What would be nice though would be an acknowledgement that what you said could be read as offensive.
No, because what you're saying is that my awful experience in public school offends you, and therefore I'm this evil boor who hates all teachers. You're conflating my bad experience with a false conclusion that I hate you and your entire profession.
It seems to me that there is a communication issue here. I can't speak for Kat, but I can speak for myself.
Dylan, I understand that your experience was unique and that is what you were speaking about. I also understand that some of your comments had the potential to be read as offensive. And, in fact, were read as offensive.
Perhaps what would be an appropriate response would be to apologize for the unintended offense rather than the defensive reiteration of your point. To me, that reads as being dismissive of the feelings of other posters.
Where did I say that? Point it out. Show me. If I did, I apologize.
I am OK with Annabel going to public school, but I'm afraid she'll never get pushed and prodded by her teachers and peers to be the intellectual superstar we all know she's going to be. It is very easy to just put on the cruise control and float through primary/secondary school without reading a book or studying, esp. if the school's purpose is less about educating and more about self-preservation and order-keeping. Then you hit college and have no study habits.
To me, this very clearly says that public school sucks. Here, you are saying that Annabel is going to receive a substandard education because she will be in a public school.
What would be nice though would be an acknowledgement that what you said could be read as offensive.
I do not understand why Kat was upset by dw's comment:
I had 2-3 teachers in high school who gave a rat's ass about me or about education. The rest were too busy getting drunk or writing out detention slips or planning on their retirement to teach.
I do not see any "lumping of PS teachers" in his posts. They seem to me to be quite specific to his own experience. His anxiety that Annabel might experience something similar seems reasonable for him as her parent, and his resolve to see that her school experience is better than his own seems laudable.
But seeing that Kat found that post offensive, it becomes apparent that I should apologize for my comment:
Doctors treat diseases. Nurses treat people.
which was much more general, flippant, and dismissive.
I apologize to any who were offended by that remark. I am sorry to have implied that doctors do not treat people, or that they might not care about them as much as nurses do, or that nurses don't do more than deal with people. They do.
dcp, instead of fueling the issue with sarcasm, it might be more productive to state your opinion forthrightly. If you disagree that posters don't need to apologize for an unintended offenses (which is what I assume is the point of your post), could you explain why you think so?
To me, this very clearly says that public school sucks. Here, you are saying that Annabel is going to receive a substandard education because she will be in a public school.
Then let me rephrase:
I am OK with Annabel going to public school, but I'm afraid she'll never get pushed and prodded by her teachers and peers to be the intellectual superstar we all know she's going to be. It WAS very easy FOR ME to just put on the cruise control and float through primary/secondary school without reading a book or studying, esp. if the school's purpose is less about educating and more about self-preservation and order-keeping. Then I hit college and had no study habits.
I apologize for any anger and confusion the original wording caused. It was not clearly expressed as my experience and my experience alone.
I don't know what to say right now. This board has meant a lot to me for several years now, and I have a lot of friendships here I'd hate to lose.
But I just can't be here as things stand, so I'm leaving. My email is good, and I'll probably post on LJ.
Thank you for the clarification. I've taken my issue to bureau at this link [link] since I'm actually more bothered by a pattern of behavior that is disruptive to the community.
No, that wasn't sarcasm. That was sincerity. I do not understand why Kat was offended, but I recognize that she is. I do not maintain that posters don't need to apologize for an unintended offense. I recognized that my comment might easily have been found offensive. So I apologized.
No, that wasn't sarcasm. That was sincerity
I'm sorry I read that wrong. (Just a tad sensitive right now.)
