Kindergarten Teacher discusses 9/11 with class...

[rdhopeca]

Ok, so I am pretty pissed off at my 5 year old's kindergarten teacher today. My son came home all worried about bad guys and planes flying into our house and so on and so forth because his kindergarten teacher decided to tell them about 9/11 and all the people who went to heaven. My son has never been exposed to anything like this before and I'm not sure that kindergarten is a place to talk about the mass slaughter of innocents. I think it's pretty piss poor judgment on the teacher's part. Not sure this is the appropriate place to vent but I'd like to hear other people's perspective on this.

And don't get me wrong, I'm as patriotic as anyone else about 9/11, I just don't think it's an appropriate conversation for a 5 year old.

[Savor Dam]

Seems likely that the Kindergarten teacher did not do an age-appropriate presentation. Intention may have been good, but the execution got muffed.

Excuse me for not paying previous attention... CA public school or another venue? Teacher following a defined curriculum or "winging it?'

[rdhopeca]

Seems likely that the Kindergarten teacher did not do an age-appropriate presentation. Intention may have been good, but the execution got muffed.

Excuse me for not paying previous attention... CA public school or another venue? Teacher following a defined curriculum or "winging it?'

Private school, and the teacher is new, so probably winging it.

[dlbpharmd]

When my youngest daughter was in first grade, her teacher showed pictures to their class of what used to be Joplin, MO. Now my daughter is absolutely terrified of thunderstorms, believing they all have tornadoes.

Small children can't process images and information like that. Teachers who show such demonstrate poor judgement, in my opinion.

[Avatar]

Agreed really.

Not age appropriate.

--A

[deer of the dawn]

I had a friend who on 9/11 went to school, collected his kids and brought them home, then watched CNN all day with them in the house. "Dad, why are they flying that plane into that building over and over again?" They just aren't ready. I wasn't ready. I had no TV news at that time and I thank God.

She should be reading them "Green Eggs and Ham" instead of rocking their little worlds with sorrows they aren't ready to process.

[DukkhaWaynhim]

She should be reading them "Green Eggs and Ham" instead of rocking their little worlds with sorrows they aren't ready to process.

True, and poetic in a sad way.

[High Lord Tolkien]

The heaven part makes me think that the teacher was going for a different kind of message.

[Orlion]

Was it brought up by another child? Could be with all the 'remembering' that goes on that at least one kid might catch on that something is different about today. Particularly if a 'moment of silence' were to be mandated. At which point, you have curious children raising their hands and asking why.

At which point, the best answer would have to be: "Ask your parents"

[Hashi Lebwohl]

They should learn about it at that young age but the lessons should be presented in an age-appropriate way, as Savor Dam notes.

[Avatar]

The heaven part makes me think that the teacher was going for a different kind of message.

Yeah, that occurred to me too.

--A

[sgt.null]

i agree twith HLT and Av. sounds possible that the teacher has another agenda at work.

it still baffles me when well meaning idiots decide that they are better equipped to lay bare the truth of the world to small children.

i guess eventually that childhood will simply be nonexistant.

[rdhopeca]

I am not entirely sure how the subject came up, and I think my son might have thrown the whole "heaven" idea in there maybe. In either case, I had to raise the bar a little bit for him in terms of explaining things in order to satisfy his curiosity. He couldn't understand why he couldn't watch the video of it so he could see the explosions.

[Savor Dam]

Spoken like a true boy!

[Avatar]

--A

[Holsety]

I'm not sure whether it's inappropriate to talk about it with a 5 year old at all, but I do agree its insensitive and dumb for the teacher to do something like that without any input from the parents.

In a way, going off Orlion's post, different parents raising their kids with different styles - not even in terms of what they should know but when they should know it - can conflict even if the teacher does their best (though that isn't really a ringing validation of a teacher who introduces a hot button issue entirely on their own initiative just because it's that time of the year).

[Harbinger]

A five-year old should be taught about death as part of the life process. He should be shown a graveyardm (a relative's grave if possible) and be told that everyone will die. Like it's no big deal- you live your life and if you don't have an accident you will get old and die.

A five-year old needs to know that there are imminent dangers in the world around him- and be specifically told that some of these dangers are from bad people. Terrorists though? I'm on the fence with this one. I think the teacher had good intentions, but it was a really bad idea.

My kid is four and I have done exactly what I described above and I can tell that it was a good thing.

[rdhopeca]

A five-year old should be taught about death as part of the life process. He should be shown a graveyardm (a relative's grave if possible) and be told that everyone will die. Like it's no big deal- you live your life and if you don't have an accident you will get old and die.

A five-year old needs to know that there are imminent dangers in the world around him- and be specifically told that some of these dangers are from bad people. Terrorists though? I'm on the fence with this one. I think the teacher had good intentions, but it was a really bad idea.

My kid is four and I have done exactly what I described above and I can tell that it was a good thing.

We do talk about those things, mostly in the context of superheroes, and other things as they happen. We talk about touch safety and strangers.

That said, I don't believe a five year old should come home from school worrying that someone is going to fly a plane into his house, and be agitated enough about it to not be able to sleep. Way too big a burden for a young mind.

[Avatar]

Agree with you both there. They should know death happens, but they shouldn't have to worry about people flying planes into their houses.

--A

[shadowbinding shoe]

i agree twith HLT and Av. sounds possible that the teacher has another agenda at work.

it still baffles me when well meaning idiots decide that they are better equipped to lay bare the truth of the world to small children.

i guess eventually that childhood will simply be nonexistant.

Really? My impression is that it's the other way around. Modern day parents and society in general go to great lengths to hide very basic truths from children (even 17 year-olds) that in the past everyone knew. And with it they deny responsibility from them. The whole concept of childhood doesn't predate the 18th century. It's sad that most of the effort is concentrated around sexual subjects and not on violence but both are repressed.

What that teacher did sounds like the usual scare tactics, very similar to the way children are taught not to take rides in the cars of strangers. I was never much enthused with these sorts of teaching methods. They work on your emotional level instead of your intellectual one. And inevitably they give you the wrong impression about how the world is (every stranger riding in a car or offering you a lollypop is a monster, you must constantly look up at the sky in fear of crazy kamikaze crashing their planes into your belly). But sanctifying ignorance is not a good thing either (didn't Covenant make a sermon against it in a conversation with the Haruchai Masters in AATE?)