GGGGRRRRRR!!!!!!!!

[handy]

OK, I'm mad.

My son brings home this "test". It is some kind of personality test in which there are sets of adjectives and the child is to rank the sets of adjectives in order as to which most describes him 4 being most like to 1 being least like.

OK, hokey meaningless tests. Stupid, but nothing to get het up about.

Here's what makes me mad....

Here is the example for the test:

Example: Don't do this one, it's an example only

a. Smart
b. Sexy
c. Sassy
d. Stressed

For letters a,b,c, and d you would put 4 next to the word that best describes you and ... 1 next to the word that least describes you.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

For example if you filled in this set as follows:
4 a. Smart
2 b. Sexy
3 c. Sassy
1 d. Stressed

It would mean that of the 4 adjectives you would most likely describe yourself as Smart, and the least likely to describe yourself as Stressed.

Why are we grown ups doing this to 11 year olds. Why are we grown ups offering as an example of self-description "sexy" for 6th graders.

I found out about this because Thomas himself was pretty perplexed by it and brought it up. His words, "Why is "sexy" on this?" Now, Thomas isn't exactly a prudish little guy...he is a self described "babe magnet"...and even he is scratching his head as to why teachers (in his view) would put that on a test for kids. He showed it to Viola and in all of her 14 years of worldly wisdom, her comment was "Well that's a little inappropriate."

Thoughts...


Oh, and please don't anyone suggest a Christian school...the only one in this area is not accredited, doesn't have credentialed teachers and is quite out of our financial range anyway. I've done homeschooling, but homeschooling isn't a good option for my kids either, because we do live so far out they have no social life whatsoever outside of school.

 

[ronniechoate34]

This is all happening because public schools are satanic in nature, it's been going on for a very long time. It seems odd to me that you are just now becoming aware of the indoctrination that's been taking place in the schools.


Has it been working? Yeah, so hang on to your hat because things are about to take off like never before.


No offense lady, but you should have been angry at these things a long time ago. It's good to see that you aren't dead in the world and you can still think for yourself. Let's pray that they don't take that away from you because it may led to better things than this even.

 

[ronniechoate34]

Do they offer virtual school in your area? I don't know if that's right for your kids or not, but if it's offered then it is one option for y'all.

 

[EricTheBaptist]

No offense but I'm pretty sure he's hearing A LOT worse things from the kids then questions on homework.

 

[handy]

No offense lady, but you should have been angry at these things a long time ago. It's good to see that you aren't dead in the world and you can still think for yourself. Let's pray that they don't take that away from you because it may led to better things than this even.

Have you been to any of the schools my kids have been to? Have you been down to them and have talked to my kids' teachers or principals? Have you prayed with my kids' teachers or principals, or have been to bible study with them? Have you looked through my kids' text books? Course work?

Schools are very different in different places, so no offense mister, but I'm on it. In general the ones around here are pretty good. This "test" didn't come from any of the text books, it's a hand out.

No offense but I'm pretty sure he's hearing A LOT worse things from the kids then questions on homework.

First of all...has anyone considered how adding the words "no offense" to an otherwise innocuous, even insightful statement makes it really...offensive?

Secondly...true, he does hear a lot worse from his fellow kids. But, the whole reason why he brought it up was because all of his buddies were talking about it...none of them could figure out why the word would be on a test given to them by a teacher.

This is actually a good thing...for one thing it shows that perhaps the kids are smarter than we give them credit for and if we adults don't roll over and play dead, perhaps we can reign it in.

Part of the not rolling over and playing dead...or running away and hiding via a virtual school (yeah, my kids love hanging with virtual friends) is having a meaningful discourse on when and how we parents should intervene when things like these come up...

which was my point in posting this here...to have some meaningful discourse.

 

[Mike]

No offense lady, but you should have been angry at these things a long time ago.

This was a bit crass. If I get angry at my kid's school, that doesn't mean it was the first time I was upset. Public schools are consistent with today's society. Liberal agendas are prominent. Our son went from a K-8 Christian school to a public school in part because we wanted him exposed to it while he lives under our roof; not exposed to this for the first time when he goes away to college. So far, we've found for the most part that our fears of public school were born out of ignorance. All we knew was private Christian school. For you to say schools are satanic, makes me consider you have an outsider's view of public school as well. At our son's school, there are actually some decent teachers. There are even some Christian teachers! ed!

