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HaElfParagon t1_j80cbkr wrote

Have you tried asking the teacher (respectfully) to try removing the stick from their ass?

It's perfectly acceptable to say oh my god in a public school. Your teacher giving your kid shit for it is what we call, forcing their religion on your child, and is not acceptable.

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new_Australis OP t1_j80cug6 wrote

>Have you tried asking the teacher (respectfully) to try removing the stick from their ass?

I have not, I am debating whether to do this or not. Since we fear the teacher will hold it against our son.

>It's perfectly acceptable to say oh my god in a public school.

I agree

>Your teacher giving your kid shit for it is what we call, forcing their religion on your child, and is not acceptable.

I agree, this is how I feel. She is forcing her beliefs onto him. Something we don't do as our atheist beliefs are our own and if he chooses religion in the future that will be his option.

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HaElfParagon t1_j80dem2 wrote

I saw someone said to tell the principal. I believe going over the teachers head from the get-go would exascerbate things, and worsen your kids relationship with their teacher. I'd request a meeting with the teacher to discuss things, and see if they can't be reasonable.

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new_Australis OP t1_j80edi3 wrote

>I believe going over the teachers head from the get-go would exascerbate things, and worsen your kids relationship with their teacher.

This is true

>I'd request a meeting with the teacher to discuss things, and see if they can't be reasonable.

If it happens one more time I will choose this option. Thank you for your advice.

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JaKr8 t1_j80dxat wrote

I don't know that she is forcing her beliefs on him, as opposed to just maybe not wanting to have certain type of outbursts in the class. It's very easy to have things get out of hand very quickly when you've got 20 some kids in a room, many of which already do not want to be there, even at 5 years old. I see no reason why you couldn't have a civil discussion about this with the teacher, but keep in mind sometimes you have to set more specific boundaries when you've got 20 five year olds running around your room versus one or three kids at home..

A long long long time ago, when one of my kids was in kindergarten, I was walking home after pickup with another parent whose child was in the same kindergarten class as mine was. The child was telling us he got in trouble for using the 'S' word with another child in the class.

"Stupid"

First of all, we were expectingit to be a different word.. And secondly, I understand although that's not a bad word per se, that its may be not a word the teacher wants used in her classroom. Anyway, we as parents had a chuckle about it, and the parent told their kid not to say that word at school. Never became an issue again.

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new_Australis OP t1_j80fjg1 wrote

Thank you for your words. We will work with him on not saying that phrase as it may hurt other kids feelings and the teacher's feelings as well. Maybe he will be more sympathetic to this reasoning. He often says oh my gosh as a replacement since his teacher told him to say that instead. So it's not so much the phrase oh my god more so the word god that is the issue with the teacher. As she has told him to say oh my goodness or oh my gosh as a substitute.

We will try to tell him to say oh man, or oh wow as a substitute.

I can say it's my fault as I often say oh my god, well.. "OH MY GA" is the actual phrase I use at home mainly when talking to my mother as it's her favorite phrase. So my guess is that our son hears me and as kid do they mimic their parents.

I will work on not using this phrase around him.

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JaKr8 t1_j80t3g9 wrote

It's a hard balance. And I'm not trying to be critical of your beliefs, because we are an agnostic family as well. But I do, having gotten certified to teach math and physics, understand what it's like to keep control of a rowdy classroom at times!!

Unfortunately I don't know if there's really any right or wrong here, since we all have different perspective on things. Either way I hope everything works out well for you and your son.

One of the drawbacks of Western Massachusetts is that there aren't a lot of school options, it's not like you could just take your kid out ( Not that you would ever want to do that) and put him in another local elementary school, especially if you are here in Berkshire county where everything is so far apart... So as a parent you definitely feel like you have to be carefully/diplomatically straddling that line between diplomacy, and standing up for your child.

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new_Australis OP t1_j81mbjz wrote

>One of the drawbacks of Western Massachusetts is that there aren't a lot of school options, it's not like you could just take your kid out ( Not that you would ever want to do that) and put him in another local elementary school,

This is true. They are now limiting the schools you can opt your kid into. He only has two options and those are the closest to his home.

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SharpCookie232 t1_j81m309 wrote

It's disruptive if other children find it offensive. They may be complaining to their parents, who are then complaining to the teacher and/or the principal. She is trying to keep the peace and make the classroom a safe space for all. It's very difficult to enforce norms in a public school because families cannot agree amongst themselves what the norms are.

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HaElfParagon t1_j83xcp6 wrote

>It's disruptive if other children find it offensive

Anyone can find anything offensive. By that logic, kids should never say anything at all for the entire time they are ever out in public.

We simply don't have enough info to tell one way or another, but I find the idea that she's forcing her religion on her students to be much more likely than some other student complained that OP's kid said "oh my god", and it stirred up such a hullabaloo that the principal got involved.

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SharpCookie232 t1_j84lvop wrote

Your misinterpreting my post. It isn't "her religion" that's the issue - she could be an atheist and say "oh my God" seven thousand times a day herself outside of school. But in school, she has to make sure that the students are not offended and complaining to their parents when they get home that they were upset by this kid. Those parents are complaining to her, and possibly going over her head to the Principal and who knows who else. She is trying to provide a safe learning environment (i.e. keep the peace) for the greatest number of students. I can guarantee you that at least some of them are very religious and will be upset by "oh my God" (taking the Lord's name in vain). Being a teacher is very, very hard these days, OP should be mindful of that and encourage her kid to follow the class rules without making a huge fuss. Even if that family thinks it's silly, it will be an exercise in self-control and caring about others for him.

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