How Would You React?

[katautumn]

Below are four real-world scenarios. Let's play pretend that they apply to you. How would you react?

Scenario #1: Your child's teacher is out of work for a few days. You hear through the grapevine that she had an abortion. What would you do? Would it make a difference if you knew the teacher had been raped? If her life was in danger if she carried to full-term?

Scenario #2: Your child's teacher is a homosexual. What would you do? Would it make a difference if they were in or out of the closet? A gay man? A lesbian?

Scenario #3: Your child's teacher is a High Priest or Priestess and presides over a Wiccan coven on the weekends. What would you do?

Scenario #4: Your child's teacher is also a youth pastor of a local fundamentalist, conservative church. What would you do? Would you only be concerned if they were pushing Christianity in the classroom? Would you encourage them to sprinkle tidbits of the Gospel into his lessons?

 

[IzzyPop]

Below are four real-world scenarios. Let's play pretend that they apply to you. How would you react?

Scenario #1: Your child's teacher is out of work for a few days. You hear through the grapevine that she had an abortion. What would you do? Would it make a difference if you knew the teacher had been raped? If her life was in danger if she carried to full-term?

None of my business or concern. I would do nothing,

Scenario #2: Your child's teacher is a homosexual. What would you do? Would it make a difference if they were in or out of the closet? A gay man? A lesbian?

See response to #1

Scenario #3: Your child's teacher is a High Priest or Priestess and presides over a Wiccan coven on the weekends. What would you do?

As long as the teacher keeps their crazy beliefs to themselves and doesn't bring it up in class then my response would be the same as above. Otherwise I would have a chat with the teacher.

Scenario #4: Your child's teacher is also a youth pastor of a local fundamentalist, conservative church. What would you do? Would you only be concerned if they were pushing Christianity in the classroom? Would you encourage them to sprinkle tidbits of the Gospel into his lessons?

See response to Scenario #3

 

[Mumei]

Scenario #1: Your child's teacher is out of work for a few days. You hear through the grapevine that she had an abortion. What would you do? Would it make a difference if you knew the teacher had been raped? If her life was in danger if she carried to full-term?

Don't care.

Scenario #2: Your child's teacher is a homosexual. What would you do? Would it make a difference if they were in or out of the closet? A gay man? A lesbian?

Gay?

I probably know them already. It's fine.

Scenario #3: Your child's teacher is a High Priest or Priestess and presides over a Wiccan coven on the weekends. What would you do?

Don't care, as long as she behaves professionally.

Scenario #4: Your child's teacher is also a youth pastor of a local fundamentalist, conservative church. What would you do? Would you only be concerned if they were pushing Christianity in the classroom? Would you encourage them to sprinkle tidbits of the Gospel into his lessons?

Don't care, as long as she behaves professionally.

 

[PassionFruit]

Below are four real-world scenarios. Let's play pretend that they apply to you. How would you react?

Scenario #1: Your child's teacher is out of work for a few days. You hear through the grapevine that she had an abortion. What would you do? Would it make a difference if you knew the teacher had been raped? If her life was in danger if she carried to full-term?

Scenario #2: Your child's teacher is a homosexual. What would you do? Would it make a difference if they were in or out of the closet? A gay man? A lesbian?

Scenario #3: Your child's teacher is a High Priest or Priestess and presides over a Wiccan coven on the weekends. What would you do?

Scenario #4: Your child's teacher is also a youth pastor of a local fundamentalist, conservative church. What would you do? Would you only be concerned if they were pushing Christianity in the classroom? Would you encourage them to sprinkle tidbits of the Gospel into his lessons?

Scenario #1
I'm pro-choice so I would assume you know what my position is on this one.

Scenario #2
It wouldn't bother me, as long as he or she was a good teacher and my child is learning.

Scenario #3
Same response for Scenario #2.

Scenario #4
Wouldn't bother me, if the teacher was pushing Christianity on the students I would be concerned. But if they're not, I could care less whether they're fundamentalist or not.

 

[justanobserver]

Below are four real-world scenarios. Let's play pretend that they apply to you. How would you react?

