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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

DDs teacher giving serious misinformation WWYD?

342 replies

phantomnamechanger · 09/01/2014 20:51

How to deal with this please......

DD has recently got a new English teacher. They are reading Pride & Prejudice (just started). Today in the lesson, the teacher has on several occasions referred to it being set in "the Victorian era"
that's a massive error to make, right? how do we point this out? DD was like Hmm when she told me, but there will be other kids who believe the teacher and for whom that will stick.
DD did not want to correct the teacher for fear of being reprimanded/thought rude.
WWYD?

OP posts:
phantomnamechanger · 09/01/2014 20:53

DD is 14, yr 9 BTW

OP posts:
RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 09/01/2014 20:53

Oh dear. That is a massive error indeed. Ouch! Think it will need to be a matter for the Head of Department tbh. Points to a serious lack of subject knowledge.

hoboken · 09/01/2014 20:54

Send an anonymous letter to the teacher correcting her.

Shoozies · 09/01/2014 20:55

Yep, definitely share this with the head so she can have a subtle word with the teacher. Embarrassing!

blink87 · 09/01/2014 20:55

There should be no shame in correcting gross misinformation, just as you are taught at school to not fear asking questions. this is definitely something other's would believe and a correction should be made.
If your Dd is reprimanded then take it further, but I'm shocked at how incorrect this information is Hmm

ClaudiusGalen · 09/01/2014 20:57

You need to speak to the HOD. If you go to the head, it will just get passed on to the HOD anyway. I'm a HOD, I spend a lot of time dealing with stuff like this, don't worry, just inform them.

TheseAreTheJokesFolks · 09/01/2014 20:57

If it is for SATS then she needs to know.
fwiw I didn't know it was regency era either and have an A in english lit A-level...d'oh...tis what GCSE Passnotes are for Wink

mythbustinggov · 09/01/2014 20:57

Email the head of faculty and copy headmaster and complain. Anything else will get ignored.

RevoltingPeasant · 09/01/2014 20:57

Eeeek. That is not good.... But did the teacher definitely say that? Doesn't sound like something someone with an English degree would say!! Can you check before you go in blazing?

Wabbitty · 09/01/2014 20:58

reminds me of when we were visiting the Jane Austen centre and the curator said that Janes brother, the one in the Navy, was a great favourite of Napolean. I got a sharp elbow in the ribs when I muttered he must have been a shit sailor then.

Inertia · 09/01/2014 20:59

I think the best thing might be for your daughter to go to the teacher before the next lesson and explain that she was confused over the timing and did some extra research, and show the teacher the actual dates of the Victorian era and the setting of the book. This will avoid it looking as though DD is trying to be rude or show off, it gives the teacher the opportunity to correct the mistake, and it shows that DD is taking an interest.

phantomnamechanger · 09/01/2014 20:59

it was not a one off or a slip of the tongue. she kept on referencing stuff in the text and going off at a tangent explaining "because that's what things were like in Victorian times".

I don't want to be blacklisted by her as one of those parents but this really needs saying doesn't it.

Are you on here Mrs H? Save me and DD the embarrassment of telling you?

OP posts:
RevoltingPeasant · 09/01/2014 21:00

Wabbitty I took my students to a National Trust property last year where the guide knowledgeably told them Austen was one of the first professional women writers. My students gave me many knowing looks!

ClaudiusGalen · 09/01/2014 21:00

I'd be more worried that an explanation as crap as 'because that's what things were like in Victorian times' was being offered, tbh.

Inertia · 09/01/2014 21:00

Oh sorry, I've misunderstood, didn't realise that it was a question about whether to report the teacher.

Coldlightofday · 09/01/2014 21:00

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

harticus · 09/01/2014 21:01

Why doesn't your daughter just stick her hand up and tell the teacher she's wrong?

Hassled · 09/01/2014 21:01

Email the teacher? You're right, it's a fairly massive error - and there's historical significance too; Wickham and his Militia was very much of the period (distrust of standing armies) and the Napoleonic Wars are going on in the background, hence the groups of soldiers stationed around the country. So it matters, absolutely.

Coldlightofday · 09/01/2014 21:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Ubik1 · 09/01/2014 21:03

Just get your daughter to say to teacher ' I thought it was Georgian era...'

JodieGarberJacob · 09/01/2014 21:04

P &P was written in 1813 iirc so it's Georgian. Regency is later.

BonesAndSkully · 09/01/2014 21:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ClaudiusGalen · 09/01/2014 21:06

The formal Regency began in 1811.

BonesAndSkully · 09/01/2014 21:07

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Ubik1 · 09/01/2014 21:07

Yes -i'm always reminded of all the bath houses in...er...Bath, when I read Austen.

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