DDs teacher giving serious misinformation WWYD?

[phantomnamechanger]

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 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?

I once got most indignant about DS' year 6 teacher telling the class that Richard III killed the Princes in the Tower. I sent in a tongue in cheek note reminding him that this was purely speculation and the other theories ought to be taught as well. We have similar senses of humour and had a long discussion on the subject before agreeing that he was sticking to the national curriculum and it wasn't that big an issue. to him maybe, I'm a Ricardian
That said, P&P is definitely Regency and this is just wrong! I would say something and it wouldn't be tongue in cheek!

Probably, but then how do we think about things like the Balkan and Kosovan wars? As hangovers from the cold war, or precussors of the 21st century? It casts the 1990s as a decade of transition.

On a completely unrelated note, did you get the PhD finished?

The message seems constantly that these details don't matter better to design posters & hone presenting skills that will translate into a future boardroom than quibble over some factual point that can be checked on the internet in 5 minutes. I think this is minor & the tip of the iceberg. I have come up against staggering lack of knowledge and only the best educated teachers will be able to tell you about latter day literature greats etc. The vast majority think these things don't matter & IMO it's only going to get worse. Maybe they don't and students should also research in parallel?

Good point, Clifftop. They think it doesn't matter because they can't do it/ don't know, so disparage certain kinds of knowledge. On a general basis, it's hard to oppose as there is simply so much more to know about these days. However, it's not excusable in the specialist area. This is why I get on my high horse when I hear, so often on MN, that secure command of spelling, punctuation and grammar is not as important in a teacher as being "good with the kids".

As if you can't have both.

Having said that, I posted on a thread earlier and my use of commas was frightful.

But Pride and Prejudice is a work of science fic. Don't you remember the bits with the zombies??

You're not wrong, Revolting.

Now I think of it there must be slash fiction versions that account for the sub/dom relationship between Bingley and Darcy, not to mention the real reasons why Darcy is so pissed off with Wickham.

If dd doesn't want to directly challange then what about

"excuse me, I've been wondering about this, when P and P was on TV the costumes seemed regency rather than Victorian, did they get that wrong?"

Sssh

Surely the teacher must have seen the BBC adaptation? Even if they couldn't be arsed to actually read/know anything.

The costumes are clearly Regency. It is all heaving bussoms. I don't think a bussom goes unheaved in it.

L

When i was 10 my teacher "corrected" a spelling that i had spelt quite correctly. She put in my book to write it out 10 times.

My mother returned the exercise book endorsed with a note that a teacher should know how to spell correctly and that i was not going to be copying incorrect spellings :)

compos - yep, I did, thanks. Or rather am doing last bit of corrections now. It drags on.

I know what's wrong with all of this. It's too modern. Children should be study proper history what happened way back when, and old books.

But seriously - I agree with buffy. It's not a good lesson, to learn you can't politely challenge a teacher.

Oh, if only we could.

I agree with you OP that Betty's suggestion is a good one. I'd only contact the HOD if there were further issues.

When I was in Year 6, I remember the Scarlet Pimpernel being presented as a historical fact. I ignored it. And when the teacher questioned my omission in my written 'account' of the French Revolution, I ignored that too. Also, when I was your daughter's age I had a terrible English teacher who annoyed me so much I avoided as many lessons of hers as I could.

So that's one way of approaching it. But considering Jane Austen's precision in every aspect of her writing, it is unforgivable to be woolly when talking about her. Either you or your daughter should mention it to the teacher -- politely and privately.

FWIW, and I can't remember who posted it, I wouldn't call her Romantic, even at a pinch. She's on the cusp of Romanticism and certainly informed by it (that stuff about Mr Rushworth's trees in Mansfield Park), but not altogether a Romantic herself.

These things are important.

As someone who went to lefty comp and received some excellent teaching and some appalling teaching, these details absolutely matter.

I had a friend who just got straight A's in everything (back in the 80's when exams were hard) and was granted an Oxbridge interview (can't remember which) and he floundered on one question regarding The Metaphysical Poets - we had studied Eliot and so my friend mentioned him - he had no idea what they were asking, and didn't get in.

Imagine a pupil happily discussing Austen as a Victorian novel in that situation

I wonder if the teacher just thinks 'Victorian' is a word meaning 'old days'. So she basically lumps everything into, say, modern, 1960s (disco! beatles!) and then, Victorian. Which covers pre-Beatles back to the Stone Age.

This really reminds me of that kid that got detention for correcting his teacher who was saying a km was longer than a mile...

For humour and outrage (and being thankful that we're not in the American school system) try here www.snopes.com/humor/letters/hilliker.asp

probably.
what i don't understand is the level of surprise from parents and the level of ooooh it doesn't matter from those who i presume must be teachers or training to be teachers.
you know it starts at junior school with teachers chatting nonsense (and I quote) like 'AD means 'after death'' or ''will' is the future tense' or (written) 'lesson's are fun' or H is pron Haitch and it goes on and on.
Apologies in advance to any teachers out there who do not chat ill-informed nonsense to their class.

christmas - reminds me of a teacher who corrected a place name in my book

me - we went to Lymington and got on the ferry for the Isle of Wight.

her - Leamington Spa?

This was a posh girls school, and very strict secondary English teacher. I remember that dawning realisation that teachers could be wrong, and i stopped being afraid of her and felt very empowered

I challenged the Richard III thing myself in year 8 and my teacher let me do my work from the other angle. At A level I corrected a teacher without thinking about it on the subject of who was married to James II probably picked up from reading Jean Plaidy and both times it was fine, and they were happy to be challenged. I was a mouthy young thing though.

I would encourage your DD to speak up herself as it's an important lesson in challenging misinformation (and encouraging debate on issues where there is contention like the princes in the tower thing)

My DS has done this since primary on many topics RE & dinosaurs mostly and I encourage him to challenge what he is told. Regardless of teachers or anyone else thinking he is being contrary for the sake of it.

I think it is really important to learn how to think critically about information we are given, whether that's in school, in the papers, from friends or from politicians and to speak up and challenge opinion or 'facts'.

Even if occasionally that prompts further information that makes us re-evaluate our own stance (actually maybe especially so) because that's how we, and others, learn.

FWIW I withdrew my DS from RE (in secondary) on the grounds of disagreeing with the syllabus but often the teacher asked him to input into class messing up my curriculum & lessons that I had set him for those days precisely because he offered in-depth, thoughtful and challenging views.

Encourage your DD to get involved in debate - she can use those skills in many ways as she gets older. It may make her more confident and self-assured in voicing her own opinion and challenging established or establishment views in the future.*

*this may include you so be prepared

sacreblue - what were you challenging about dinosaurs? (nosy)

Well, your DD is kinder than me and my classmates. When our student history teacher told us (as we were studying the Second world War) that the Germans had their own version of the doodlebug, called the V1 rocket, we laughed until she cried.

The teacher sounds awful. It's an appalling mistake for a teacher of English literature to make. It sounds as if your daughter should be teaching her.