Bloody geography teacher

[jennakong]

Son of 12 has a teacher who seems very chatty- one of those teachers who tells the class his life story kind of thing. My son said that today this guy started talking about nuclear war, in response to something one of the children said. He proceeded to describe the consequences of an all -out nuclear conflict (this is a year 8 class). My son is not particularly a worrier, though my younger child would be, and I certainly was myself as a child. I know the story is all over the news but I being unreasonable in thinking that adults should be shielding kids from this kind of thing? I was a teenager in the 80s and remember how awful the fear was during the Cold War. I don't think my life was enhanced by 'Threads' or When the Wind Blows - I think they scared me witless and kept me awake at night. Should geography teachers just concentrate on terminal moraines and ox bow lakes do you think?

He proceeded to describe the consequences of an all -out nuclear conflict

Is "he" referring to your son or the teacher? What was described?

I think year 8 is old enough. Age 8 no, yr 8, yes. It IS chilling to think of armageddon, nuclear winter, the incineration or the slow radiation sickness (which will you get? Run towards the light, my son)
I feel so sorry for the current teens, and children - I grew up with the Cold War sitting on my shoulders, a grotesque monkey; the last few decades have seen the prospect of nuclear war recede, only to rear up, a huge dark shadow once more. #bleak

Year 8 not age 8? Because if it's year 8 then yes YABU.

My DC had learnt all about Nagasaki and Hiroshima by year 8 which led to further questioning on the subject. I'm not sure we can shield them from these things with the Internet at their fingertips anyway. Was your son even bothered by it?

I do a lesson on Hiroshima with my year 8’s

I don't think that's too young. If he's year 8.

You can't shield Year 8s from that many things. They are generally very aware of lots of stuff that isn't even directly told to them by adults. A year 8 student curious about nuclear war could look it up on the internet anyway, get a less age-appropriate answer than a teacher might give, and then worry about it on their own rather than getting to talk it through a big with a class.

Teachers who answer curious students' questions and tell a bit of their 'life story' are often the teachers that students like, engage well with, and learn a lot from.

When the Ukraine war started that's all any of the students in all year group at my Secondary school wanted to talk about. I don't see the problem with factually describing what something is and the consequences when asked, much better for the students to get the facts than search up conspiracy theories online.

my ds is 13 and watches the news every evening with us. He's very aware of the present threat but doesnt believe it would actually happen. He understands what nuclear war would look like, but he believes no one will really want to destroy themselves like that. Its good to see him listening to the different points of view on the news and then forming his opnions.

We have to let them do this.

I also agree that this sounds like a teacher who is happy to dig a little deeper and expose kids at an appropriate age to things. It is still all hypothetical and it is ok to think through the effects of disasters like this. Otherwise we are in danger of sugar coating life for them

Yabu, he’s old enough and doesn’t need shielding from it.

Do you not spend time with him watching the news and having discussions? Surely that’s a better way to deal with it so it doesn’t come as a shock to him in school rather than hearing bits from friends and Google.

Year 8 of secondary school? Not 8 years old? Just double checking as for year 8 it is a pretty straightforward YABU

Yeah, nuclear war is fucking terrifying. They need to understand the severity of it the sooner the better. It's great that we can wrap them in cotton wool for the majority of it (compared with a lot of the planet) but you'd be nuts to think you're doing them a favour by not acknowledging that there are threats.

I don't think any of us think this is actually going to happen! To think it is actually going to happen would be TERRIFYING and we would be heading off to caves in Somerset to hide.

YABVU to think "adults should shield children from this sort of thing". Surely your son will be learning this in history class? If not, why aren't you discussing it with him? I think you may be letting your anxiousness cloud things. Children should not be kept in the dark about the world.

As for whether all teachers should stick only to their specific subjects...no, not really, particularly if a child asks them a question, as you say happened here. Alright, I wouldn't expect the Geography teacher to spend 50 minutes out of a 60 minute lesson teaching Spanish, for example, but a minor diversion in response to a child's question isn't unreasonable. Life doesn't exist in neat silos. One thing has an impact on another and children need to understand that.

I can see your point and my Dad was talking to me about the news from 6+, in a way to encourage empathy and compassion but some of it made me very sad, it was too much to process and I felt like I wasn't entitled to be happy if others were going through hello at 12/13 I suppose information might make kids determined for it to not be like this in the future.

It also depends on his/her knowledge of the situation, if they are knowledgeable fine if they are getting their information from a trashy newspaper then I wouldn't want my child to be scared by sensationalist rubbish!

My dad took me to a CND rally when I was 7, and had explained the implications of nuclear war to me.

I wasn't scarred or upset by it, unless you count being motivated to get involved in activism as being scarred!

Shielding children from the world around them doesn’t help them. One day they have to understand the world around them and it’s much better done in environments where questions can be asked and answered (or looked into further together)

we listen to 5 live in the car on the way yo school. Sometimes it leads to us discussing things and debating things.

Sorry OP I don't think there is anything wrong with this. Our son watched 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' at school when he was in Yrs 7 as part of English class which I have to admit I was a bit surprised about but he's turned out okay.

Z for zachariah was a must do text in English when I was in Year 7 or 8.

YABU.

I did Boy in the Striped Pyjamas in Transition. You can't shield them from the world, much rather they have an engaged adult factually explaining and not sensationalising rather than a load of bollocks from tiktok about armageddon day on Saturday.

Kids should know about it.
Mine knew about nuclear wars, the Holocaust and everything else from being toddlers because we spoke about it.
It's no good trying to shield kids from the reality of life.

I’m on the fence. I do talk about current affairs to my son who is 10 as he’s really interested in history and obviously history is being made all the time. I keep it factual and non emotional and I certainly would t describe in detail the aftermath of a nuclear fallout.

I can remember being taught about Global Warming when I was in primary and it scared the life out of me.

I think YABU, year 8 isn’t too young to learn about the effects of a NW.