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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to allow DS to take to school

56 replies

maclover · 04/09/2014 22:08

an atlas, so that he can show his teacher that the capital of Brazil is Brasilia? DS (7) was doing Geography today at school. His teacher told him that he was wrong (even though he knows he is right because of a World Cup obsession) and another pupil was right. Should he suck it up, or take in his atlas to show her the answer?

OP posts:
whimsicalteabag · 04/09/2014 23:04

Eek! Sorry, wrong thread! Blush

kormasutra · 04/09/2014 23:04

Do it!! My ds did the same thing in primary though he was 9 or 10, is 11 now so I remember it quite clearly.
They were doing geography, my ds has aspergers and is obsessed with certain things, one being capital cities.
They went through the usual, France, Spain, Germany etc and moved on to south America where ds piped up that the capital city of Honduras is tegucigalpa.
Nobody had heard of it, including his teacher who suggested he had made it up!!!
Ds asked her to Google it and took his atlas in the next day.
He got pupil of the week that week:)

Janethegirl · 04/09/2014 23:11

No definitely take in an atlas. Some people are complete arses. Not saying that the teacher will believe the info tho'. Some teachers are total shit ( awaiting lots of reasons why teachers are right.....not in my fucking book!!!!).

CallMeExhausted · 04/09/2014 23:51

While I am not one who will encourage youngsters to "question authority", in this case I wholeheartedly agree with you - he SHOULD show that he is correct and the teacher was mistaken. With that said, it should be done in a respectful manner - prior to the start of lessons or during a break.

In Y8, my DS had a teacher try to insist that the War of 1812 way fought between the British and the French (we live in Canada). The War of 1812 was fought between the Americans and British and is a fairly large part of the Y7 curriculum. And... our family is involved in historical reenacting, and that is the time period that is portrayed.

Correcting the teacher respectfully is one thing - making them look the fool in from of the class is another thing entirely.

noblegiraffe · 05/09/2014 00:02

I'm a teacher and if a kid corrected me on a point of general knowledge, I'd go onto google and look it up, then graciously admit defeat if wrong.

I don't mind them pointing out if I've made a mistake working on the board either (maths teacher). We're not infallible! It's also good for kids to see that being wrong happens to us all sometimes and isn't anything to worry about.

likklemum · 05/09/2014 00:15

Teacher here- let him do it. It will give him tons of self-confidence. Teacher should praise him for using Atlas too. Smile

EllenJanesthickerknickers · 05/09/2014 00:23

I'd get him to take the atlas in. Teachers are pretty open to correction on areas outside their expertise in my experience. What you don't do is correct them during the lesson in front of the class, when you are a TA. May have done this once when teacher told the class that Russia was on Germany's side in WW2

skinoncustard · 05/09/2014 00:37

Let him.
Many years ago my daughter was made to feel 'silly' during an Easter quiz for saying that Simnel cake was something that was connected with Easter, teacher told her there was no such cake and she had made it up. Twenty years later she still mentions it whenever she sees one .

nocoolnamesleft · 05/09/2014 01:48

I can vouch that correcting the headteacher's grammar in the middle of assembly doesn't go down very well. Blush

lordnoobson · 05/09/2014 01:59

Why has the school no atlases?

DogCalledRudis · 05/09/2014 06:57

Ha! I remember doing this prank to geography teacher at school. Looked up various things on a map and ry to trip up the teacher...

And what's with this 'authority' obsession? If you're wrong about a fact, then you're wrong regardless of your position. Its not a matter of opinion.

Iggly · 05/09/2014 06:59

that statement in itself says so much about what many people think about knowledge and education

No- I remember being told I was wrong by a teacher and in fact she was. But she wouldn't back down. I would get the son to mention it but not in front of everyone.

It is about humility. Yes you may know you're right but you do yourself no favours by trying to tell the world. It is a bit like the grammar snobs who revel in pointing out mistakes on a thread.

Original poster
maclover · 05/09/2014 07:09

Thanks for all of your replies - genuinely interested to hear your views. I agree that it could come across as smart arse, and he really isn't trying to be which is why part of me thinks we shoudl just discuss it at home and then leave it. on the other hand, if the lesson was about capital cities, then the teacher should know this information (it wasn t an off the cuff conversation, but part of the lesson). I dont want him to humiliate the teacher (both DH and I are teachers!) but on the other hand, DS was told he was wrong in front of the whole class, and that is potentially humiliating when you know you're right! Thanks again for the support - my first AIBU!!

OP posts:
Original poster
maclover · 05/09/2014 07:12

X-posted!! Thanks for all the teacher responses too - it' really encouragig to know that some teahcers would view it positively. Difficult for us to know if this will be the case for DS as he's only 3 days in with this teacher.

OP posts:
Tabby1963 · 05/09/2014 07:17

OP, he doesn't have to take an atlas in (the school will have hundreds of their own copies surely), just ask her to google "capital of Brasil", or ask if he can google it.

Stealthpolarbear · 05/09/2014 07:30

Is it brazil or brasil?
I've seen it spelt both ways recently

bruffin · 05/09/2014 07:50

My dd corrected her teacher in English over the "wherefore art thou" in Romeo and Juliet. We had a conversation about it in the car the previous weekend and I had told her a lot of people get it wrong, just so happened that it was covered the next week in class.
He took it very well once it was proved by "google" and taught it properly afterwards.

JessieMcJessie · 05/09/2014 07:52

Brasil in Portuguese, Brazil in English. But "Brasilia" always has an 's' because it's not customarily translated. I've been there, it's an odd place with deep red soil, freaky 1970s-vision of the future buildings and hundreds of prostitutes (to serve the politicians whose families live back in their home states.)

OP, yes, the teacher definitely has to be corrected. She probably thinks Sydney's the capital of Australia too. However I'd probably grab her at the school gate and tell her myself rather than letting DS do it.

Stealthpolarbear · 05/09/2014 07:55

So why have people started using the Portuguese spelling since the World Cup?

whois · 05/09/2014 07:59

Take it in but show her before or after school, not in front of everyone.

I can't believe people think you should let it go - teachers aren't the expert in everything and most would be happy to learn the right answer.

I'd use it as a learning experience fire the class. "I got the capital of Brasil wrong yesterday. Des anyone know how we could check? Yes an atlas. Did you know that rio was the capital until x but then it changed to Brasillia because of x. Countries sometimes change their capital cities...."

MiaowTheCat · 05/09/2014 08:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

JessieMcJessie · 05/09/2014 08:33

Stealth I suspect it is because on a lot of the world cup coverage they'd have seen banners, signs etc at matches and host cities and, being in Brazil, those would have had the Portuguese spelling on them. So people have probably picked it up subconsciously,

Hoppinggreen · 05/09/2014 09:37

You know he's right, he knows he's right - why do you need the teacher to validate this?
I wouldn't bother

DownByTheRiverside · 05/09/2014 09:49

I'd let him, I'm a teacher. If a child educates me about something I didn't know, or corrects me politely and accurately, there's merit marks and stickers in it for them.
They have to take their challenge being found wrong with good grace though, if that's the case.

Flipflops7 · 05/09/2014 10:29

Brasilia was the capital when I was in primary school 50 years ago; out of date atlases are not an excuse!

I would recommend he tells the teacher that he looked it up in an atlas and online, and that they both said Brasilia. If she is a decent teacher she will inform the rest of the class of her error.