Teacher Banned for Spilling the Beans on Santa...

by closer2fine 8 Replies latest jw friends

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  closer2fine

  . http://news.excite.com/news/r/011203/10/odd-santa-dc

  Teacher Banned for Spilling the Beans on Santa

  CANBERRA (Reuters) - An Australian primary school banned a teacher after she told a class of six year olds that Santa Claus does not exist.

  Angry parents from the Corowa public school demanded action when some children arrived home in tears after a reserve teacher, on her first day on the job, told them their parents brought their presents.

  "Santa Claus has always visited our house at Christmas," mother Vanessa Lohse told the Daily Telegraph newspaper.

  "My three kids (aged five, six, and eight) don't believe Santa is real now -- it's really put a damper on Christmas."

  The school's headmaster Ian Paynter referred complaints about the incident to the New South Wales education department.

  "She was a casual teacher but she won't be coming back," a department spokesman told Reuters.

  "(She) was not disciplined but did receive counseling about the age appropriateness of responses to children's questions."

  The spokeswoman said the education department had no formal position on Santa Claus but advised teachers to tell students to ask their parents when questions about Father Christmas, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy arose.

  The teacher, who usually takes high school students, could not be reached for comment.

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  Hmmmmmmmm, wonder if she was a witnes......

  closer
  
• 

  jayhawk1

  I heard that on the radio this morning. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

  "Hand me that whiskey, I need to consult the spirit."-J.F. Rutherford

  Jeremy's Hate Mail Hall Of Fame.
  http://hometown.aol.com/onjehovahside/ and [email protected]
• 

  Grout

  Truth is more dangerous than fiction.

  "Of course there's a Santa Claus, Mom. You wouldn't lie to me!" -- my nephew, shortly before disillusionment

  --
  Chip Salzenberg: Free-Floating Agent of Chaos
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  OUTLAW

  Thats just terrible!The next thing she`ll be telling the kids is:WWF Wrestling is staged by some of the best stuntmen and stuntwomen in the world..Don`t tell anybody I said that!(lol)...OUTLAW
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  bluesapphire

  Santa is mostly an American fable. In Costa Rica we used to believe in the Nino (baby Jesus) coming on Christmas eve, which was basically fulfilled when the statue of Jesus was placed on the manger at midnight. We never had too much money for extravagant gifts. The highlight was eating tamales with the fam and going to midnight Mass.

  Regardless, I never told my kids anything about Santa. Even when I was a wit-less. Now when they ask for something and it's near their birthday or Christmas I say, "Ask Santa." And that basically means, "Maybe you'll get it for your birthday (or Christmas)."

  My kids were never devastated because I never lied to them. Even with the Adam and Eve thing. They know the stories are allegories. And they know what an "allegory" is.

  This teacher was clearly out of line but it wouldn't be such a problem if parents were more honest with their kids in the first place.

  Just my opinion.
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  Seeker

  As I made clear on the other thread on this topic, I think it's wrong for parents to lie to their children. On the other hand, I won't interfere with their lies either. If a kid believes in Santa, I won't say anything against it. The teacher should have shown better judgment.

  Still, I wonder about that mom quoted saying now her 8-year-old didn't believe any more. Uh, isn't 8 a bit old for this? How could that kid get through life without noticing for his- or herself that Santa isn't real? Or am I just giving 8-year-olds too much credit? When do kids stop believing, typically?
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  Satanus

  What, is australia too far for santa? Or are australians just a bad group, so santa just crosses them all off? Maybe there is a lesson to be learned here, right bruce?
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  Mommie Dark

  We celebrated Christmas when I was a wee little kid, until age 7 or so. I don't remember ever believing Santa was more than a wonderful notion of holiday excitement; I mean, I KNEW where the wonderful loot came from, it was Mom or Dad's handiwork, but the whole business of hiding all that shiny glory (and my folks were champs at hiding everything but the tree until after we were asleep Xmas eve) and having it appear on Christmas morning... that seemed magical to me. Household magic, family love magic. Santa was a symbol of that magic.

  Some fat dude tryin to come down the chimney of our cherry-red pot-bellied stove? Even as a toddler THAT story wouldn't float!

  But I still adored the jolly old elf and left cookies for him...

  Maybe this is just because I had lots of older sibs and they cued me in early. But I never had a prob recognizing Santa as more than a fun imaginary friend.
• 

  one

  was a jw teacher? not too many teaching at hs.

  i introduced a teacher to the jw but left the jw when realized i was no going back to the to the jw myself.

  back to the subject 7 is the age

  but i remeember a a girl who was 15 by the time her father told her the truth, really, and she was not stupid. Well some of us belevied int the wt crap until really late.