Yes, there are things we don't approve of, but we discuss them with him, and we pray a lot. He's going to have to live in the world at some point.

No offense but I'm pretty sure he's hearing A LOT worse things from the kids then questions on homework.

Of course kids will be kids. Does that mean we should accept it from the schools? It might sound like I'm contradicting myself with my message to Dora, but I'm just saying we shouldn't stand by and do nothing/feel nothing.

Dora, that was out there. But, I think if you put it in perspective, you'll see he's getting much stronger messages from society. He is inundated with this message through advertisement and the media that glorifies it. Sounds like a good teaching moment. It's good that he has parents that will bring attention to it.

 

[ronniechoate34]

Oh well,...

 

[handy]

Yes Mike, it was out there...even the kids were struck by it, enough to bring it to my attention.

Kids do hold up teachers to a higher level than their peers or television or the video games or whatever. When teachers fail to live up to that level much is lost.

It was the same when one of the teachers at my daughter's high school took a lip gloss away from one of the girls and sent her to the office for having a "drug"...his reasoning being that there were chemicals in the lip gloss that could be classified as a "drug" (doesn't make sense to me, but that's what he did)...

As a result, he has lost all credibility with his students. They all think he's an idiot for equating lip gloss with oxycontin.

Just as Thomas and his friends think that it's flat out weird that a teacher would use "sexy" as an example of an adjective that a 6th grader should use to describe himself.

The schools in this area do a pretty good job, but this sort of thinking really erodes away the respect that kids have for adults, teachers especially.

This whole idea of "well, the kids think...talk about...are exposed to...much worse is beside the point in my opinion. I'm talking about how we can and should maintain a respectful distance from the kids, especially in areas as important as sexuality and drug abuse and how by trying, I guess, to be "cool" or whatever...that respect really slipped.

 

[jasoncran]

hiding from false doctrines and or satanic lies or doctrines isnt what the christians are called to. we are called to tear them down. exposing them and allowing kids to deal with them is a wise thing. so long as the parents use the expericience to teach.

one cant run from sin, you will find that sinful and bad things will chase you. hmmm doesnt the devil do that. he does attend our church services etc.

shoot if i ran from these things. i best not serve in the army and or also work where i do. lets see two lesbians in the army, and a new ager at work.

 

[Rhea]

That is really weird and inappropriate. Did you get a chance to talk to the teacher? What did they say? Was your complaint a surprise to them or did they kind of "get it" (meaning, whew, they'll think better next time)

This sexification of kids bugs me to pieces. I am very very happy with our (secular) school that this is almost completely absent. And when we carpool with the kids from the public school it is often an unpleasant surprise.

But you're right, it does provide some opportunities for discussion, and we exploit those to give the kids a heads up for what they might encounter when the setting is less safe. So that's a silver lining.

But still, blech. I'd be on the phone, too, asking "what on earth were you thinking!"

First of all...has anyone considered how adding the words "no offense" to an otherwise innocuous, even insightful statement makes it really...offensive?

Oh, gosh, this is soooo true!

 

[childeye]

Okay I saw GRRRRRRRR, and had to see the thread. Prepare your children so they are able to see through the subtlties of mind manipulation. The children must be
taught there is a Truth and there are lies meant to subvert the Truth. All lies serve one primary purpose. To not trust in God. To not believe He exists as the Spirit of Love. To question the confidence we have in ourselves when we walk in a non conditional Love. Suffer the children to come to me. The children need to understand the Christ, the cross, and what lies ahead for believers. This world sees to it that no good deed goes unpunished.

 

[handy]

Haven't had a chance to talk things over yet with the teacher, I just found out about this afternoon. 'Smatter of fact, it was just after I had the conversation with Thomas that I posted this thread.

This sexification of kids bugs me to pieces.

Hit's the nail right on the head with me!!!! The sexification of kids, not just by other kids, or pervvy adults, but by clothes manufacturer's, the entertainment industry, just about anyone with anything to sell and now...teachers? :

Like I said, "GGGGRRRRR!!!"

