This Is A Weak Teacher

An eighth grader has been suspended for harrassing a teacher with a religious pamphlet. Rather than being a failure on the part of the student, this is a failure on the part of the teacher and the administration.

Apparently during a discussion of the big bang theory a few students brought up the Creationism theory at which point the teacher told them she couldn't lead a religious discussion. OK, I can understand that position, although I don't like it.

This led to a rumor mill about the teacher's religious beliefs "that was harmful to the teacher" and that culminated in a student being suspended for "encouraging another pupil to put a religious pamphlet on the teacher's desk."

This is where I believe that the teacher and the school's administration failed. They never should have let the issue get to the point that it did. As soon as there was an indication of a problem, someone from the administration should have come into the classroom to have a discussion about why it was considered inappropriate for the teacher to hold a religious discussion.

The issue was never acknowledged and was allowed to fester. Combine that with a thinskinned teacher and you have a recipe for an overreaction - which is exactly what happened.

Is placing a pamphlet on a desk a form of harassment? Only if you're emotionally weak.

The teacher should have shown more maturity. Rather than sending the student off with an overwrought office referral that led to a suspension, she should have sat the student down and had a discussion about the appropriateness of the action. In my opinion, the teacher failed to handle this like an adult.

This was a wonderful opportunity for the teacher and the school administration to teach the students about the idea of the separation of church and state. It was an opportunity to discuss using better judgment. In short it was an educational opportunity that was ignored in favor of punishment. Given the fact that the mission of the school is to educate, this is unacceptable.