds like a job for the unions if there isn’t anymore context than what is in this article.
Children should be encouraged to question everything.
Aka doing their job
I dont hate the monarchy but you need critical thinking
My secondary school would have been empty of teachers if they were to suspend every teacher that gave a snarky soft-bite back to a gobby child.
Asking the class to question why the coverage was so one sided was a good way to spark a classroom debate, it could have led on to discussion about how in 1952 there was absolutely no acknowledgement of people who disagreed with the monarchy and how in 2022 from the day her death was announced, some commentators were saying that “not everyone agrees with the monarchy”, or the civil war or the role of the monarchy, instead of that he’s treated to sectarianism by the child and suspended over a throwaway comeback.
>He says that while most of his students seemed to agree with his comments, one took umbrage: “This one girl flew at me and said, ‘You must be a Catholic’ […] [and] ‘You must respect the Queen’”.
I love how a kid can be bigoted against the teacher and is somehow the victim
Police State UK – wave your flags proudly on the way to the food bank!
A teacher was suspended for encouraging students to think critically*
Schools have never wanted you to think for yourself. You’re there to learn to be yet another cog in the machine; regardless of what they tell you.
national delusion that helps one family avoid taxes on disgusting wealth stolen from nations using military force.
30 comments
> “parental complaint […] alleging that you made inappropriate comments whilst teaching a class about the royal family […] [and that] *you mocked pupils in relation to this.*”
> He says that while most of his students seemed to agree with his comments, one took umbrage: “This one girl flew at me and said, ‘You must be a Catholic’ […] [and] ‘You must respect the Queen’”.
> The teacher says he replied: “You know, that’s really funny. That’s how my mum responds when I raise this issue with her.” *He recounts that the other students laughed*, while the girl “looked furious” and “stormed off”.
I can’t believe this needs to be explained to teachers but:
Just because the majority of the class thinks it’s funny when you make fun of a student, that does not make it right.
Whether I agree with a teacher’s opinion on something is irrelevant. Their job is to educate not humiliate.
I have absolutely no idea how I managed over a decade in mainstream education without some shit storm following me if this teacher is getting suspended for *that*
Maybe he didn’t do it right? For the uninitiated, teaching has a list of “standards” and one of them is to be politically neutral or not speak in a way so as to influence children’s personal views.
It’s some sort of that.
If some kid said some sack of stupid shit that clearly came from their dickhead parent I’d always ask if anyone disagreed, chances are one kid would, before they spoke I’d say “now, is it [reason A] (my own personal view)” and they’d either agree, have a new point (even better!) or expand but either way the main thing is the thought is conveyed, then you can always do a quick show of hands to see how things change. At the start of the year my classes were usually half religious, at the end only one. I have no idea if it’s got anything to do with me as I would always encourage them to sing the hymns and stuff but some sort of social osmosis can occur and essentially I think the teacher should have done what I did instead of asking it outright.
“Of course, the media coverage is blanket isn’t it? Can anyone think of or know anyone who might not be so sad about her death? And is that okay?” and then maybe segue into “so if a lot of people are not sad, should we consider moving past the idea of monarchies in general?”
Maybe it’s too sensitive a time for all that chat full stop
This seems an over-reaction, however, a teacher must absolutely not mock children. The correct response to a child telling her to respect the queen should point out the necessity of freedom of thought and expression in a democracy, not humiliating a child.
Would he have been suspended for encouraging students to support the monarchy?
So as a teacher I mentioned that the queen’s funeral had increased the anti monarchy movements vocalness on Twitter etc. This was after they had watched a BBC video. I am a republican but at no point did I express my opinion. You have to be impartial. At a place I used to be a Sci tech in there was a kid who wore a UKIP badge (very diverse school and the kid themselves was not white British). Obviously other kids gave him a bit of grief but as a professional you have to accept their right to their opinion and try and prevent students not accepting their right to an opinion. It’s fine to say you have an opinion as a teacher though
For example I told my year 10’s that I voted for Niko Omilana in the mayoral election because the area I was in was very safe labour for councillors and obviously Khan was going to win the overall vote. I just explained my reasoning that I did this as I saw it as a protest vote for the lack of representation of youth opinion in politics. That’s fine too but you can’t turn around and tell a kid they are wrong for disagreeing with you. If a kid turned round to me and said I wasted my vote and should have taken it more seriously that is perfectly valid and shouldn’t be shut down.
