To not be happy with this teacher

[JeezyPeeps]

Or am I being a bit precious...

My DD (just turned 15, but she is one of the oldest in the class, so most are 14) has an RE teacher that was discussing with them a few weeks ago how she for a while when she was a teenager (to lose weight) ate nothing but weetabix.

Then this week they were speaking about Opium (something to do with Jesus?!?) and the same teacher explains how she 'thinks' people inject drugs - by heating them in a spoon etc. Finishing it with 'is that right?'

Is this not a bit inappropriate?

I think it depends on context and class participation.

Why is it inappropriate?

If one of the children had asked a question about drugs which the teacher (thankfully) had no personal experience of, then I see no problem with her offering a possible answer.

If children were discussing weight issues then there is no problem linking to personal experience.

I'm with Dione.

Are you concerned with the teacher's lack of knowledge or the fact she brought the topics up at all?

You are being precious.

She is 15 and probably knows that peole go to rideculous lengths to lose weight and any fool who has watched Eastenders knows that you heat certain drugs on a spoon before injecting them.

If this was my 10 year old I would be unhappy but at 15???

Serendippy

I agree with Dione, as in it depends on context etc; tho as a teacher she should not tell them how she 'thinks' it is done, tell them the facts or keep quiet.

Your DD probably already knows these things go on unless she has been extremely sheltered and in context I think that such things should be discussed with teenagers.

I'm delighted to say that my children are not fools nor do they watch Eastenders.

There was no question about how to take drugs, this was a discussion based on the fact that Jesus has been likened to Opium, and the reasons behind it. And apparantly the teacher decided to share that info.

The impression I got from my DD (which is why she was sharing this with me) was that she thought it was really odd because it was so out of context.

The weetabix story, they weren't discussing weight issues, and there was a hurried 'oh, but I didn't do it for long' at the end.

None of this seems to being said in an educational way, more in a 'buddy buddy' way - she is a young teacher, this is either her probationer year or her first year out of probationary teaching.

Then she will learn very quickly that the pupils are not her friends. I don't think she has said anything particularly harmful and 14/15 year olds will soon correct her!

Teachers build relationships with students by showing that they are human. They do silly things and they don't know everything. At 14-15 I think these things are fine to say, regardless of how long she has been teaching.

Where do you live? I am in UK and every 15yo I know of has seen images of people taking drugs through the media, though not necessarily in EastEnders (it is very popular with all my friends' children though)

I would think that there had to be some lead in to the Weetabix story and would not have any problem with it at all. Likening Jesus to Opium, maybe related to the Pope's visit to UK and could have been a metaphore. One of the children could have then asked questions leading to the rest of the discussion.

Personally I would not be worried.

she does sound like a bit of a p0rat

the kids will eat her for breakfast

and she will learn and get better

Is there something wrong with teachers saying stuff to kids which isn't strictly educational?

Oh, and they'll do plenty of talking about drugs in PSHE anyway.

hehe. We used to ask Qs invovling these things to a teacher to distract him from teaching us :o

I'm guessing the drug reference had some link to Marx's statement 'Religion is the opium of the people' and hence links to RE etc

YABU

Okay, I guess IABU.

She's trying to be down with the kids. She's failing. This is a side issue.

It is very inappropriate to ask 'is this right' about drug-taking methods. If she doesn't know, but wants to discuss drug use for the lesson, she should look it up. Discussion of drug use might be fine, but asking the class if they know how to do the practical is not.

My old form tutor used to chat to us about what she'd done at the weekend i.e get drunk and fall flat on her back. She was the best teacher I've ever had, in personal and educational terms.

My daughter's teacher told the class he'd been to a strip club the previous weekend.

I kid you not.

OK, that's a bit much! Did he say whether he paid for a dance or not?

The only reason our teacher used to regale us with pub stories is because we used to go to the same pub underage drinking I don't think she thought there was much point in pretending we hadn't seen her stumbling into tables.

StormyTeapot, you win!