Teachers comment about 'concentration camp' (secondary school)

[JacobsAngel]

A teacher at my child's school, known for their passive aggressive attitude (and boring lessons-relevant) made a comment to the class and said " you're not in a concentration camp" aibu to think this is inappropriate?

Apparently the class were unenthusiastic and unresponsive (and probably bored) to the way the lesson was being delivered so the teacher tried to, well not quite sure what they were trying to get the class to do by saying what they did as all they got back were confused looks and whispers.

My child wasn't the only one to say, after the class had dispersed, they felt it an inappropriate comment.

Ironically the class have been studying the Holocaust in a different subject class so are well aware of what a concentration camp was, hence the startled looks from some of the children and hushed comments.

Should something be said to the school or view it as a faux pas by a teacher who really should engage their brain before they open their mouth?

HarrietSmith what about the other way round? Pupils should be made aware of teachers' sensitivities too, I've had some pretty horrendous things said to me by students, as have colleagues

Exactly. I think rather than getting worked up about whether a science teacher is sufficiently aware of the Holocaust (when his comment seemed to refer to concentration camps in the generic sense), spare a thought to the teachers who are verbally abused on a daily basis, and are often physically abused as well. My teacher friend has been regularly told that she is a 'fat ugly bitch' as well as receiving numerous lewd comments from teenage boys about her appearance. She has also been physically assaulted on a few occasions. She has been verbally abused and threatened by parents. She works every hour of the day and gets paid less than most other graduate professions. I have no idea why. THAT is the thing people should worry about, not whether some ridiculous secondary school kids got all offended because someone said 'concentration camp'.

I also think it's pathetic that the OP as a parent brings up the fact that the teacher's lessons are boring. It's as if she is 14 years old herself. As someone else said, it's the teacher's job to teach, not to entertain the children. Let's hope your DD comes out with a better attitude than you, OP, although I doubt it.

Well they were not in a concentration camp. They could thank their lucky stars that they live in a free country, free from persecution, free to make the best of their education.

And a bit of perspective on their part, reflecting on their lives instead of flopping around because they are so BO-ooo-oored with a teaching style, might well be appropriate.

High ratio of refugees in Dc’s school, fleeing from properly terrifying massacres and so-called ethnic cleansing. They are very hard working, non complaining students, making the very best of their learning opportunities.

Loving the mixed metaphor of being a performing clown at a disco. It genuinely feels like that a lot of the time. But we must also be very sensitive, non confrontational performing clowns.

wonders whether clown is a non pc term

And this is one reason that so many teachers quit.
This.
To ask DC to work is, by definition, not always ‘fun’. It is not always ‘engaging’. It is, by definition, WORK.

That class sound as though they were on the lookout for a stick to beat that teacher with.

I actually told a girl off for loudly exclaiming 'Jesus Christ' the other day. She then later stopped herself saying 'Oh my God' so I like to think she learnt something. She said her parents had never ever told her that some people might be offended by these phrases. I think, in general, teachers do a bloody good job of watching their own ps and qs and encouraging the students to do so too. In the last three years I have noticed a real increase in loud swearing in corridors and so on (and I teach in a naice school : ish). I am very surprised that any class would be so offended therefore by the comment. But students do tend themselves to be professionally offended when it suits their own agenda.

Only just this minute read an article in The Times which reports on a call to return sarcasm to the classroom (it hasn't left mine..). It's an interesting little article but I can't link to it because of the paywall.

It points out that sarcasm is often gentler than public humiliation through statements of fact and mentions a Harvard study which shows that sarcasm promotes creative thinking.

I shall continue saying 'Good evening' when my students arrive late then! And 'well done Sherlock' when they say state the obvious can no longer say no shit Sherlock, sadly

Maybe a certain type of parent sponsored by the Daily Mail needs to create a list of all the things it is no longer appropriate for teachers to say which we can all spend our time learning, as opposed to actually planning lessons, marking work, or, God forbid, teaching.

Or they could - instead of looking for things to be professionally offended by - experience what it is like, just for one day, to be required to engage, control, teach, work in a situation where you are always outnumbered, frequently physically inferior to just one of the teenage boys in your class, never mind the fact that there are maybe twelve to fifteen of them in your room at any one time, and where you know that now, in the current climate of parenting, you are always in the wrong and they are always in the right.

Imagine that feeling you might get when you walk, on your own, past a huge gang of teenagers who are staring at you and as you walk past they whisper, giggle, point, maybe shout things at you. Every day teachers go into their classrooms to manage that precise demographic and the support we get in doing that is eroded every day by politicians and parents.

It's school, it's allowed to be boring. The teachers are not there to entertain the children. It's a good life skill, life is sometimes boring but we have to just get on with it. I'm about to start grouting my bathroom, boring as fuck but I'm ready for it because school prepared me.

Great article, Piggy - thanks for the headsup. Might use it with my LangLit class!

I thought this comment below the article was particularly pertinent: "You're right, of course, but this isn't the world we are living in. This is a world in which sarcasm, wit, challenge and analysis have been sacrificed on the altars of 'protection', 'inclusivity' and 'safe spaces'."

Could not have said it better myself.

Should something be said to the school or view it as a faux pas by a teacher who really should engage their brain before they open their mouth?

I actually can't get over how petty, bitchy and stupid this last comment makes you sound. God love that poor teacher. Maybe you should engage your brain before you start to type.

Sometimes, things in life are boring. Suck it up, buttercups. Sometimes you need to develop the ability to work through boring things to benefit yourself. This trend towards all lessons being all singing all dancing isn't good - you need to balance that with more traditional style work, too.

It's parents like you OP that spoil teaching. Always the ones at the classroom door wanting a word and making the teaching of their precious child a nightmare. If you care so much about the way your child is taught and think you can do it better get a teaching qualification and go do it.

