Posted on 05/07/2008 10:02:30 AM PDT by Turret Gunner A20
Land 'O Lakes, Florida -- The stories in the news about inappropriate relationships between teachers and students have been overwhelming. There was even a substitute teacher in New Port Richey who got in trouble after investigators say she had a relationship with an underage student.
Well, another Pasco County substitute teacher's job is on the line, but this time it's because of a magic trick. The charge from the school district — Wizardry!
Snip
(Excerpt) Read more at tampabays10.com ...
Wonder if they have Harry Potter in the library?
Good grief! Substitute teachers need a bag of tricks to keep the kids from getting totally out of hand. His little magic trick probably got their attention, so that he could tell them about the day’s lessons.
Who accused him?
Abigail Williams?
This guy sounds like the sub teach I had in 7th grade 40 years ago.
I can tell you from experience that sub teaching is hard as heck. It is not easy, and you need everything you have to keep the kids from losing it. I don’t see why this was a problem. You have got to have a big bag of tricks as a sub.
According to the information posted on the thread yesterday, he wasn’t fired for doing a magic trick, he was fired for failing to follow the lesson plans and spending the class time playing games and not teaching.
</s>
Fundy nutcases is my guess. I knew a girl in high school whose parents were hard core fundy nutcases. You know how when kids start saying the same thing right at the same time, it’s a little game to call “jinx”? Another friend of mine learned the hard way not to say this in front of the fundy nutcase mother, whose reaction to a giggling girl calling out “jinx” was to launch into a stern lecture about the horrible sin of “calling on Satanic powers”. Anything having to do with “magic” sets these people off.
Well that is a different story. That would result in a firing in my book......you have to follow the lesson plans. If they don’t have something for you or you get done early, then you have to do something you already have made up for emergencies. But, if they have a plan, you need to follow it.
I guess not - given their idiotic reactions to a magic trick.
Wasn’t aware Wizardry was illegal in this country.
Sounds like fundy wackos to me too. Just doing their confused best to give Christians a bad name.
Fundy nutcases? Um...if you’re talking about Born Again Christians, do you realize you’re being insulting?
That article in the other thread also noted that there had never been any discipline noted.
Ignorance is not necessarily a shield against evil. I will leave it to you to determine to whom I refer.
There are plenty of born-again Christians who have no trouble distinguishing between Satanism and magic tricks involving disappearing toothpicks. There’s a certain subset, however, who are mindbogglingly common sense-challenged in that area.
“Wasn’t aware Wizardry was illegal in this country.”
You can get fired for a great deal things that are legal. At any rate, from what I’ve read it wasn’t the “wizardry” itself, it was the fact that he spent the class doing that instead of the prescribed lesson plan.
Werdna’s gonna love it, but what will Trebor think?
Ah-ha, I knew there was more to the story. This makes sense. School is for learning and teaching, not putting on amature magic shows. If he wasted a class on this he deserves to be canned.
Think how it would be if the Southrons had won.
barbra ann
I agree with you...and forgive me, I’m not trying to sound prickly, but a fundamentalist (one who believes in scripture completely) is not a “nutcase.” When you said fundy nutcase, it sounds as though you thought every fundamentalist Christian fit into the nutcase category. Apologies if I misunderstood.
Sometime way back (1600-1700)puppetry was considered satanic .... guess those people are still around ....
I can’t believe you remember the characters from that old game! I had to google Werdna and Trebor to figure out what the heck you were talking about.
Possibly, but more likely the administration could have just been looking for a reason to get rid of the guy. I doubt even 'fundy nutcases' would get bent out of shape over a magic trick like this.
Not to worry. Nutcases come in all brands, from what I’ve seen. It’s usually not a symptom of the overall brand (religious, political, or whatever). I’m convinced that people who are full-blown nutcases under one brand would be full-blown nutcases no matter what brand they’d been born or converted into. But the specifics of their words and actions often give a pretty reliable clue as to what brand they’re practicing their nuttiness under.
