Teacher Laid Off For Telling the Truth About Santa 26
Pfhorrest writes "The Times Online reports, "A supply teacher has been told not to return to one primary school after she told a class of seven-year-olds that Santa Claus did not exist. Children at Blackshaw Lane Primary School in Oldham were talking about Christmas when the teacher came out with the news. Father Christmas was not responsible for delivering their presents on Christmas Eve, the pupils were taught. The teacher, who had been drafted in for just the day, has now been told not to come back. Parents complained to the school after their children returned home to recount what they had learned in lessons that day." With all the contention about teaching religion (or the lack thereof) in schools these days, what do you all think about similar issues regarding more frivolous popular folklore like Santa Claus?" And what about Cthulhu? Should a 7-year-old be forewarned that he will eventually exist in a world of sublime madness at the whim of the ancient ones?
Re:Glad she isn't coming back (Score:2, Interesting)
I suppose you could make all sorts of legalistic, pedantic arguments about why what she did was justifiable.
Because, you know... it's the truth?
Lying to your children is still lying, and it's a sin acording to the same bible where the christams celebration is _supposed_ to come from (putting aside the fact that originally was a pagan celebration).
Sorry, but christmas is not a celebration where "Santa brings you gifts", its the celebration of the event when hope came down to the damned humanity. Its the celebration of the freedom of the whole human race against their own sins.
I'm so sick of this thinkofthechildren mentality, the best way to prepare your children to the real world is not by rounding the corners of everything in sight, let them make mistakes when the consecuences aren't as bad as would be for the same mistake some years after that; let them play in the mud where they get sick early and develop a good inmunological system; correct them when the do something that they should not be doing (the "discipline stick" is biblical, and it's pretty literal). Creating an unreal world where everything is perfect just spoils them and make them useless, by the time they actually need to do things by their own, they won't even know what to do, you're not going to be there for them, so you HAVE to prepare them for the real world, not for a world that would make Hello Kitty's Fantasy Island look like a cruel place; that's your freaking DUTY.
Go ahead, tell them that Christmas is not getting gifts from a fat guy who defies physics, we are celebrating that humanity is not going to hell... literally.
Re:Glad she isn't coming back (Score:2, Interesting)
You seem to think that allowing children to be ignorant of the harsh realities of the real world is a bad thing, which just means you're a selfish, spiteful person or more likely someone who hasn't had to face a lot of hardship. Apparently you are religious (because you proclaim Christmas is supposed to be a holy day) and you critique other people for raising their kids in a "world that would make Hello Kitty's Fantasy Island look like a cruel place," but religion was the very first self-induced, escapist fantasy created to soothe the hardships that humankind must face. Teaching your kid that a magical person was born on December 25th who could heal people, replicate food, and absorb the evil nature of humanity is no different than teaching him/her that Santa is going to drop off presents under the tree. It's a fictional character (or historical person who's accomplishments have been greatly exaggerated over the generations) created to pass along meaning through the generations, and if you weren't such a fucking idiot (or more likely naive child) you'd realize that Santa embodies the spirit of what Christians want us to believe Jesus is all about - in the end the good get rewarded and the evil get punished; that it is good to give and be humble; that happiness can also be found in making others happy.
A teacher who deliberately attempts to dispel the illusion of Santa is no different than a teacher who tries to teach the kids that there is no god or that Jesus was just a really charismatic guy who inspired others to write about him, or on the flip-side a teacher that tries to convert the kids to Christianity or teaches them that creationism is right and evolution is wrong. These are not subjects for a classroom before at least age sixteen, if not eighteen. It's just malicious and/or selfish meddling before those ages, because there's nothing wrong with children living in an illusory world and in fact those childish imaginings are what creates creative, imaginative adults.
Christmas is now a secular holiday, whether you like it or not. My parents are atheists and they still raised me with Christmas and to believe in Santa, because it is easy to celebrate the spirit of Christmas no matter your beliefs - giving and receiving, spending time with family, making traditions whether it's an aluminum pole or a murdered tree decorated with trinkets. Every kid eventually learns Santa isn't real, so there's no reason to force the truth onto them.