Hopping
Dachau, opened in 1933, was not an extermination camp. It was the first Nazi concentration camp to house political prisoners. Extermination camps were established during the war and gas chambers weren’t used until 1941.

I posted a link regarding concentration camps, according to Wikipedia, modern concentration camps started in America in 1830’s way before the Boer war.

I just can’t get over how bitchy and spiteful you sound.

FGS! IMO it's good for kids to realise that sometimes in the great big wide world they just have to put up with people saying things that might very slightly offend or upset them. It's almost certainly going to happen in the workplace, where nobody is going to tiptoe around snowflakes.
Time to get a grip.

So for the minority who do seem to be offended by this throwaway comment, where do you draw the line? I’m assuming for consistency that any mention of or allusion to anything that involves suffering needs to within a serious historical context....

No children allowed to play pirates... trivialises suffering of those made to walk the plank.

Banning of all phrases relating to conflict. For example, “Your room looks like a bomb hit it” minimises the suffering of those who’ve experienced real bombing.

And those nursery rhymes... how could we teach children such things as “London Bridge is falling down” given how harrowing it must have been to those at the time who were swept away in the river Thames! “Ring-o-ring of roses”.... i mean how can you possibly defend turning something as horrific as the plague into a children’s ditty!

And phrases such as “I’m not your slave”... how insensitive to make such a statement, when some people will have had ancestors a mere 6 or 7 generations back who were actual slaves.....

Let's transfer this scenario to an adult arena. If you were at work and made a comment like that within earshot of several colleagues, there's every chance one of your colleagues might reasonably take offence at which point they would have every right to raise a Dignity at Work grievance against you and you would actually face the possibility of disciplinary action thus finding themselves in hot water. Comments like that at work are treated with a very dim view.

What a load of nonsense... I’ve worked in many places over the years, including public sector places who you’d expect to be especially hot on this kind of thing. I adjudicate at grievance hearings as part of my job and have never had anything brought to me remotely so trivial.

Anyone who did bring such a grievance would more than likely be being vexatious in attempting to undermine or harm the accused rather than having suffered genuine hurt themselves.

You've made a judgement about the lesson, a judgement about the teacher and a judgement about the class.

If you weren't in the class, you're not in a position to comment on the content of it or the demeanour of the teacher and students in it. Presumably, you are relying on the information given to you second hand.by someone there. Another student may have a different point of view.

If you make a complaint, you will look foolish.

Today 10:44 insancerre

Crunch time
I work with preschoolers
I often say. Shall I cut it off?
Shall I resign now?

This. I regularly say the same to KS 1s, when they’re making a massive fuss about non-injuries. Or when they’re taking forever to bring their books to me “my little dog could have fetched that quicker”. They laugh, but I’m now wondering if it’s only a matter of time before a parent complains about me.

Today 12:10 TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross

Maybe a certain type of parent sponsored by the Daily Mail needs to create a list of all the things it is no longer appropriate .... etc

Dont get this. I thought the Mail was famous for being not at all PC and most unlikely to support the kind of people who look for things to be offended by

Total overreaction.

seriously - why do people (students and parents) get offended so easily rather than engage their brain and think, contextualize etc

Because they are stupid, small-minded and have embraced the current need to feel offended or 'triggered' by the slightest thing.

Mildly 'offensive' or challenging language is everywhere. It's part of being human. It's in the books we read and the films we watch. It's in the playground and in the newspapers. Comedy is full of it. It's fine to express our opinion about it. It's not fine to try and censor it out of every corner of life. You have no inherent right to expect others not to offend you (unless what they are saying is actually against the law).

Can I just say as a teacher how lovely it is to see a thread full of sensible, measured responses from teachers and parents.

Sometimes threads like these turn into people with school sized chips having a pop.

Oh and whilst I'm here, I'd just like to say OP is the type of person teachers mean when they say 'eugh one of THOSE parents' (not people who are raising reasonable concerns or want to chat with staff about things).

Love the comment from the teacher who has said if they're not allowed to do things like make light hearted comments about concentration camps their lessons would be empty. Followed by a list of other completely disrespectful things that they suppose they're not allowed to do 'these days'
Like it or not teachers have professional standards they agree to follow as part of their contract both in and out of school. Jokey comments about concentration camps would be tasteless as a layperson in a pub but coming from a teacher, policeman or any other esteemed profession in authority it is completely unacceptable.
And, yes, the teacher hilariously talking about someone having a 'fucking wank' to students was also falling below the behaviour expected of them.
Would I complain - no. Because the teacher will deny having said it.
Is the op a snowflake for expecting a professional to act like one. Also no imo.

And this, OP, is why good teachers are leaving in droves. You have no idea.

I'm so glad I'm not in teaching anymore, the stress of not knowing which professionally offended parent is going to react next. Let me guess, this teacher isn't well liked or popular amongst the students? Maybe makes students adhere to the rules and doesn't ply them with sweets to make them 'enjoy' the lesson? So many teachers have to put up with this bullying, day in, day out. It's disgusting.

Why don't you homeschool?

So the op is overreacting by asking for opinions on an anonymous forum but calling her a bully for this and implying she is one of 'those' parents that teachers hate is measured and fine? Ok, got that.

Of course, boredom is never the fault of the child who can't be bothered, parents with too much time on their hands and a lack of parenting skills in terms of actually encouraging their kids to read, be involved etc. and all the fault of the teacher. A minority of parents compared to most who are supportive of their children and the school.
The comment isn't great but it doesn't warrant that response from students or parents. It would he different if the teacher had stated they should be in a concentration camp.
I love how these uninterested (and possibly quite lazy pupils) suddenly perked up when they realised they could get one over on a teacher. Lovely.