[Cindy]

So, the teacher is right.

[Cindy]

December 25, 2003: CHRISTmas (Cindy says, "Celebrate CHRIST everyday! Amen.")

[dfwgator]

Now on the other hand, if she had said that Jesus was make believe, she probably would've gotten a promotion.

[DannyTN]

She's on the naughty list now!!!

[Hodar]

"He had this sad, lost puppy dog look on his face. This unhappy, empty look," Jolly said

So, instead of telling the boy the true story of Christmas; his parents instead decided to abuse the trust and love of their son by telling him a lie. They told that lie over and over again, getting their child to not only believe the lie; but to never even question the honesty of the one group of people he should trust in his life. Now, when the parents are caught in a bold faced lie, caught having lied and deceived a child who loved and trusted them implicitly; this is all the teacher's fault.

[JmyBryan]

Put my name down on the unpopular 'Santa is stupid' side of this argument.

[dfwgator]

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

In a related story: teacher Codner also informed several of her students that they were, in actual point of fact, adopted; and that those of them owning cute li'l baby puppies would live to see them crushed and killed by trucks while crossing the highway, some day in the future.

[Iowegian]

Great, he told them the truth and is scolded. Just so some parents can have their fun at the expense of their children by lying to them. It figures, but hey if he really wanted to get into trouble he could have mentioned God. He probably would have been fired for saying the G word to our poor protected and PC brainwashed youngsters.

[ThreeYearLurker]

Santa is real, this Jolly Man in Red is make believe.

[Billthedrill]

Well, I'm not sure it ought to be up to the teacher to disabuse children of their myths, not at that age at least. A teacher who feels compelled to tell the kids that Santa is imaginary because the teacher doesn't think he exists is not far removed from a teacher who feels compelled to tell the kids that Christ doesn't exist because the teacher doesn't think He exists either. Very touchy issue.

[HennepinPrisoner]

Parents shouldn't teach their kids about "Santa"...it's just too representative of the commercialization of Christmas.

Jesus Christ should be the center of attention...and I am afraid Santa has become the center of attention for far too many people.

[ex-Texan]

Fire the witch!

I was in the second grade before I had to trudge home and ask my parents about Santa. They told me, "Santa is the Spirit of Christmas . . . Is it more fun to believe in him or not to believe?" This witch is far too stupid to be teaching 6 year old children. JMHO, feel free to flame away!

[LiteKeeper]

read later

[SpaceBar]

I will spell it out for the more intellectually challenged individuals on this thread who think the fable of Santa Claus amounts to worthless lies heaped on impressionable children.

Santa Claus is a fable, yes, and such a human being does not in fact exist with such extraordinary powers as knowing who's been good and evil, and posesses magical flying animals able to circumnavigate the globe in hours. We all know that. On the otherhand, the fable of Santa Claus is a construct that has been used for centuries in the Christian world to inspire children within their world view to consider such intangibles as love, charity, honesty, giving, and humility. Most well adjusted children look back at their younger years of the belief in Santa with a certain nostalgic reverence, and value the simplicity of the tale and the enormity of the humanistic lessons that were instilled by the contrived story of the kindhearted old man who did good things for people out of the goodness of his heart. I have yet to read a story about a psychopath or mass murderer who committed vile acts because of the mental anguish of being the target of a well planned and systematic campaign to feed them childhood lies of a nonexistant philanthropist. So all you black-and-white do-gooders who think the fable of Santa Claus is worthless rubbish, may your children grow up to be as cynical, cold, and spiritually dead as yourselves.

[Mark was here]

We (my siblings) are in our 40's and we still get a present from Santa Christmas morning, funny how Santa has allways had the same handwriting as mom...

[k2blader]

The teacher's statement is correct. But telling children things like "Santa isn't real" is best left to parents. At least no one's suing.

Now if she had said "God isn't real"...

[tutstar]

"How do you destroy a 6-year-old like that?" said Pam Sturt,

But lying to your child and telling them Santa is real is only setting them up to 'be destroyed' when they find out the truth.

We always told our kids the truth, we still 'do Santa' but they understand it's pretend and it's just for fun.

[JoeSchem]

I remember PJ O'Rourke once said that God is a Republican while Santa Claus is a Democrat, and while Santa Claus has the advantage of not being as judgemental and strict as God, God has the advantage of being real.

[redpoll]

I'm a teacher reading this during the time I'm supposed to be correcting papers, but I really like freerepublic... so... and I was thinking about what I would have done in a similar situation. I notice no one questioned the teacher's comments about the mythic status of the Tooth Fairy. In my mind, this article is another good argument for vouchers - please let me teach in the manner that I think is best for children, and if you don't like it, go to Joe's School down the road. As long as we continue to have the state-run school monopoly, teachers will be forced to dumb down teaching to placate complaint after complaint from angry parents, dopey legislators and leftist academics. (I imagine the teacher in this article will think seriously about ever trying to promote thinking, discussion, or an exchange of ideas in her classroom - and these sorts of complaints are the thing that drives out the best among us. The worst teachers do little to attract notice, and are rewarded with tenure and advancement. Please list "tenure" as something else which needs to be abolished.) Another problem with government schools is that the system brings out the entitlement mentality in many people, and this article demonstrates the problem - instead of working with the school, the parents see the school as both "the oppressor" as well as "the place that needs to give me everything I want." So why not crap all over the teacher? And we'll sue you for millions afterwards, too. Certainly I blame my own profession for a lot of this, starting with the union which pretends to represent me and the simplistic schools of education. The good news is that I'm out here, ready to correct papers in which spelling and grammar count, where I frankly admit a pro-American bias and my kids are regularly confronted with rigor in their schoolwork. There's a lot more like me, too, and most of the parents really respect my work. Final word: What would I do in this teacher's shoes? I might have asked the class how many believed in Santa Claus, and if most of the kids raised hands, I would have moved on to teaching addition. It would have been nice for the parents to have been polite and supportive of the teacher, too, instead of treating her like crap. Sadly, we live in a degraded society (I would say Godless in many quarters, including my own), and when you're in a world like that, attacking the institutions of society is normal. Well, have to grade papers. Ciao.