If so, they'd have done well to refrain from including accuse "wizardry" in their accusations against him. Coming up with the term "wizardry" when criticizing a teacher for performing a disappearing toothpick trick in class, is consistent with the diagnosis of "fundy nutcase". Normal people -- including normal fundies -- would have criticized him for "failure to follow the lesson plan", "wasting class time", or other such shortcomings, and left out the "wizardry" accusation.
Quit usin’ all them big words yew headshrinker afore I git the preacher tew exorcise yer butt ! /sarc (in case there’s a “fundy nutjob” listening in.
“Think how it would be if the Southrons had won”.
Are you a Carpetbagger? I see you live in East Texas. That’s about as “Southern” as it gets.
I was just thinking I needed to google an image of that game...
It's been at least 20 years since I've played it, though, so I'm not certain it's even available.
I agree. But I don't know any 'fundy nutcases' that have ever protested any magician's performance (and didn't find any when I did a quick google search), so I have no reason to suspect they'd be upset about a little trick performed by a sub teacher. Like I said, it is possible, but I think there's something else going on here.
By now, you oughta know that my brain is riddled with useless information! I’m not sure what my cell phone number is, but I can sing (after a fashion) the Zak McCracken theme.
Sigh. :)
The really crazed ones object to practically everything.
Here’s a link to a public library in New Zealand which has a page listing children’s books that meet the requirements they’ve found that “many Christian parents” have, including being free of “fantasy or magic elements” and “animals that talk or act like humans”. http://www.library.tauranga.govt.nz/kids/great-reads/books-for-christian-children.aspx There goes C.S. Lewis’ Narnia series, along with Winnie the Pooh, the Cat in the Hat, Mickey Mouse, and Mr. Ed.
And then there was the member of a rural Texas school board who argued against the proposed new foreign language requirement, saying “If English was good enough for Jesus, it should be good enough for the students of this school district” (a notion consistent with her belief in the KJV as the absolutely literal word of God).
And I recall a lawsuit a number of years ago by some Christian parents who objected to some public school social studies textbook-based lessons that included discussion of possible ways to end world hunger. They said that this conflicted with their religious beliefs, because it suggested that someone other than God can solve problems like this, and the lessons were causing their children to “get confused”.
Yes, I know one like that too. A lovely lady, but she is upset by the small antique crystal chandelier I have in my living room. Crystals are evil, you know. < sighing> She thinks I need to get rid of the chandelier and have her preacher come in to cast the resultant demons out of my house. She warns me that I'll be in for hard times after the chandelier goes, though, because the demons will be angry and will attack me when they get kicked out.
Oh my, that’s a new one! I wonder if it’s because she’s heard about New Agey types claiming that crystals have magical healing powers?
Sounds like you’d best keep the chandelier, though. Better to have demons in the house who aren’t attacking you, than demons who ARE attacking you, as she’s promised they’ll do if you repent of your evil crystal possession and get the chandelier out of the house.
I don’t actually think demons would get much of a toe-hold in this house. Nothing can really stand up to the Name of Jesus. I’m not too worried.
And yes, I’m keeping the chandelier (and my diamond rings and earrings, which are also crystals, and the Waterford glasses, which are crystallinized silica, and the ice-maker, which creates crystallinized water, and so forth).
Wife Swap God Warrior
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ9MUycYD6Y
I think that the teacher's union is probably going to challenge this if the school doesn't have any documentation showing previous problems.
We had a former teacher that started working for us as a defense contractor. Several months after he started work an article appeared in the local newspaper saying that he had shown up for work at the HS high on cocaine. He was fired, but appealed the firing because he had no record of prior problems and his contract required that he be given an opportunity for rehabilitation after a first offense. He won his appeal and was reinstated with back pay.
Our daughter goes to a Christian school. They don't have any of the "Magic Treehouse" books in the library because some parent(s) complained. I just shook my head...
I doubt it.The same line was used in the play & movie "Inherit the Wind" and is used often when criticizing Evangelicals . Who said it and where changes with each recital.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.