Scenario #1: Your child's teacher is out of work for a few days. You hear through the grapevine that she had an abortion. What would you do? Would it make a difference if you knew the teacher had been raped? If her life was in danger if she carried to full-term?

Scenario #2: Your child's teacher is a homosexual. What would you do? Would it make a difference if they were in or out of the closet? A gay man? A lesbian?

Scenario #3: Your child's teacher is a High Priest or Priestess and presides over a Wiccan coven on the weekends. What would you do?

Scenario #4: Your child's teacher is also a youth pastor of a local fundamentalist, conservative church. What would you do? Would you only be concerned if they were pushing Christianity in the classroom? Would you encourage them to sprinkle tidbits of the Gospel into his lessons?

#1 - none of my business - more concerned that she is a good teacher than I am about her private life

#2 - wouldnt care - more concerned that he/she is a good teacher than I am about his/her private life

#3 - dont care - more concerned that he/she is a good teacher than I am about his/her private life

#4 - could care less - more concerned that he/she is a good teacher than I am about his/her private life.


As long as the person is doing their hired job teaching my kids, I dont care what they do legally after hours.

 

[Caylin]

Don't care.



Gay?

I probably know them already. It's fine.



Don't care, as long as she behaves professionally.



Don't care, as long as she behaves professionally.

I agree with Mumei. As long as the teachers are professional I don't care what religion they are or who they screw.

 

[quatona]

Below are four real-world scenarios. Let's play pretend that they apply to you. How would you react?

Scenario #1: Your child's teacher is out of work for a few days. You hear through the grapevine that she had an abortion. What would you do?

I don´t understand the question. Why would I have to do anything, and what would that possibly be?
Maybe I´d send her a postcard and flowers to the hospital.

Would it make a difference if you knew the teacher had been raped?

Yes, that would strike me as terrible. Depending how good we know each other I´d probably express my compassion to her.

If her life was in danger if she carried to full-term?

I´d be glad she had survived and would probably express that to her.

Scenario #2: Your child's teacher is a homosexual. What would you do?

Again I don´t have an idea why I would have to do something and what that might possibly be.

Would it make a difference if they were in or out of the closet?

If - for whatever reason - I had the desire to talk to them about their sexuality these two scenarios would ask for different approaches. In the latter case, however, I would assume that he/she has reasons not to reveal his/her sexual orientation, respect this decision and try to be silent about it altogether.

A gay man? A lesbian?

In the first case I would think of a male if he talked about his partner, in the second case I would think of a female if she talked about her partner.

Scenario #3: Your child's teacher is a High Priest or Priestess and presides over a Wiccan coven on the weekends. What would you do?

I´d ask him/her how he/she liked it. I don´t know much about this philosophy and probably - if we have good contact - ask some curious questions.

Scenario #4: Your child's teacher is also a youth pastor of a local fundamentalist, conservative church. What would you do? Would you only be concerned if they were pushing Christianity in the classroom?

Yes, if that would exceed the level of mere information about worldviews, philosophies and religions and cross the line to preaching and pushing I would be concerned.

Would you encourage them to sprinkle tidbits of the Gospel into his lessons?

I would not explicitly encourage them to do that, but I have no problem with teachers sprinkling tidbits of their philosophies and favourite books into their lessons. I think every teacher does that, and I am all for children being exposed to the various philosophies, worldviews, religions, lifestyles that exist out there.

 

[.Sabre.]

My response to #1: I'd probably send her a get-well-soon card. She'd most likely be feeling terrible, no matter the circumstances.

To #2: Well, if they were in the closet I wouldn't know unless we were really good friends. If they were out of the closet I'd think they were pretty brave to come out.

To #3 and #4: I don't really care what people do in their privates lives, as long as it is legal and doesn't affect their professional life.

 

[SallyNow]

Below are four real-world scenarios. Let's play pretend that they apply to you. How would you react?

Scenario #1: Your child's teacher is out of work for a few days. You hear through the grapevine that she had an abortion. What would you do?

