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"How can he understand what's going on?" asks Mylissa Knight "He watches cartoons, not the news. I don't like this at all."
Dr. Tony Stewart. the Superintendent of the Elizabeth City-Pasquotank Public School District, told WAVY News 10:
"This assignment was a writing prompt made by 7th grade teachers with only one point of view. I don't think that was right and I apologize to anyone it may have offended."
Framing the questions as they did, the teachers were, of course, way out of bounds.
Sadly, the Superintendent's response:
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I don't think that was right
was wimpy.........He doesn't
think it was right ???? . Gee, Dr. Stewart, I hope you administer better than you speak in public. Perhaps
It was not right would have expressed it better, as it was more than just a personal opinion of right or wrong....it was whether teachers should use their position in the classroom to further personal agendas.
Teachers such as these drag every educator down with them when they pull
stunts like this.
And since I seem to be on a roll and expressing my opinion, I'd also like to take it one step further and respond to the remarks made by Mylissa Knight, the parent, who was quoted in the article.
A 7th grader is not too young to have a basic understanding of current events. If his TV time is limited to cartoons, then obviously the child will have a more difficult time keeping up with Social Studies lessons. Are kids today interested in what is happening in Afghanistan and Iraq and our nation's fight in the GWOT ? Absolutely. Do they understand all of it ? No. Are they capable of understanding the facts ? Certainly. TIME magazine publishes a children's version called TIME for Kids that many teachers subscribe to (also available online at
www.timeforkids.com). Another teacher asked if I would give my Social Studies lesson to her 4th grade class based on the 2/4/05 issue of the magazine, with the headline, " Iraq's Choice: Will elections bring peace or more violence ? " The two page article included pictures, a geographic map of Iraq, and pie charts showing the percentages of Ethnic Groups (Arab 80%, Kurdish 15%, other 5%) and Religious Groups (Shiite Muslim 65%, Sunni Muslim 32%, Christian and other 3%). These 4th graders were overflowing with questions, which ranged from, "Mrs. K. Are there too many 'i's in that one kind of Muslim?" "No, Jonathan, It's not a typo...it is pronounced 'She - ite'," and another boy who wanted to know, " If we know the bad things Saddam Hussein did when he was the ruler, then why is he being given a trial if everyone knows he's guilty?" Questions about women getting the chance to vote, why were the insurgents (new vocabulary word) doing violent things, and on and on. They are curious, they are interested, they are like sponges soaking up information. We definitely do NOT have to dumb down their education.
My response to Mrs. Knight's question about her 7th grade son, "How can he understand what is going on ?"
It is really quite simple, Mrs. Knight. Turn off the cartoon's, and talk to your son about what is going on in the world today.
Kudos to the Superintendent though, hopefully he'll take these teachers to task.
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