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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be annoyed that ds's teacher told him a spider is an insect?

208 replies

pofacedandproud · 13/10/2009 16:16

Ok ds is in reception, but still. I have always told him a spider is not an insect but an arachnid, insects have 6 legs, etc, but today he came home and said 'Mrs X told me that I could bring a spider to school as the letter this week is I for insect'

I asked him if she really suggested a spider for 'I'. And he was very sure she had. So I told him again a spider was an arachnid. I know it is a small thing but it does annoy me, her telling them that. Yes I know she does an amazing job with 30 children, and she is great, but still.

OP posts:
PeedOffWithNits · 13/10/2009 18:39

ROFL at this thread, especially

"but an arachnid can't be an insect.
unless it has two of its legs chopped off its body and stuck onto its head with glue"

and

"Not bothered by a teacher's accent, as long as she can tell her arachniks from her insecks"

PeedOffWithNits · 13/10/2009 18:41

agree tomatoes are fruit, forming from a flower, but all fruit come under vegetable umbrella first - as in animal mineral or vegetable

pigletmania · 13/10/2009 18:42

Oh dear, hardly a biggy yes relax, YABU a bit

overmydeadbody · 13/10/2009 18:43

OP, if your DS said "can I bring in a spider for the letter I tomorrow?" to a busy frazzled reception teacher and she said "yes" you really shouldn't be getting annoyed.

PeedOffWithNits · 13/10/2009 18:44

OP - if your DC momentarily forgot a spider was not an insect, could he have said "can i bring in a spider", in which case, the kindest thing for teacher to do to encourage taking part is to say yes, rather than "stupid child thats an arachnid". if however he said he could not think of something beginning with i and she suggested spider as an insect, she is wrong

LyraSilvertongue · 13/10/2009 18:47

Of all the things to get your knickers in a twist about.
Lighten up OP.

TheFallenMadonna · 13/10/2009 18:55

It would annoy me greatly.

But people who get sniffy over the tomato is a fruit thing annoy me more. Because they are confusing different types of category. A tomato is both a fruit and a vegetable. And so is a marrow.

Original poster
pofacedandproud · 13/10/2009 18:58

No! He did not suggest a spider! She suggested a spider!

OP posts:
Original poster
pofacedandproud · 13/10/2009 18:59
OP posts:
corriefan · 13/10/2009 19:02

Can you explain why the classification matters so much? The learning objective was for him to learn the letter i not to learn about insects. People do use the term insect loosely in everyday terms.

KittyCorncrake · 13/10/2009 19:03

this cannot be for real.
A spider is not an insect. But to die in a ditch because a reception teacher does not know that suggests there may be many, too many, battles ahead...

Original poster
pofacedandproud · 13/10/2009 19:06

because we have learned stuff at home and the point of school is to learn more stuff [as well as have fun] not learn rubbish and have to unlearn it at home.

OP posts:
TheFallenMadonna · 13/10/2009 19:09

Die in a ditch?

The OP hasn't demanded her head on a plate.

She said "I know it is a small thing but it does annoy me".

As it would me.

madamearcati · 13/10/2009 19:09

Actually YANBU. He shouldn't be taught facts that are not true whatever his age !

trellism · 13/10/2009 19:13

This is absolutely unacceptable. I would not let this slide either. Insects and arachnids are at least a phylum apart in classification terms - it would be like claiming that a lizard is a mammal.

Just because they're small, it doesn't mean the difference is not important.

madamearcati · 13/10/2009 19:16

wasn't there a thread a while ago about I is for Indian ?

Original poster
pofacedandproud · 13/10/2009 19:19

Thanks FM.

I could be for Native American Indian I suppose. Anything else would be

OP posts:
trellism · 13/10/2009 19:20

Oh, and a whale being like a fish?

Hmm. Lungs, warm blooded, gives birth to live young, a placental mammal...

No, shag all like a fish. Also whales shag, fish (usually) fertilise externally.

Tomatoes are a member of the Solanaceae family, which includes deadly nightshade and potatoes. "Vegetable" is taxonomically meaningless. A potato is a tuber, a tomato is actually a berry, a pea is a legume.

I hope this clears things up.

Take in the spider and say it's "I" for "Invertebrate". That at least is indisputable.

pointyhat · 13/10/2009 19:23

It is very very slightl irritating.

Today, the answer to pretty much any question under the sun is at our fingertips. I think the far mor e important lesson is to teach children that anyone can get something wrong. And teach them how to check the right answer for themselves.

The kid's life isn't going to be blighted by mixing up an insect and an arachnid in infants.

TheFallenMadonna · 13/10/2009 19:24

Oh nice with the I for Invertebrate

Tambajam · 13/10/2009 19:35

I am with you. It's not the end of the world but it matters a bit.

Just because people are little it doesn't mean they deserve to be taught incorrect stuff. You obviously omit a ton but blatantly wrong is rarely necessary.

A while back on Cbeebies Pui played a guessing game and WORM was classified as an insect. DS was unimpressed and while it could certainly be argued I have too much time on my hands, we decided to write to them in disgust.

We got this back:

Thank you for contacting us at CBeebies. You are entirely right, we
have made a very basic error. We are all scratching our heads here as
to how we could have missed this one, as it is really quite obvious that
a worm is not an insect! The clip that you saw will not be shown again,
and I apologise to you for our mistake.

Yours sincerely

Alistair Hughes
Head of Presentation
BBC Children's

So THEY get it .

pointyhat · 13/10/2009 19:41

in disgust - lol

ange8 · 13/10/2009 19:44

my dd2's contribution: maybe he could take in the spider for 'invertebrate'!

cancantcan · 13/10/2009 20:19

YANBU, easy mistake to make, but really as a teacher theres no excuse. Reminds me of the time my DS (aged 3.5 at the time) insisted on taking his dinosaur to put on the 'C' table at nursery school, he sat there stone faced while his teacher explained that dinosaur starts with a D, then said "but this is ceratosaur and that starts with a 'C' "

pointyhat · 13/10/2009 20:24

Has anyone quieried the op?

Maybe her ds really wanted to take in a spider, asked if he could take one in, looked a little upset when told it wasn't really an insect, so the teacher thought, what the heck, bring in the spider. It's not as if anyone really cares about this.

How wrong she (possibly) was.

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