AIBU to think teachers shouldn't advertise anti vax messages at school?

[TippedOverIceberg]

I will preface this by saying I haven't seen the offending message in person and will hopefully see it tomorrow.

Had a call from DC2's friends mum in the course of which she mentioned that DC1's TA isn't vaccinated. When I queried how she knew, she said the TA has an anti-vax sticker on the back of her car. I find this a bit off, she parks the car on the school parking spaces and all the children walk past the row of parked cars on the way into school.

Am I totally unreasonable to think she shouldn't be allowed to promote anti-vax sentiment on school grounds? The children are old enough to be vaccinated.

YABU she should be allowed to promote anti-vax.
YANBU a school is not the place to promote anti-vax, even on a teacher's car.

It it says you have autonomy over your body, vaccination is your choice -I would say this is a good message at school, if it says vaccinations have a computer chip that will make you want to have sex with Bill Gates - less so.

Totally her choice. I actually think it's more of a worry that we are telling kids they MUST be vaccinated. That's far more worrying.

What's your definition of anti vax?

If the sticker is about being against forced vaccination then that's hardly anti vax. Uts pro bodily autonomy.

If it says it will turn u into a zombie then your friend has a point.

What a clickabait title. So it's not a teacher and the TA isn't even talking about it, just a sticker on a car.

I'm in Ireland not the UK but this would be frowned upon. When we had our abortion referendum we were not allowed to even discuss with other staff members in the staffroom. Certainly no stickers or badges would have been tolerated. I happened to be wearing black clothes on the day (I often do) there was a black clothes day to support one side, I was subtly asked to be more careful in future.

It depends what the school's policies are on staff behaviour.

If you have concerns raise them with the headteacher.

Personally I think it is unwise for someone employed by a school to be openly displaying controversial and political material on their property whilst on school grounds. I would have hoped a colleague would have pointed this out to said individual.

Personally I think anti-vaxxers are class A idiots who think they are entitled to their own facts as well as their own opinions.

Would you be upset if a TA had a Christianity sticker on their car?

I may have autonomy over my body and choose not to wear a tampon but that not means that I can go swimming and streaking the water with blood like some cheap horror movie.

How do you not get it that do not get the vaccine is not 'body autonomy' but it's putting others at risk?

I would be very annoyed with the sticker, and no not be annoyed with a Christianity sticker but if the sticker would advertise allegiance to some extreme Christian brethren yes it would bother me. Like I would be ok with a political sticker but not with an extreme fascist sticker.

There are nuances and there are lines within which we find behaviour acceptable. These are mine.

What does the car sticker actually say?

It would bother me if the TA was telling the kids not to get vaccinated, but I can't get too worked up about a sticker in a car.

@AnnaPerenna

I may have autonomy over my body and choose not to wear a tampon but that not means that I can go swimming and streaking the water with blood like some cheap horror movie.

How do you not get it that do not get the vaccine is not 'body autonomy' but it's putting others at risk?

Because a vaccine doesn’t stop you passing it on, it is likely that in at least a lot of people it takes away the fear factor which means they are more likely to think it’s ok not to social distance, not to wear masks etc which are also effective in protecting people.

And actually it is body autonomy. Do I want to do something which might protect me and others but go against my own beliefs. Do you want a 98% tax on you earning with the majority going to the NHS because that also be for the benefit and protection of others or do you think you have a right to the majority of your income?

There’s car stickers? 😬 What do they say?

I think it’s weird to advertise your views on things like this on a car sticker but I don’t think anyone should be stopped from doing it. I’d just think they were an attention seeker. Its like people who put stickers in their windows to tell others who they’re voting for. Just why?

Actually chlorine is put into swimming pools precisely because it's down to individuals to decide how often to shower and wash their hair and wipe their arse etc

I am willing to bet there have been numerous car stickers over the school's staff cars over the years, yet you are only yourself in a twist over this one. I bet the kids walking past never look or give the cars a second thought.

I have seen stickers about the vaccine on bus stops etc, but they have all been anti-mandate ones, which I 100% agree with.

To OMG12 -

1. a little reading from a peer reviewed article regarding vaccination and transmission: www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2021.708820/full

2. total whataboutery - how can you do an economic comparison when we are taking of bodily autonomy?

But, you know what... for the sake of argument I'd say that If were were all taxed the same I would say yes to this.

Probably if that was the level of taxation there would be enough changes in society for all to do well with 2% of our income.

In the end, money is a social construct and a convention, whereas diseases and vaccines are in the realm of hard facts.

It is well known that stickers are literal violence, report her to the police. That'll learn her.

I think people confuse people who don't want a COVID vaccine but have had other vaccines and are happy for other people to have vaccines as anti-vaxxers. They aren't. They just don't want the COVID vaccine right now. It's not the same as someone wanting to wipe them all from the face of the earth and convince other people not to have them.

If like many pp have said that she is putting shouting at students that all vaccines are evil then it's a fair point, but she isn't, it's just a sticker on her car. Hardly ramming her anti-vaxx opinions down people's throats is it?

I do think you are BU on this one.

I do think it would be unacceptable to say anything to children along these lines apart from in a very well-constructed debate when these views are placed into their proper context and all sides are heard.
But a sticker on a car wouldn't bother me personally. As far as i am aware, we still have freedom of speech in this country. It could open up a good discussion with your DC on how people have different views. You could also say this is a minority view and explain why.

Anyway, antivaxxers will probably snuff it with covid so, evolution in action and all that. Bye :)

FFS why can't you keep it in the Corona virus board?

I think the definition of anti-vaxx is getting ever broader.

Saying you aren't going to get vaccinated because you are a fit 20 year old that has already had Covid makes you anti Vax these days.

Saying you aren't going to get vaccinated because you are a fit 20 year old that has already had Covid makes you anti Vax these days

Not having had your booster yet makes u an anti vaxxer too

What a clickabait title. So it's not a teacher and the TA isn't even talking about it,
She is a teacher who is also my DC's 1-1 a few hours a week.

Personally I think it is unwise for someone employed by a school to be openly displaying controversial and political material on their property whilst on school grounds. I would have hoped a colleague would have pointed this out to said individual.
Yes, this is what I think really. I always thought teaching staff were not supposed to advertise their political leanings to pupils.

Friend's mum is having a bit of a disagreement with the school over several other things (inc. handling of corona outbreak) at the moment so I'll be interested to see what it says!

But what did the sticker say?!