DD telling all kinds of stories about her chemistry teacher that can’t possibly be true

[Anonymous]

I went to a very prestigious prep school. My science teacher would tell us wacky things about his life and philosophies. If I had told my parents, they would have had a fit and complained to the administration, pulling me out of the class at the very least. Most of the students thought he was a pretty cool dude (former pro athlete) and it would have caused a major social backlash at me. For example, he said he took LSD once and went hiking. The trees on the hillside spelled JOY. Another time, a classmate said, eff you to another classmate, he said, "Don't say that, effing is good. You should say, uneff you."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do you assume they're lies? The 504 confidentiality breach can be reported to the counselor, by you. They will tell the teacher to cut it out. Unless you just mean that students with extra time are publicly called to discuss it with the teacher. My kid with extra time doesn't mind that.

My kids have had all kinds of out-there teachers, and so have I. Unless the teacher says something hateful against a particular group or something sexually inappropriate, or has a breakdown in front of the students, it's not actionable.

One of my kid's middle school teachers had re-enactments of Aztec sacrifices, to go with their history curriculum. The class loved it. The victim volunteered every year. Another one was very sardonic and threw candy at the kids - my kid loved him. I had a math teacher who was so drunk we needed to help him put the key in the lock to open the classroom door. His math lecture was lit.

We live in Arizona and my kid’s HS physics teacher has a photo of Tom Horn (our loony conservatixe state superintendent of schools) on his wall. Every morning the teacher gestures to the picture and loudly says “praise to Tom Horn” or similar. We are halfway through the year and my kid STILL is not sure if this is serious? or if the guy is being sarcastic/making fun of Tom Horn. The students just sit there. Kid doesn’t care and is just focused on getting through the class lol. Public school. We have not complained and I assume no one else has either. The guy is old and is retiring soon.

Some HS teachers are WEIRD.

[Anonymous]

I had an algebra teacher who used to scream "both sides of the equation" and pick up a chair and brandish it at us. DD tales sound plausible to me.

[Anonymous]

I would not assume these stories aren’t true. There are so many teachers out there who over share, both in high school and college. Unless your daughter is saying, it is somehow affecting her ability to learn or something along those lines, I would just maybe confirm that these things are inappropriate. Take it as a learning opportunity for her and how to make sure you get what you want from a situation, even if that situation has undesirable aspects. But again, I would not assume she is telling lies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had an algebra teacher who used to scream "both sides of the equation" and pick up a chair and brandish it at us. DD tales sound plausible to me.

Ha. I would do that too. Do you know how many kids forget that???

[Anonymous]

Two of my top private's high school history and English teachers were having affairs with my classmates. You would never have guessed and I personally thought they were excellent teachers. I'd be more inclined to believe my child than think they were lying unless they already had a problem with lying.

[Anonymous]

Maybe step one here is to believe your kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had an algebra teacher who used to scream "both sides of the equation" and pick up a chair and brandish it at us. DD tales sound plausible to me.

My math teacher would tell us that we would grow up to be trash collectors if we didn't pay attention.

[Anonymous]

I would absolutely believe my kid on all three of these stories. There are absolutely wonderful teachers in this world. There are also teachers who over share and don’t have a “corporate” mindset at all. I can imagine it becomes tough to sometimes think through what is “bonding” versus “inappropriate” (obviously I’m not talking about out any sort of sexual stuff).

last year, my kid knew ALL ABOUT her teacher’s divorce and new dating life. I completely believe my kid. This year, she has a teacher that loves to talk about other kids with her (and I’m sure everyone else). He recently said “hey, ask me a question because Larla is the only one with her hand up and I don’t want to talk to her, she is annoying.” I 100% believe my kid.

[Anonymous]

Is your daughter usually a liar? If not, why do you think she would lie about this?

[Anonymous]

I am with PP^. Does your child lie a lot? I always find this to be a strange thing for parents to say, even when the kid is younger and the parent finds it charming.

[Anonymous]

The OP, who is the only one to know the child, believes the stories are not true.

But DCUM, who has no knowledge of the student or the teacher, decided to condemn the teacher anyway. Because that’s how we roll here, right?

Imagine being a teacher these days, knowing that parents quickly and gleefully jump on the teacher-take down train.

Innocent until proven guilty, unless you’re a teacher, that is.

[Anonymous]

There are teachers that might act like this, as there are doctors and lawyers and ditch diggers with poor judgment. I am a teacher myself. I’d report it to admin and let them deal with it. They will ask other students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The OP, who is the only one to know the child, believes the stories are not true.

But DCUM, who has no knowledge of the student or the teacher, decided to condemn the teacher anyway. Because that’s how we roll here, right?

Imagine being a teacher these days, knowing that parents quickly and gleefully jump on the teacher-take down train.

Innocent until proven guilty, unless you’re a teacher, that is.

Reading comp issues. None of us are condemning the teacher. We think it's all normal, with the possible exception of sharing 504 details (but my kid's teachers all need to ask everyone with extended time to come at lunch time, so it's inevitable that some details are going to be public).

It's OP who is de facto condemning the teacher, because she thinks the allegations are so out there that she prefers to think her own child is lying rather than believe a teacher would say these things. And we are here to tell her that teachers say such things all the time, and that it's not a big deal.

You're really stupid.

[Anonymous]

I would believe it. I have heard crazier from my 3 high schoolers.