To email this teacher?

[LadyWire]

My DD is 18 and at 6th form college. To avoid dripfeeding she has ASD, depression and anxiety. She is extremely emotionally underdeveloped compared to her peers.


Her a-level English teacher told a tale today about seeing a cat being hit by a car and hitting it with a tennis racquet to "put it out of its misery" before throwing it to the side of the road. He then kept referring back to it throughout the lesson.


DD has come out of college inconsolable. I've emailed the teacher telling him that a) what he did was appalling and b) it's not an appropriate subject to speak to a class about. AIBU to be angry enough to contact him or should I have ignored it? Tbh I'm tempted to report him to college and to the RSPCA.

[Mustang27]

“Nobody can motivate a squirrel it’s a fucking squirrel” I love Russell Howard.

Any way not to just derail your thread op I think if it had happened to me I’d have had to tell the story and he is dealing with young adults old enough to get married (in Scotland) so a dying cat seems pretty low on the things that they could be dealing with in life. Plus switch on the news and it’s full of mass shootings, war and poverty. If the rest of the class do not have the issues that your daughter has then I don’t think he did anything wrong telling them. I’m not sure I agree about chapping it over the head to put it out of its misery but I wasn’t there and didn’t see the cat so maybe he genuinely feels he did the best thing in the circumstances.

I really hope your daughter is ok i can’t imagine how she feels about this and I do genuinely feel for you both.

[Julesbegone]

Did the teacher email back @LadyWire?

[NotCitrus]

I think the issue is less the anecdote and more the other students - telling the dd "that could be your cat" was unnecessary winding up at best, possibly bullying if they kept on, and a teacher letting that happen would be at fault.

FWIW a racquet would be fine to use to dispatch an animal if the person knew what they were doing, but as mentioned up thread, the public don't necessarily.

[Wolfiefan]

So OP have you heard back from the teacher?
I still don't believe this is a real story.

[RainyApril]

I'm surprised if that's the worst story she hears at sixth form college.

[IFellDownAHole]

There is no way in hell I’d pick up a run over cat. I’m assuming a lot of people saying just pick it up haven’t dealt with dying animals. They’re very often in bits, falling apart but still alive. If people are so worried about where their cat goes keep them inside. Otherwise surely it’s his a risk you take? I have seen so many dead or dying animals on the road outside my house (rural lane, but massive lorry depot a couple of miles along it). Not usually cats, normally foxes badgers or squirrels. If they’re clearly dying (and it really is obvious is something is completely fucked) I send dh over with a spade. If it was a cat I’d do the same and put a message on our village website. I’m really struggling to see the issue with it. Other people’s pets are not my responsibility.

[Ktown]

Can you explain to your daughter it was actually a kindness?
I am not sure there is actually much value in emailing the teacher.
She will hear much worse when she reads Shakespeare’s plays.

[Moussemoose]

barbaric

Good grief. Many on this are discussing the teaching of profound human suffering and the way it is taught. The stories of human life and death and suffering that an A level Eng Lit student will have to process. How language can be used to shape human emotions and teach us about the poignant beauty of life and death..

It's the unproven death of an injured cat that is barbaric.

[kali110]

WetsTheVet
Yes agree!
How do people know that the cat would not survive?
We didn't think our mil cat would survive it, hes still going strong!

[holdbackonthewine]

Witches: it’s November, as a late summer birthday my DD was barely 16 in Nov of her lower 6th.....as are many.

Anyway, it’s a barbaric story to be relating to any group of people, irrespective of age. So disturbing that so many think it’s fine just to discard a cat which is no doubt someone’s pet. You only have to look at local Facebook pages to see people trying to find out what has happened to their pet. It’s much better to know so you can deal with it, especially if you have children it’s important for them to acknowledge the death of their pet. I would always report it or make an effort to find the owner. If you’re rushing to work call the local animal centre.

[holdbackonthewine]

Pengggwn yes our local animal rescue does come out and collect dead cats they’re then scanned for a microchip and the owner is informed. We received such a call.

If I found an injured cat I’d either call them or rush it to a vet who could decide its fate. He could also have tried to find its owner by knocking at nearby houses. Sometimes animals, like humans, appear more injured than they are. I guess if this was very remote things might be different.

Unless it were closely related to a text it seems a story in very poor taste to be relating to an audience of any age.

[Wolfiefan]

I doubt there was an actual cat! Seriously. Who devices to euthanise an animal with a tennis racket?
I suspect it was a poorly judged attempt to grab their attention and initiate vigorous debate about a part of The Great Gatsby.

[SunnySkiesSleepsintheMorning]

I wish I could ‘like’ your post Wets.

[WetsTheVet]

There's a lot of people on this thread who feel they can determine a cats prognosis on the side of the road and treat it accordingly. Interesting as it took me about 6 years at university to learn that.

[shakeyourcaboose]

-motivation! I couldn't motivate a woodlouse....or have the stamina to be a teacher!

[shakeyourcaboose]

horridemma is squirrel motivatan Ofsted requirement?

[Horridemma]

[Horridemma]

Well that's the thing with people moaning about teachers. There are so many gripes about so many things - it is not practical for a teacher to address everything.

Like the story of the boy who cried wolf once too often

[MrsDustyBusty]

It doesnt explain him killing the cat. Let's see what he says in his reply

Yes, he's answerable to mumsnet.

[MaisyPops]

And yet there's always a couple each year who don't feel sorry for her because she was a 'tart'.
Attitudes towards violence to women. Another very educational ajd relevant discussion topic for an English lesson.

Porphyria's lover to continue ti murder of women maybe?

[Moussemoose]

Whiskeyqueen

It's just a woman who is killed in Of Mice and Men, so not anything that really matters like a cat.

[MaisyPops]

I've heard getting a pup is a great solution if you're someone who struggles keeping rabbits alive. what could go wrong?

[Whiskeyqueen]

" Eng Lit is not all poetry about fluffy wabbits?'

It is about tending the rabbits though

Still at least there's no cat murdering in 'Of Mice and Men' so it'll probably be fine..

[Quartz2208]

I suspect the cat was an interesting way of bringing together various parts of the novel, Gatsby lies, Myrtle dying in a car accident, her husband subsequently killing himself and Gatsby because of it (putting them both out of their misery. Its actually very clever way of bringing together the themes of the book. The other pupil may well have realised.

Or he actually killed a cat!

I had more debates in my English Literature class then any other

[Horridemma]

OP's daughter is in year 12 - there will potentially be a few lessons that she will not like.