FUCK THE POLICE
911 EVERY DAY
http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/aghia/two_days_ago_my_daughter_stood_up_to_her/
I was inspired by OldManD's post so I thought I'd share my daughter's recent run-in with religion. It's amazing what our kids can do when you give them the tools!
Several months ago my 9 year old daughter was in her "Science" class, learning about plant life. They were watching a Bill Nye video on the subject, and in the middle of it one of my daughter's classmates raised her hand. The teacher stopped the video and acknowledged her.
"Why are there so many different kinds of plants?" my daughter's classmate asked.
Without missing a beat, the teacher replied, "Because God made them that way."
As expected, the student took this as an acceptable answer, and the video continued.
A little background: I've raised my daughter heavily on logic, scientific reasoning, critical thought, etc. We've had countless conversations about Evolution and Religion. Naturally, she was dumbfounded by her teacher's answer, but she was afraid to speak up. When she told me what her teacher said I gave her permission to respond, should anything like that happen again.
That day finally came two days ago, during an idle lesson about animal behavior. This same teacher said to the class, "No matter what scientists say, we are not animals."
My daughter raised her hand and said, "Yes we are. We are related to Bonobos and the other great apes." (She loves Bonobos.)
"Who told you that?" he replied.
"My dad."
"Well, your dad is wrong." the teacher said dismissively.
My daughter began to cry out of anger, but stood her ground.
"My dad is a Scientist!"
At this point the teacher must have realized that he was taking this in the wrong direction, because he began to tell her that it was okay, and that he was sure that, "your dad knows a lot." A parent, who was assisting the class that day, further comforted my daughter and calmed her down.
At the end of the school day I arrived to pick up my daughter, who was walking with the parent helper. Tears welled up in her eyes as soon as she saw me. I asked her what was wrong and the parent helper gave me the quick version of events. As she told me what happened, I became more and more furious.
One of the school administrators is a friend of mine, so I went to his office and demanded that the teacher be brought in immediately. While we were waiting for the teacher, I told my friend what happened. I sent my daughter into an activity room to wait for me.
As the teacher neared the office, I began yelling a series of scientific inquiries at him and demanded that he answer them. He didn't say anything, so I turned to my friend and demanded to know why this person was teaching Science to my daughter. My friend (rightly) ignored my question and asked the teacher what happened. He gave his side of the story, and was obviously remorseful as he spoke. This calmed me down somewhat. My friend told the teacher to expect a meeting with the principal to discuss the matter and that he could go. The teacher offered his hand in apology, and I accepted silently, holding back all the rude remarks bouncing around in my head. I thanked my friend and said I'd be in touch.
I walked my daughter out to the car. I unlocked her door, turned and knelt in front of her and said, "No father in history has ever been more proud of their daughter than I am of you." (Yes, I tried my best to be poetic, and I was rehearsing it all the way to the car.) Her eyes lit up and she hugged me as hard as she could. I did the obligatory "choking" sounds and she laughed. When she got in the car she was a different person. She was beaming with confidence. I turned on the CD player and we rocked out to They Might Be Giants' "Science is Real" on the way home.
(Note: I would like to point out that although I'm obviously paraphrasing these exchanges second-hand, I'm recalling them as accurately as my daughter relayed them to me, as well as the parent helper who was assisting class during the second incident, and the teacher himself. I should also mention that this is a public charter school, and as such cannot allow religious bias of any kind.)
I was inspired by OldManD's post so I thought I'd share my daughter's recent run-in with religion. It's amazing what our kids can do when you give them the tools!
Several months ago my 9 year old daughter was in her "Science" class, learning about plant life. They were watching a Bill Nye video on the subject, and in the middle of it one of my daughter's classmates raised her hand. The teacher stopped the video and acknowledged her.
"Why are there so many different kinds of plants?" my daughter's classmate asked.
Without missing a beat, the teacher replied, "Because God made them that way."
As expected, the student took this as an acceptable answer, and the video continued.
A little background: I've raised my daughter heavily on logic, scientific reasoning, critical thought, etc. We've had countless conversations about Evolution and Religion. Naturally, she was dumbfounded by her teacher's answer, but she was afraid to speak up. When she told me what her teacher said I gave her permission to respond, should anything like that happen again.
That day finally came two days ago, during an idle lesson about animal behavior. This same teacher said to the class, "No matter what scientists say, we are not animals."
My daughter raised her hand and said, "Yes we are. We are related to Bonobos and the other great apes." (She loves Bonobos.)
"Who told you that?" he replied.
"My dad."
"Well, your dad is wrong." the teacher said dismissively.
My daughter began to cry out of anger, but stood her ground.
"My dad is a Scientist!"
At this point the teacher must have realized that he was taking this in the wrong direction, because he began to tell her that it was okay, and that he was sure that, "your dad knows a lot." A parent, who was assisting the class that day, further comforted my daughter and calmed her down.
At the end of the school day I arrived to pick up my daughter, who was walking with the parent helper. Tears welled up in her eyes as soon as she saw me. I asked her what was wrong and the parent helper gave me the quick version of events. As she told me what happened, I became more and more furious.
One of the school administrators is a friend of mine, so I went to his office and demanded that the teacher be brought in immediately. While we were waiting for the teacher, I told my friend what happened. I sent my daughter into an activity room to wait for me.
As the teacher neared the office, I began yelling a series of scientific inquiries at him and demanded that he answer them. He didn't say anything, so I turned to my friend and demanded to know why this person was teaching Science to my daughter. My friend (rightly) ignored my question and asked the teacher what happened. He gave his side of the story, and was obviously remorseful as he spoke. This calmed me down somewhat. My friend told the teacher to expect a meeting with the principal to discuss the matter and that he could go. The teacher offered his hand in apology, and I accepted silently, holding back all the rude remarks bouncing around in my head. I thanked my friend and said I'd be in touch.
I walked my daughter out to the car. I unlocked her door, turned and knelt in front of her and said, "No father in history has ever been more proud of their daughter than I am of you." (Yes, I tried my best to be poetic, and I was rehearsing it all the way to the car.) Her eyes lit up and she hugged me as hard as she could. I did the obligatory "choking" sounds and she laughed. When she got in the car she was a different person. She was beaming with confidence. I turned on the CD player and we rocked out to They Might Be Giants' "Science is Real" on the way home.
(Note: I would like to point out that although I'm obviously paraphrasing these exchanges second-hand, I'm recalling them as accurately as my daughter relayed them to me, as well as the parent helper who was assisting class during the second incident, and the teacher himself. I should also mention that this is a public charter school, and as such cannot allow religious bias of any kind.)
