Ds1s history teacher said this......or you could say The Arabs just took up where the Germans left off...

piffle i completely agree with you, think what was said was shocking really.... not factual teaching at all but nasty ill-informed opinion. Perpetuates too many myths re: the middle east etc. Would definitely have a word w someone about it, wouldn't know whether it should be the teacher him/herself or the head.
Would feel that not saying anything equal to apathy really. Especially if it is a subject close to your heart (as it is to mine...)
Thomas Friedman wrote From Beirut to Jerusalem.

What's her serious illness?

Of course a stupid thing to say, but I agree with Cod. I have to sit on my hands sometimes to avoid calling the school to complain, but if I let myself I would be on the phone every day. I might as well take over the teaching.

Message withdrawn

wasn't James 1st obsessed with witches? he wrote lots of books about them as I recall. Shakespeare wrote 'Macbeth' partly for him.

I love history. I did medieval history for A level with a special paper in the Crusades. God, that Saladin was sexy....love it.

Hmm. Strange thing for a history teacher to say.

Reminds me of a history teacher I once had, who judged every king/ queen of england on whether they were nice to catholics or not. She was very angry with James I. All the time. Looking back, her anger was a bit odd, really, considering it was all so long ago and he wasn't really a very interesting king...

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7335875.stm

so in fact it seems that the Israelis are the new Nazis. But then we already knew that.

I would query it, I have had to deal with so many prejudiced teachers but I grew up at a time when PC-ness was unheard of and it shouldn't happen now.

RE teacher who was OBSESSED with Israel/Palestine conflict and made us watch endless one-sided videos showing Arabs as evil and Israelis as innocent and wronged springs to mind.

Arabic teacher who hated Iranians and blamed them for the Iran/Iraq war when in fact it was Iraq that started it, was another.

My Irish history teacher always gave us an his slant on British political history re the issue of Home Rule, didn't always agree with him but it made for stimulating lessons. Some times he'd throw out a comment and then just pause.... History doesn't always excite and I always preferred teachers who do try to make it current or who are wry, dry or contentious (as long as they know their stuff).

Piffle, did your well-informed ds respond to this comment in any way or was this just a throw-away line off topic? Would still encourage your ds to rationally argue his pov in the future (unless she's not the type to relish debate & it gets him into trouble, unlike my Mr Reilly!) but it would well behoove her to know she's got some politically aware students sitting in front of her.

which is a very good way to teach APATHETIC TEENAGERS

Context is pretty important here. Was the teacher laying down the law and saying 'this is so' or was she trying to spark a debate?

Even if she is barking airing her own views, I dunno if it will have much impact. My mad history A-level teacher used to tell us that apartheid was a good thing and Desmond Tutu had a bone through his nose. Didn't convince me and I don't think it convinced anyone else, either. (Wasn't remotely relevant, either, we were meant to be studying Stuart history...)

She's entitled to her opinion but I'm a bit disturbed by the way she expressed it.

It sounds like she was being deliberately provocative to get students to engage in conversation. Which is a very good way to teach IMO.

If it was just an isolated statement then it is more than poor choice of words.
It is as offensive as saying too bad the germans did not finish off the job (if you are on the other side of the fence).

To OP, you have given us a quote out of context. What age group is it?

Can I point out that the Iranians don't even speak Arabic, they speak Farsi, and I don't know any Iranians who describe themselves as "Arabs". They are Iranians, or Persians, or (in most cases) Muslims but not Arabs.

Much as the Pakistanis aren't, and don't call themselves, Arabs. They don't speak Arabic either.

Why shouldn't she air her personal opinions? I don't think it's all-advised, I think it's honest That's what makes lessons come to life and be interesting and stimulates debate. Presumably she has researched this contentious and complex topic and has come to her own conclusion. You should hear the hunting, abortion, euthanasia and Just War debates in my classroom.

Teachers don't want to turn out kids who only spout the received orthodoxy, we want our students to think and research their opinions and debate with us. That's true education. Who is to say that HER point of view is less valid than yours? If she had said something that you agreed with re the Israeli/Arab conflict, would you be on here complaining, or do you feel that your particular orthodoxy on this subject has been challenged?

We live in a democracy and can debate these issues in our classrooms and we are all entitled to air our points of view. You are entitled to your view and she is entitled to hers. You may also like to consider that the classroom may be the only place that some students hear the other side of an argument, or that an argument exists about a subject at all.

ScaryTeacher (pedant alert) Ahmadinejad and the Iranians are not Arabs. I believe that there is quite a lot of Iranian(Persian)-Arab rivalry (not to mention conflict at times)

The teacher should not be airing her personal opinions, and certainly not on such contentious and complex topics as this. And if she were to illadviserdly(?)to do so, should make it very clear that this is only his/her opinion and be clear about other opinions.

The teacher is entitled to her opinion and she is entitled to air it in class for debate.

You may like to consider the following - history is based on interpretations as well as what facts we can glean. An Arab perspective on this conflict is going to be different from an Israeli one, and who is to say which is correct? You may feel strongly about one side of the conflict, the teacher may well have equally strong and informed views on the other.

What was said has some validity in the wider Israel/Arab debate as the stated aim of Ahmadinejad the Iranian leader is to wipe out the state of Israel; and he is on record as denying the Shoah (Holocaust) happened. That is worthy of note surely?

how are you involved piff

If I made a mistake working as a doctor, a lawyer, a call centre worker, a shelf-stacker, whatever, then people would quite reasonably complain. If a teacher makes a mistake that is a big enough one for parents to feel unhappy about, then I have no issue with complaining. I've only ever complained about or to 2 teachers (and my oldest is 20 so that's a lot of teachers), but felt completely justified both times.

Piffle - I think you need clarify what the context was and whether it was meant to provoke debate, and then speak to the teacher if you're not happy.