I am going to talk with her...and I'm putting some thought into how I'm going to frame this. Which is part of the reason why I wanted to talk it over here first, just to sort of collect and sort out my own thoughts.

I think the way I'm going to start the conversation is something along the lines of this:

My kids get hammered with sexuality every time they turn on the radio, the TV, play a video game, even read the latest of books aimed for kids. Do we really have to hammer it home even more that "sexy" is somehow an important adjective to have in one's self perspective by having come from teachers now as well?

Something along those lines. I think I'll also work in this thought that was shared by my pastor. We were talking about how hard it is to get stylish, yet modest clothing for a 14 year old girl. He made this comment, which really struck me:

It used to be that it was stressed for girls to look pretty. Now, it's stressed for girls to look hot.

Girls struggle with self image so much anyway. My student in this class is a boy and he really doesn't struggle too much with things...mainly his struggles are how to fit in be a black kid in a mostly white school. I'm not pretending that he was harmed in anyway by this. He was mostly just sort of blown away that it showed up as an example.

But, I remember my 6th grade year pretty doggone well considering how long ago that was. I couldn't imagine the implied message here that somehow "sexy" is right up there with Smart as a word for me to rank about myself. At 11, being the tallest person (including the boys) in the class, not to mention the only one in a "b" cup bra, thick glasses and lots of pimples and still being sexually abused on a fairly regular basis...that would have been devastating to see. Even thought it was just an example and I wouldn't have to actually answer it...it would have been devastating.

 

[reba]

Slightly off topic and a 180 for me we could use school uniforms!

Dora reading what/how you post here i know in my head you will come up with the right words.... My heart says you are in my/our prayers.

Down right out of line and put there with intent.

 

[Rhea]

I am going to talk with her...and I'm putting some thought into how I'm going to frame this. Which is part of the reason why I wanted to talk it over here first, just to sort of collect and sort out my own thoughts.

Smart strategy. Because it's easy to go off half-cocked and not make the lasting impact you want to make. It probably would be very UN-useful to spew out what first came to my mind, "why on earth are you looking at 6th grade kids and thinking SEXY when you make your handouts!!??!!"

So bouncing it off others is probably very prudent. (blushes at own lack of control)

I think your thoughts (below) are good ones, and I'd offer a few more (also below)
1. Why stick yet another knife in the wholesome self-esteem of girls?
2. What tragic additional harm to any kid being abused
3. Why not exploit the opportunity to have ALL wholesome choices? ("sassy"?)
4. Why saddle the boys with yet another objectification of girls lesson?

 

[Danus]

Up until last year our public schools, In Mississippi , Still wrapped up the Christmas presentation with a little story about Jesus. YEP! ,,,But we've been found out and so now we simply don't sponsor a Christmas presentation....I'm sorry, I meant to say, Holiday. No more.

I'm surprised it took the ACLU this long to find us out, but we are a long way from San Francisco, and they had their hands full with all the other crazy Christians in the mid-west over the last few years.

Now they are coming at us with a vengeance over the prayer before football games. We can no longer have it over the loud speaker to the stands, but we've been making a stand before the games with groups doing their own things.

So far, I send my kids to public schools. 1. We still have a strong Christian community. 2. The schools in my area are among the top in the nation, although my state ranks 49th or 50.

I know what your going through Handy, but I don't know what to tell you, other than use it as an opportunity to counter teach your children about the world vs God. A good Christian is not sheltered from the world. We are in the world, but not of the world, so why not teach them about the world and if the schools want to do that let them. We can stand. If God is for us who can be against us?

I figure If I'm paying them to teach my kid and others, then I have a right to know what they are teaching, and to counter the cultural garbage they are trying to feed my kid, with the truth of God, and I do.

So far the people in the school are on my side, but soon it will get worse. I know this, and we are ready. I tell my kids they are going to a secular school that will teach them the things of man, and they know the difference.

My oldest daughter is gifted in her intellect. She's in the gifted class, on the honor role, and principals list. My youngest is not far behind. They know that this is by God and not the school. Don't fight the school, use them.