To be shocked & astounded that DD's teacher has told the class that some penguins can fly :o

[ignoranceisntbliss]

On the way home yesterday DD told me that her teacher had told the class at carpet time that some penguins can fly. I thought that perhaps the teacher had made a joke and DD took it literally, so put a little note in the reading record asking her to assure DD that penguins can't fly.

Today I read the response, which explains that Adèlie penguins can fly, and that was the penguin being discussed. This is rare and unusual but is documented by the BBC.

Well yes, the BBC's 2008 April Fool's Day hoax, which shows a 'newly discovered' colony of Adèlie penguins flying 1000 of miles to a warm tropical rain forest to get away from the snow & ice.

Penguins wings are vestigial & they have solid rather than hollow bones because they are adapted to swimming and can not fly.

So just to put my mind at rest, I'm right about ALL penguins being flightless birds and it's not that unreasonable to be utterly gob-smacked is it?

Oh and I have so changed my nickname for this - I will feel mortified if I'm wrong and will feel mortified for her if I'm right!

Single teachers need to teach facts! Not fancy and bollocks! Why shouldn't she correct them? They're not lord almighty you know!

depends if it was part of a structured session on penguins or a random question. If the former, then yes, it was an error that shouldn't have occurred but if the former then no. I have an MA in medieval history but still get asked the occasional question by students that I'm not sure of and may even have given them a wrong answer on occasion. If she had caught 5 mins of the doc. and not the memo that it was a hoax its perfectly possible this bit of trivia got mixed up in her head. I never heard of the hoax at all til this thread. Its the easiest thing in the world to assume that something is common knowledge because you know it. I'm incredulous that not EVERYONE in the UK knows that King John signed the Magna Carta in 1215 but hey ho..

Well I have seen "excellent" spelt "excellant" in DD's reading record book, I have seen a whiteboard in the background at our weekly assembly with a list headed "Metaphores".

Clearly I tutted silently to myself but I wouldn't dream of writing in about it.

Mind you I wouldn't make that sort of mistake if I were a teacher but then spelling has always come ridiculously easy to me. We don't all share the same talents.

oh dear, that's a real howler. Bad enough to be telling children stuff that is just plain wrong but to persist when challenged, clearly without bothering to check really is very stupid indeed.

Oh dear. Poor teacher. Please let it go though. Teachers are only human and I'm sure your DD will survive being taught one incorrect fact about a penguin!

It is true that they fall over when they look at planes though right?

She's very very gullible, this teacher, isn't she? Thick as a brick too. I would ask for a meeting with the teacher, the head teacher and you. Penguins can't fly.
I got very angry when my daughter's teacher crossed out her correctly spelt word and replaced it with his wrong version (noticed on a parents' day when looking through my daughter's workbooks). Some so-called teachers are just not up to the job and shouldn't be inflicted on children.

If she knows nothing about penguins and castes nothing about penguins she should do some proper research before teaching kids about penguins - let alone setting herself up as an expert on the Secret Flying Penguins.

Yeah, you've got to tell her. I like Laurie's note.

at the number of people who reckon knowing penguins are flightless is some sort of specialist knowledge. My two year old knows this and we don't exact sit him in front of wildlife documentaries:

In other secrets of the natural world: camels have humps.

Wow Gruntfuttock. Do you think maybe the meeting should involve the Governors too? If she's not challenged - what's next? Misinformation information about a walrus? A misunderstanding about a puffin? Horrifying!

I would ask for a meeting with the teacher, the head teacher and you

This thread is hilarious. Please tell me that^^ is not a serious suggestion.

Jassy, I'm tempted to start a list of little - known wonders of the natural world now... elephants have trunks, tigers have stripes, polar bears live in the North Pole. Worth writing down for this teacher!

Gruntfuttock - please assure me you are joking?

Normal response to this is "no DD, teacher is mistaken- look, i'll show you on this magic google machine and you can tell your teacher tomorrow"

Fairylights - I worded my first note carefully because I thought if it's a case of the teacher not knowing rather than DD getting the wrong end of the stick then she will check and the DCs will be told the correct information.

I do not expect teachers to know everything about everything. What I am shocked about is that having had the chance to check she is still convinced that Adèlie penguins can fly. Not all penguins, just Adèlie penguins. I am astounded that she could have googled this and seen this footage without realising it's a hoax - try googling Adèlie flying penguins, it's clearly a hoax - have you seen the footage?

I've written a note back explaining about the hoax and why I don't think penguins can fly. She is a lovely, bright teacher. I can understand being conned by a hoax initially, but don't understand that she didn't spot it subsequently. I even started to doubt myself for goodness sake!

Edam, PLEASE.

I wonder if she's told them about polar bears eating penguins.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Ha ha

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Ok, it's surprising.
But shocked....asyonded..... Really?

Of course she should be told. Politely yes, but told.

Otherwise she will carry on teaching about them incorrectly and possibly won't check other facts on other subjects.

Just like children, teachers need to learn about stuff they know nothing about. Makes them better teachers.

Err, make that astounded!

OP Tell her that not only can penguins fly, the moon is made of green cheese, the yeti shall lie down with the unicorn and Shergar shall lead them, and Princess Di is on tour with Elvis - who by the way shot JFK from the grassy knoll.

I doubt she gives a shit about penguins. You blabber on all day when you are a primary school teacher, perhaps they had some random conversation at story time and penuins were discussed? Think of the threads on here where people share the stupid things they thought! This is the same as one of those.

She should have checked when you wrote the note, but all the horror is a bit ott, surely?

Penguins actually can fly!
(if you put them in an aeroplane)

Maybe send her a copy of Up and Down by Oliver Jeffers.

The real issue here is that she's thought about it, got the name of the SuperFlyingPenguins and when challenged, didn't check but continued to set herself up as knowing more than the OP. So it's quite a bit more than a ridiculous gap in her general knowledge.

It's either a really bad case of I'm the teacher, I'm infallible or she has no ability to practise critical thinking.

I feel bad for the teacher. It's super embarrassing to have not only fallen for a famous hoax but also to have taught it to a class of children as fact.

Send your DD in with a copy of oliver Jeffers' up and down. It clearly explains that penguins can't fly because they don't like flying.

DS1 had a teacher who insisted (based on really, really stupid science homework in Y4) that the reason it is impossible to drill to the centre of the earth is that some bits of the earth are liquid. Not distances and temperatures and pressures. I'm not sure how she thought they get oil out from under the sea given that she seemed to think that liquid is a barrier to drilling. Tbh I wouldn't have complained but she'd marked DS's much more sensible answer (about it being too difficult to make a long enough drill and it being very hot in the centre of the earth) wrong and written the 'right' answer about liquids and solids. He was quite upset about it.

Cross-posts about up and down.