I would be worried that something may have went awry in her personal life and put her undue stress, or that she didn't have access to birth control. I might talk to her and ask her if she'd like some extra parent volunteers until she fully recovered, or if she'd like parents to give some extra "career presentations" or field trips until she was back to feeling 100%

Other than that, it really isn't my business, as long as her personal life did not interfere negativily with her teaching ability in any great degree.

Would it make a difference if you knew the teacher had been raped? If her life was in danger if she carried to full-term?

Again, I'd offer to volunteer as much as possible during recess, playtime, etc, so she could get the rest she needed when she wasn't actually teaching. Teaching is a very stressful job, and to add on top of that a medical problem is terrible.

Scenario #2: Your child's teacher is a homosexual. What would you do? Would it make a difference if they were in or out of the closet? A gay man? A lesbian?

I wouldn't care. If they are a theatre teacher I'd probably already be friends with them anyways

Scenario #3: Your child's teacher is a High Priest or Priestess and presides over a Wiccan coven on the weekends. What would you do?

If the teacher kept his or her private life to themselves I wouldn't care. If they tried to preach to the students, I would.

Scenario #4: Your child's teacher is also a youth pastor of a local fundamentalist, conservative church. What would you do?

As long as they were not preaching in the classroom, or encouraging children to attend the church, I would not have a problem.

Would you only be concerned if they were pushing Christianity in the classroom? Would you encourage them to sprinkle tidbits of the Gospel into his lessons?

If the teacher began to use the Bible in a non-academic way (ie, outside of Ancient Literature, Comparative Religion, and such studies) then I would kindly ask them to stop doing so. If they continued I'd lodge a complaint.

 

[SpaghettiM0nst3r]

Below are four real-world scenarios. Let's play pretend that they apply to you. How would you react?

Scenario #1: Your child's teacher is out of work for a few days. You hear through the grapevine that she had an abortion. What would you do? Would it make a difference if you knew the teacher had been raped? If her life was in danger if she carried to full-term?

I would interpret this to be a sign of the womans dedication to her career. She's obviously giving up her chance to labor intensively over her own one child in favor of being able to more adequately educate my child, and the thousands she deals with yearly.

Being a good teacher is extremely difficult, and being a mom at the same time is nearly unmanageable. Hats off to anyone and everyone who does both well at the same time.
(note: I only remember having one teacher being this great)
As far as morally judging this woman, it would be out of my jurisdiction, but I'm not opposed to abortions (at any stage in pregnancy).

Scenario #2: Your child's teacher is a homosexual. What would you do? Would it make a difference if they were in or out of the closet? A gay man? A lesbian?

My reaction would be to educate my child about the existence of homosexuals, they aren't freaks, they aren't bad people. Let him know exactly what makes them homosexuals, what sexual preference is, in the simplest terms I could. I would tell my child that it's not immoral or wrong. It's a pretty deep issue when you talk about children growing up with memes like "boys gotta be tough and not cry" type of guides to behavior. You shouldn't make fun of the teacher or treat him any differently than you would any other teacher. I would treat the situation with as little significance as possible so that I don't alert the child unnecessarily. They know when you're concerned. If homosexuality is a part of the child's world as he grows up he will be so much less likely to treat it like some kind of abnormality when he's older.

Scenario #3: Your child's teacher is a High Priest or Priestess and presides over a Wiccan coven on the weekends. What would you do?

I'd look forward to parent/teacher conference night, and probably constantly ask my child, "what did you learn in X class today" (where X is the subject that High Priest teaches). The important point to make is that I would be much more concerned about what my child is being taught than what the personality of the teacher is. Religious people teaching science classes is something I'd be very suspicious, and inquisitive of.

Scenario #4: Your child's teacher is also a youth pastor of a local fundamentalist, conservative church. What would you do? Would you only be concerned if they were pushing Christianity in the classroom? Would you encourage them to sprinkle tidbits of the Gospel into his lessons?

I would again, in the last example be very inquisitive about the curriculum being taught to my child. If I detected sprinklings of fundamentalist propaganda being fed to my child I would raise so much hell.

