General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Idiot Teacher Asked 4th-Graders to Give 3 Good Reasons for Slavery [View all]ollie10
(2,091 posts)I wish the teacher hadn't used the word "good". Perhaps she was trying to "dumb down" the language to the grade level? Sounds like a bad choice of words here. I too would have preferred something to the effect of "what were the arguments to support slavery back then?" or..."name 3 arguments used for slavery and against slavery?" It sounds like the teacher meant well, and unless you have taught you don't know how hard it is (many leave the profession with a version of combat fatigue....). So maybe she just goofed, maybe it was already past midnight and she wanted to just type it out? In such a case, some constructive criticism would be in order.
However all the lynch mob mentality towards this teacher seems to be out of control. It is a very hard job teaching. And it is not easy teaching critical thinking. This teacher wouldn't have gotten into trouble if she just had her kids memorize some bunk. They wouldn't learn anything but she wouldn't have to answer for a creative teaching tool that came out with unintended results.
Constructive criticism, yes. But you lynch teachers like that and you will be scaring good people out of the profession. And it isn't as if it pays that well to begin with.