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Society
Texas Kindergarten Teacher to Kids: Santa is Fake
Kindergarten isn’t the place parents assume their kids will get their first reality check. It’s usually where kids can believe in magic and Santa and his elves and reindeer — where imagination is fostered and encouraged.
This wasn’t so for a Texas kindergarten teacher, whose only “dashing through the snow” this year was dashing the hopes and breaking the hearts of her 5-year-old students by telling them Santa isn’t real.
The parents of a 5-year-old girl received the unexpected news when their daughter came home from school one day and asked if Santa is real. (If any kids are reading this, it's a dumb question. Of course, he is.)
Wondering why she was questioning the existence of Santa at such a young age, her parents asked her why she wanted to know.
The parents told the Houston Press that she responded, “Because Mrs. Fuller said he wasn't real. She said ‘None of you believe in Santa do you?’ and said that you and mommy buy all our presents and put them under the tree. She said that you should tell us the truth.”
Mrs. Fuller is undoubtedly getting coal in her stocking this year.
A second coal-seeking teacher at the school supposedly asked the students to draw two pictures, one of something real and one of something fake. When a student drew a picture of Santa on the real side of the paper, the teacher said that he belonged on the fake side.
The mother, Susan Tietz Gammage, said she emailed the principal of the school to complain about the incident, who responded that he was “horrified” about the anti-Santa statements and that the teacher has been reprimanded and “given tools” to deal with the situation for following years.
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Comments
Funny, you never will hear
Funny, you never will hear the Progressives or the Atheists ever question if Mohammed is real or if they should question Islamic Holidays. I wonder what would happen if that ever came up?
Is Mohammed real? I'm an
Is Mohammed real? I'm an atheist, so I proved you wrong unless you literally want to hear it. Actually, I'm pretty sure there's more evidence in favor of Mohammed's existence than Jesus'. In any case, it doesn't validate Islam if he was real. He'd just be some guy that plagiarized the Bible and founded another stupid Abrahamic religion.
Reposting this from below,
Reposting this from below, everyone should see this: John556 - Is Santa real? Of course the kids come from school after hearing the other kids and want to know.
I explained it to my kids this way. I told them that Santa was a “spirit” of Xmas and that some people believe in him, while others do not…and that they are both right.
Because if you believe in the “spirit” of Xmas and the spirit of giving then yes, the spirit of ‘Santa’ exists within you. On the other hand if you do not believe in the “spirit” of Xmas or the spirit of giving, then no, ‘Santa’ does not exist for you. So you see it’s up to you what you believe, and no matter what you decide, you will be right.
This is probably the best way I've seen to hybridize the explanation. You don't have to lie to your child, and you don't have to destroy the little bit of childhood magic that remains to children. I realize that realistically, children are going to find out about santa at earlier and earlier ages, because they have an unprecendented access to information (read: the internet). I think this is a mature and responsible way to answer their question. Good on you John556.
"How do you know so much about everything?'" was asked of a very wise and intelligent man; and the answer was "By never being afraid or ashamed to ask questions as to anything of which I was ignorant." - John Abbott (1821-1893)
I don't do "Santa" either.
I don't do "Santa" either. No child of mine who is old enough to be at risk of believing that this drivel is true, is going to hear it from me, or get a dishonest answer to an honest question!
My youngest is two-and-a-half now. He feeds real ducks in the local river on stale bread, operates his own computer to watch (his choice) a clothed and talking Donald Duck when he's allowed to go online to watch cartoons on You Tube, and eats duck when we get Chinese takeaway, all without apparent cognitive dissonance. He'll enjoy the children's party at which somebody is dressing up as Father Christmas. But I'd feel like a rat if I tried to deceive him that St Nicholas was still alive, or that he ever piloted a flying sledge drawn by reindeer, when he was double his present age.
And considering it's Texas,
And considering it's Texas, if a kid drew God on the fake side, he or she would probably be expelled.
Without wishing to offend any
Without wishing to offend any pagans present, a god that can be DRAWN, BELONGS on the fake side.
As long as you let teachers
As long as you let teachers raise your children, this is what you get. The parent emailed the principal? it is your child. March your happy ass down to the school and meet that dipshit teacher face to face and ask them personally why they are teaching if they hate children so much. then you can sock them one in the nose.
Cabezon, I curious. How is
Cabezon, I curious. How is telling the truth to kindergarteners is "hating" them? How is what apparently is the inverse, telling them lies, "loving" them?
Why can't teachers, parents and everyone else be honest with a child and say "We are pretending? You can play too. Everyone plays this game."?
Is Santa Clause really about manipulating and controlling children? And what about extremely poor children. Are they to be convinced that Santa Claus is real and left with the belief they don't get presents Christmas morning because they were "naughty not nice" or that "Santa likes other children but not me" no matter how well the child actually behaved?
Why can't the parents' need to pretend be respected and at the same time respect the children by not lying to them. Children know far better than parents how to play make believe.
Why should children be taught from the outset that they are to believe lies for their own good? What does that do to the child raised that way down the road when he/she is grown?
Yes, Viriginia, there IS a
Yes, Viriginia, there IS a Santa Claus....
http://www.newseum.org/yesvirginia/
-- Data Ferret
Is Santa real? Of course the
Is Santa real? Of course the kids come from school after hearing the other kids and want to know.
I explained it to my kids this way. I told them that Santa was a “spirit” of Xmas and that some people believe in him, while others do not…and that they are both right.
Because if you believe in the “spirit” of Xmas and the spirit of giving then yes, the spirit of ‘Santa’ exists within you. On the other hand if you do not believe in the “spirit” of Xmas or the spirit of giving, then no, ‘Santa’ does not exist for you. So you see it’s up to you what you believe, and no matter what you decide, you will be right.
