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Unintentionally Disinviting |
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Written by Richard Joffray
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Monday, 22 May 2006 |
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I have not ever really had much if any interaction with other teachers in my 14 years of teaching but having raised two sons on my own, I have encountered many questionable invitations/disinvitations by teachers or coaches of my children.
One of the most memorable, well intended was my oldest son’s soccer
coach. He was a caring coach that was very involved with each kid as
equally as the next. As most coaches do, he would yell to each of them
from the sideline of things that they needed to remember while they
were on the field. This was well intended, however I could see the
reactions on the children’s faces as they were singled out for
correction. At the end of the season the coach prepared certificate for
each of the kids for their merit throughout the season. This was really
thoughtful and each child beamed as they received their individual
presentations. The look on my son’s face depresses me to this day as he
read the comments that were written around the outside of the award.
His read “Congrats, Flynn! Stay on the right side of the field”. He
never wanted to play soccer again.
A second example that comes
to mind is a chemistry teacher who insisted that the students memorize
the periodic table and be able to fill in a blank grid with the correct
information. When my frustrated son asked him why this was necessary,
the teacher responded, “we often need to do things that we don’t
understand.” I of course was outraged and did not want to believe that
any teacher in our school would be so thoughtless in their response. No
wonder my son was having a hard time relating to the assignment. I told
him to ask why he had to memorize a chart that by definition was not
suppose to be memorized. Next I arranged for a meeting of this teacher
and the principal. There I asked that either a good reason was
presented to the students for this memorization exercise or that the
project be dropped from the curriculum. My younger son has not had to
memorize the periodic table.
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