vw-- I know how you feel about setting yourself up for failure.
I'm about to be a successful at life as I've ever been -- lving on my own and supporting myself 99..9% ( -.1% because Dad pays for my health insurance). It's very scary and while the part of me that wants to sabotage it all and stay "safe" isn't as strong as it has been in the past it's still there. Right now I'm mostly worried that my two big mistakes at work will lead to me being fired. I'm pretty sure they won't, I'm also having to fight the temptation to quit before they can fire me.
And I like the I know I can suggestion for the iPod.
Happy Mother's Day!
I have coffee, life is good.
vw--"I know I can" has my vote.
vw, I'm so happy for you about the iPod. Also liking "I know I can."
We're home for Mother's Day, since Annabel still isn't 100% recovered. She's much better, though, and this was the first night she slept through since getting sick. But DH got me my Godiva and my B&N gift card, so I'm a happy woman.
Happy Mother's Day? Huh. That's the 3rd one already this year.
thwump.
Good things about teaching: deciding to ignore the Scheme of Work's selection of books and instead using
The Wolves in the Walls
and
The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish
by Gaiman and McKean as our 2 books to compare by the same writer. Fun fun fun.
Bad things about teaching: stupid stupid stupid parents who have the gall to accuse me of teaching Jewish Propaganda. Fuckwits. I think the world would be a much better place without Ariel Sharon and God knows I don't have any great affection for Israel, but this does not mean I'm going to gloss over the Holocaust when our Humanities topic is
Childrens' Lives in World War II.
As it is I've bent over backwards to make sure that I'm including as much breadth as I can in a limited time - we've looked at the experiences of British kids being bombed by Germans in the Blitz, we've looked at the experiences of German kids being bombed by Allies in Dresden (and, Jesus, I never learned about Dresden when I was in school - 2 1/2 times as many people killed in one night as were killed in the Blitz in Britain in the whole of WWII...), we've looked at the experiences of Polish kids whose home was invaded by Germany, at the experiences of Eastern European Gypsies (who were almost entirely wiped out), at the fate of the 400 or so German kids dubbed 'The Rhineland Bastards' whom the Nazis snatched from their schools and sterilized without their parents' knowledge, at the mentally and physically disabled kids who were murdered and, yes, we've touched on what happened to the Jews. But I've only had one lesson that's really addressed that issue, and that was when the whole year group watched an excellent DVD documentary about Anne Frank. Primary source tastic. Excellent stuff, although it did make me cry, but there we are. I can't read them
The Highwayman
without blubbing, so it's a miracle I managed to maintain a stiff upper lip as long as I did.
This lad has struck me several times as someone who's being fed a lot of Jews Are Evil stuff at home, so I was particularly glad he was getting a more balanced view of things with the video. He's a smart kid. Evidently the documentary made an impact and he must have gone home and questioned what Mum and Dad have been telling him.
And you know, I can totally understand anyone disliking Israel. Israel
invaded
Egypt. Israel invaded Lebanon, which is where the lad's family are from. Israel is a very aggressive place, with America on its side, cheerfully supplying it with weapons at the drop of a tear. So, yeah, okay, I do get that they may well have lost friends and family, and that when the lady writes to me that "the Jews are the most cruel people in the world, who torture and murder women and children today" she is quite possibly speaking from personal experience.
Nevertheless, I'm DAMNED if I'm going to teach that
any
group is "the most cruel people in the world," regardless of what atrocities they (or some of their members) may have committed. I'm not teaching the kids that the Germans are evil, I'm not going around deciding that Muslims are all terrorists (despite the fact that there are definitely Muslim terrorists in this country who would cheerfully have me dead), I'm not going to go around assuming that all Irish people are terrorists (despite having my local pub bombed by the IRA shortly after I'd left it). Over my cold, dead body am I going to be teaching racism or bigotry. Hell no.
If they do go ahead and complain, as they've threatened to? If my boss's spineless obedience to the wallet-wielding power of the parents gets me sacked? That is absofuckinglutely fine with me.
Oh, Fay! What a mess. I'm so sorry you have to deal with that.
It's actually kind of exhilerating, because I am
damned
if I'm going to back down on this one. There are plenty of things one can question about my teaching (I'm appallingly disorganised and untidy, I need to get better at differentiating effectively...) but casting aspersions on my academic and/or ethical integrity? Or on my intelligence? Back the
fuck
off, lady.
(I am scary, as it turns out.)
(I am scary, as it turns out.)
Well, you should be with this.
Stick to your (metaphorical) guns, Fay! If you awaken even one mind to the ugliness of prejudice and discrimination, you've done a good thing.
Go, vw, with the iPod earning. Here's a variation:
vw: the bug that could
You certainly haven't bored me. I just sit here being a silent vw cheerleader.
I'm sorry you're having to deal with it, Fay, but it sounds like these are people who would see The Merchant of Venice as Jewish propaganda.