I would write letters, I would be on the doorstep of the school demanding answers, I would be conferencing with the board of education, the principle of the school, other parents and whoever else would listen, I would do my best to make it national news and end the teachers career. I will not, and this stands, allow my child to be exposed to the same misinformation presented as truth that I was as a child and make him have to go through digging out of that intellectual ditch to catch up to students who were not given the sprinklings of fanaticism.

Again, these answers are contextual and religions need to be studied in schools, but not plugged in as truth or given as alternative answers to scientific findings.

 

[Nithavela]

Below are four real-world scenarios. Let's play pretend that they apply to you. How would you react?

Scenario #1: Your child's teacher is out of work for a few days. You hear through the grapevine that she had an abortion. What would you do? Would it make a difference if you knew the teacher had been raped? If her life was in danger if she carried to full-term?

Don't care, I would feel sorry for the teacher if she was raped but it's none of my business, and I wouldn't care about a medical problem that was evaded so easily.

Scenario #2: Your child's teacher is a homosexual. What would you do? Would it make a difference if they were in or out of the closet? A gay man? A lesbian?

Again, I wouldn't care as long as he doesn't make out with his boyfriend/her girlfriend before class. Heterosexual teachers though shouldn't do that as well.
On second thought, in the case of a lesbian teacher making out, I would try to sneak a video cam in the backpack.

Scenario #3: Your child's teacher is a High Priest or Priestess and presides over a Wiccan coven on the weekends. What would you do?

I would inquire him/her to talk to me because I always was interested in the wiccan faith and I would want to learn more.

Scenario #4: Your child's teacher is also a youth pastor of a local fundamentalist, conservative church. What would you do? Would you only be concerned if they were pushing Christianity in the classroom? Would you encourage them to sprinkle tidbits of the Gospel into his lessons?

Again, nothing until he pushes his personal stuff into the classroom. If he would, I would kindly ask him to stop.

 

[feral]

Scenario #1: Your child's teacher is out of work for a few days. You hear through the grapevine that she had an abortion. What would you do? Would it make a difference if you knew the teacher had been raped? If her life was in danger if she carried to full-term?

What would I do? Unless I knew her well, nothing. It's absolutely none of my business what she does with her life. If I had met with her frequently, volunteered in her classroom or otherwise felt close enough to bring up a topic, I might send her a get well card with the offer for a cup of coffee and a talk if she chose to take me up on it. Otherwise, it really wouldn't make sense for me to do anything. I am against abortion, but that's for me, my life. I dislike abortion but I can't make that decision for others. If my child was aware that a rape, abortion or other traumatic incident had taken place, I'd discuss it with him/her and remind her of the courtesy not to ask a lot of prying, potentially hurtful questions about it to the teacher.

Scenario #2: Your child's teacher is a homosexual. What would you do? Would it make a difference if they were in or out of the closet? A gay man? A lesbian?

What am I supposed to do? Get upset about what this person does in the bedroom? I'd probably try to get to know the teacher, as I'd want to have some awareness of who my child's teachers are. Not much else. If he/she was out of the closet I'd probably already know them from one of the gay bars I go to. If not, just be open and friendly.

Scenario #3: Your child's teacher is a High Priest or Priestess and presides over a Wiccan coven on the weekends. What would you do?

Definitely be excited about this. I briefly got interested in Wicca in my teen years but I still know precious little about it, so if I felt comfortable with the person I might ask for more information. If my child seemed interested I might take advantage of the contact to see if he/she could participate or observe on some occasion in order to gain some perspective of what it meant, or I might ask for some age-appropriate resources that could explain the ideas better than I can.

Scenario #4: Your child's teacher is also a youth pastor of a local fundamentalist, conservative church. What would you do? Would you only be concerned if they were pushing Christianity in the classroom? Would you encourage them to sprinkle tidbits of the Gospel into his lessons?