And apparently this teacher decided on the Grinch... :(
I love your explanation of
I love your explanation of Santa. This is how it should be handled in our society, in or outside of school. We live in a diverse nation where our children play & go to school with Athiests, Agnostics, Hindus, Muslims, Jews, etc... The earlier they are taught that what you believe is a personal choice & option, the sooner they will learn tolerance for everyone. It's a lovely way to explain why some chose not to believe & others do.
For most parents it is heartbreaking to take the magic & fantasy out of the lives of their children. With your explaination we don't have to ever give up the fun of having magic in our hearts, even if that is only reality of mythology. Let every person, young or old, decide when they are ready to give up Santa Claus (if ever).
When my daughter got older,
When my daughter got older, (about 13), she took her own money & bought food & toys for a less fortunate family...on her own. And when the place I work collected for families, I volunteered to shop for a family, and she helped & went with us to do the shopping.
It's sad to see that the spirit of Christmas, (Santa), has died for some of these other posters, but he still lives here.... ;)
For the life of me, I've
For the life of me, I've never understood the reason why parents and even society as a whole lie to small children about the existence of Santa Claus. The article describes kindergarten as, "where imagination is fostered and encouraged." honesty.
Lying to children about the existence of Santa Claus instead of honestly playing pretend about Santa Claus, which children can do so well, is not fostering and encouraging imagination but stifling an honest appraisal of reality.
Teaching kids to believe in
Teaching kids to believe in Santa Claus is just training wheels for teaching them to believe in other imaginary figures - like Jesus.
"Teaching kids to believe in
"Teaching kids to believe in Santa Claus is just training wheels for teaching them to believe in other imaginary figures - like Jesus."
Leaving aside the controversial assertion that Jesus is an "imaginary" figure, as opposed to a historical figure who has certainly stirred men's imagination more than any other, for twenty centuries, if anything, I'd have said the opposite. Discovering that grown-ups are not to be trusted engenders scepticism. Discovering that grown-ups PRETEND to believe what they KNOW isn't true, and deliberately conspire to deceive children is what is most disturbing.
The discovery that I made when I was four, was that some adults appeared to believe utterly sincerely in an account of our origins that contracted an account that other adults believed equally sincerely, neither party offering evidence for their theory that should have convinced a four year-old that the other adults were deluded. Both groups of adults seemed to CARE which account was true, and it made sense to care, given the content of the two theories. They probably would have cared which account I believed, so I made up my mind that this was an issue it wasn't safe to discuss with adults, and waited another six years before reading any books about the controversy.
In my experience, it is adults WITH a religious faith who are LESS likely to encourage childish belief in Santa Claus, and adults with NO religious faith who are MORE likely to encourage childish belief in Santa Claus.
Once doesn't have to have once believed in Santa Claus in order to enjoy a well-made movie in which he appears as if he were a real-life character from history, at any age.
Believing in Santa Claus belongs to that period of our lives of which we have no memories in adulthood. Five year-olds are past that stage, and are laying down what could turn out to be the last memories they'll forget when dementia sets in.
The exact same thing could be
The exact same thing could be said about religions. Without scientific evidence of god a teacher could explain exactly why religious mythologies have deluded people for centuries, but we happen to live under the US Constitution which does not allow the State(public schools) to dictate "belief". It is as offensive for a school to require or discourage the belief in anything. We have a world full of possibilities & opinions. The job of educators is simply to teach children how to find reality, not to push their opinions of what is real. If this teacher wanted these children to THINK, she would have assigned them a task to discover who & what Santa means to others. What they discovered would begin to open their eyes to what they want to believe for themselves. From Socrates to Ms Fuller teaching has always been a dangerous profession. Ms Fuller was lucky to get off with just a reprimand & an update to her education.
I understand not allowing
I understand not allowing schools to dictate belief in terms of religious beliefs but we aren't talking about religious beliefs. In a sense, we aren't even talking about beliefs, at least not held beliefs held by anyone except for those mislead by people who don't hold those beliefs.
The parents who are upset about children being told there is no Santa Claus are not upset because their beliefs about Santa were contradicted. They were upset because their children were told something that they themselves hold as true themselves. These parents don't believe in Santa Claus. That is the big difference from contradicting religious beliefs.
Yes teaching can be a dangerous profession but under circumstances where one is teaching something the students don't already know.
You either don't have
You either don't have children or you lead a miserably unimaginative life. Why must it be considered a "lie" when we fill our children with a sense of wonder and amazement of what could be possible. Those of you who have to have everything boiled down to the "reality" of the world stifle creativity in a generation that is already being stifled through video games and unimaginative play.
Do I sense some harsh
Do I sense some harsh judgment for my criticism of lying to children? It seems you are saying that lying about the existence of Santa Claus is the only way for children to be full of awe and wonder? Have you never actually watched small children playing? Have you never yourself gazed up at the sky? Or read good fiction?
Do you insist your children believing that Tony the Tiger and the Trix Rabbit are real? Do you get angry if anyone tells your children they are make-believe? Do you object to anyone telling them the characters in the cartoons they watch are not real, just for fun? If you don't, aren't you too stuck on "reality"? Stuck on reality? That is a very odd thing to say. Scary too.
Why the problem with children learning to discriminate what is real from what is not? Do you really think that having that ability they will suddenly no longer enjoy cartoons or the children's Halloween party?
I've yet to hear a reasonable answer on why parents lie to their children about Santa Claus when children don't need to be lied to in order to play the Santa Claus game.