And on another post school boy sent home for wearing clarks school shoes. What a great education our kid’s are getting.
Yeah. You get the feeling it’s far more than that, particularly with the bastion of ‘journalism’ Novara picking it up
Imagine thinking novara media are a credible source of information… they aren’t..
Seemed like a light-hearted response for what the kid said to him.
Can we now suspend Science teachers whom job it is to teach evolution as one of their subjects but due to their deeply held Religious belief does a half arse job of it?
​
I still remember my Science teacher, not what she taught, no just how much full of shit she was.
Mind boggles! Why the heavy-handedness? Suspension would mean victory for the teacher. It’s akin to banning a song or a movie. We all know what happens then.
Context is everything.
Hey kids, today we are going to question the monarchy. Personally I think they are bad and there are no good reasons for them. I want you to write hate mail to the new king and if you say you like the monarchy you get detention.
Hey kids, today we are doing critical thinking. There are no right or wrong answers, just question everything. For example is the monarchy good or bad?
Context
Teachers are not meant to tell children what to think. They are paid to teach children HOW to think.
I’d really want to know a bit more about this before expressing outrage, that conversation sounds incredibly contrived. Do people actually speak like that?
What does this have to do with Tories
>The teacher says the apparent restrictions on his free speech point to an anti-democratic tendency within the Tory government.
Its in Scotland. Under Scottish laws and an SNP government running things.
Daft political posturing – if you don’t like the regulations and laws this is done under take it up with the Scottish Parliament.
Misleading title. Teacher wasn’t suspended for encouraging students to question the monarchy. From the article, the teacher was suspended for a wisecrack response that led to other students laughing at a pupil. Whether or not that rises to a level where suspension is warranted is entirely a matter for the school which has a contract with the teacher in question.
Usually I’d be rather against anyone trying to cancel anything but do we really need one?
Would this sub react differently if the kid had shouted “you must be Muslim you must respect Mohammed”?
Nothing to see here, just kids snitching on their teachers for going against establishment thought and them getting suspended for it. No parallels to be had.
“In a letter to the teacher, Janie O’Neill, head of the council’s education and families team, said the reason for his suspension was a “parental complaint […] alleging that you made inappropriate comments whilst teaching a class about the royal family […] [and that] you mocked pupils in relation to this.”
Teacher complains about people silencing anti-monarchy voices, yet he turns around and makes fun of a student who disagrees w his opinion.
Sounds like a job for the unions if there isn’t anymore context than what is in this article.
Children should be encouraged to question everything.
Aka doing their job
I dont hate the monarchy but you need critical thinking
My secondary school would have been empty of teachers if they were to suspend every teacher that gave a snarky soft-bite back to a gobby child.
Asking the class to question why the coverage was so one sided was a good way to spark a classroom debate, it could have led on to discussion about how in 1952 there was absolutely no acknowledgement of people who disagreed with the monarchy and how in 2022 from the day her death was announced, some commentators were saying that “not everyone agrees with the monarchy”, or the civil war or the role of the monarchy, instead of that he’s treated to sectarianism by the child and suspended over a throwaway comeback.
>He says that while most of his students seemed to agree with his comments, one took umbrage: “This one girl flew at me and said, ‘You must be a Catholic’ […] [and] ‘You must respect the Queen’”.
I love how a kid can be bigoted against the teacher and is somehow the victim
Police State UK – wave your flags proudly on the way to the food bank!
A teacher was suspended for encouraging students to think critically*
Schools have never wanted you to think for yourself. You’re there to learn to be yet another cog in the machine; regardless of what they tell you.
national delusion that helps one family avoid taxes on disgusting wealth stolen from nations using military force.