Not much. Get to know this teacher and find out what he or she believes in and what is being incorporated in the lessons. I might ask some of my questions about Christianity and encourage my child to do the same if there was an appropriate time for this, and the school wasn't one that cracked down on all religious teaching and expression. I would not be concerned if they were informing the class, but it might bother me if they were giving my children complexes about things like sex or guilt. I have enough of these from my own Christian education and I wouldn't want that to be a part of my child's life until I felt he or she was old enough to understand and make some decisions about exploring religions independently. If my child was interested, I might ask the teacher of he/she could sit in on a sermon or youth group, as, being agnostic, I have no plans to instill a belief system in my child but to let them choose their own.

 

[Robbie_James_Francis]

Scenario #1: Your child's teacher is out of work for a few days. You hear through the grapevine that she had an abortion. What would you do?

Probably nothing. If I thought she had little support I would offer her mine.

Would it make a difference if you knew the teacher had been raped? If her life was in danger if she carried to full-term?

Again if she had little support, I would offer some.

Scenario #2: Your child's teacher is a homosexual. What would you do?

Nothing.

Would it make a difference if they were in or out of the closet?

If she or he was in the closet, I might consider offering them advice on coming out. But I would have reservations about respecting her or his privacy.

A gay man? A lesbian?

Nope.

Scenario #3: Your child's teacher is a High Priest or Priestess and presides over a Wiccan coven on the weekends. What would you do?

Perhaps meet with him or her to discuss the religion, and maybe organise to visit a meeting myself.

Scenario #4: Your child's teacher is also a youth pastor of a local fundamentalist, conservative church. What would you do?

Nothing. I might talk to her or him about the religion, and maybe organise to visit a service myself.

Would you only be concerned if they were pushing Christianity in the classroom?

Yes.

Would you encourage them to sprinkle tidbits of the Gospel into his lessons?

No.

 

[MrPirate]

Sadly so few of the significant number of posters on these forums who would react with hate and derision are going to actually post in this thread

 

[Caylin]

Being a good teacher is extremely difficult, and being a mom at the same time is nearly unmanageable. Hats off to anyone and everyone who does both well at the same time.
(note: I only remember having one teacher being this great)

My girlfriend's mom is a teacher. She has done a pretty good job of raiseing her two children so far.

 

[bammertheblue]

Below are four real-world scenarios. Let's play pretend that they apply to you. How would you react?

Scenario #1: Your child's teacher is out of work for a few days. You hear through the grapevine that she had an abortion. What would you do? Would it make a difference if you knew the teacher had been raped? If her life was in danger if she carried to full-term?

I would send good thoughts her way and hope that she is doing well, just as I would if she had had her gall bladder or her tonsils out. I would maybe volunteer to go cook her dinner or walk her dog or water her garden or something.

Scenario #2: Your child's teacher is a homosexual. What would you do? Would it make a difference if they were in or out of the closet? A gay man? A lesbian?

Not a bit of difference. I might explain to my child that sometimes men fall in love with women, and sometimes they fall in love with men, and [Mr X] falls in love with men, and that's why he has a boyfriend and not a girlfriend.

Scenario #3: Your child's teacher is a High Priest or Priestess and presides over a Wiccan coven on the weekends. What would you do?

Nothing. If my child found out and asked, I would say that her teacher's belief is different from what Mom/Dad/Other Mom believes, but it is still okay. I might get him/her an age-appropriate book on Wicca from the library to cover the things I don't know, if the kid was really curious.

Scenario #4: Your child's teacher is also a youth pastor of a local fundamentalist, conservative church. What would you do? Would you only be concerned if they were pushing Christianity in the classroom? Would you encourage them to sprinkle tidbits of the Gospel into his lessons?

No, I would not encourage them to do so. Other than that, my reaction would be about the same as the reaction to the Wiccan teacher. I would try to explain it and maybe get them a book, while emphasizing that while we might not agree with these people, their belief is still okay and they are allowed to speak their mind as they see fit. (Might be a good civics lesson as well, haha!)

 

[Wiccan_Child]

Scenario #1: Your child's teacher is out of work for a few days. You hear through the grapevine that she had an abortion. What would you do? Would it make a difference if you knew the teacher had been raped? If her life was in danger if she carried to full-term?

I would support the teacher's right to an abortion. If she was raped and/or her life was in danger, then I would be all the more supportive.

Scenario #2: Your child's teacher is a homosexual. What would you do? Would it make a difference if they were in or out of the closet? A gay man? A lesbian?

It wouldn't phase me at all.
Though if I were single, and he were single, I may start paying extra attention at those parent-teacher conferences..

Scenario #3: Your child's teacher is a High Priest or Priestess and presides over a Wiccan coven on the weekends. What would you do?

I would, in all probability, get into a conversation with them about Wicca and the like.

Scenario #4: Your child's teacher is also a youth pastor of a local fundamentalist, conservative church. What would you do? Would you only be concerned if they were pushing Christianity in the classroom? Would you encourage them to sprinkle tidbits of the Gospel into his lessons?

I would object most strongly if the teacher, no matter what their faith, was evangelising in the classroom. Apart from that, their faith would be incidental, nothing more.

 

[Nathan Poe]

Below are four real-world scenarios. Let's play pretend that they apply to you. How would you react?

Scenario #1: Your child's teacher is out of work for a few days. You hear through the grapevine that she had an abortion. What would you do? Would it make a difference if you knew the teacher had been raped? If her life was in danger if she carried to full-term?

Scenario #2: Your child's teacher is a homosexual. What would you do? Would it make a difference if they were in or out of the closet? A gay man? A lesbian?

Scenario #3: Your child's teacher is a High Priest or Priestess and presides over a Wiccan coven on the weekends. What would you do?

Scenario #4: Your child's teacher is also a youth pastor of a local fundamentalist, conservative church. What would you do? Would you only be concerned if they were pushing Christianity in the classroom? Would you encourage them to sprinkle tidbits of the Gospel into his lessons?

Oddly enough, only the fourth scenario actually presents a realistic chance of negatively impacting their teaching ability.

Scenario 1: Makes no difference to me; might as well have been an appendix operation.

Scenario 2: I currently have far too many gay friends for this to be a problem for me.

Scenario 3: I've dated, past and presently, practicing Wiccans, some of whom are smarter than me. Obviosly they can teach.

Scenario 4: I would like to know how much of an influence their religious beliefs are. Captive audience and all that.

 

[Red530]

Scenario #1: Your child's teacher is out of work for a few days. You hear through the grapevine that she had an abortion. What would you do? Would it make a difference if you knew the teacher had been raped? If her life was in danger if she carried to full-term?

A: I would not treat her any different then I had ever treated her. If she would have done it just because she didn't want a child but wanted the sex, then of course I would be angry, but if she was raped I would understand.

Scenario #2: Your child's teacher is a homosexual. What would you do? Would it make a difference if they were in or out of the closet? A gay man? A lesbian?

A: It would not matter at all, but I would ask the teacher about it respectfully and talk to him/her about it.

Scenario #3: Your child's teacher is a High Priest or Priestess and presides over a Wiccan coven on the weekends. What would you do?

A: It also wouldn't matter, just as long as the teacher does not force their religion on any of the children, every thing's fine.

Scenario #4: Your child's teacher is also a youth pastor of a local fundamentalist, conservative church. What would you do? Would you only be concerned if they were pushing Christianity in the classroom? Would you encourage them to sprinkle tidbits of the Gospel into his lessons?

A: Again, it doesn't matter at all the religion the teacher follows, just as long as nothing is forced, but if it is a Christian school then of course it would be expected. My child needs to come to me and ask questions so we can talk about certain issues.

 

[TinkaBella]

I wouldn't care about any of those. In fact, my son had a teacher this year who WAS a practicing minister at some kind of Christan church. They did an unusually large amount of comparative religion work and at one point my son and a few other "non churched" kids had to speak up and tell him that some of the stuff he assumed was common knowledge (differences between Islam and Christianity, what Catholics believe, etc) was stuff they didn't know. Since that info was not in their history text he told them to Google it. LOL. Fortunately my kid had a sense of humor about it all....even when he had to write a paper on Jesus Christ