After having my philosophy training, I couldn’t wait to teach it, as is often the case after a training session. As is also often the case, it went disastrously wrong and my enthusiasm bubble was instantly burst. I originally thought it went well. I shared the stimulus of the Father Christmas Coca Cola advert. Some children knew the history of it and I was proud of their knowledge. They then went on to develop philosophical questions such as; Is it right to use a positive role model to advertise something that can be bad for you? Are things ever as good as you expect them to be? Is it really better to give than receive? Are we really hoping to receive when we give? I was pleased with the kids. They all appeared to be enthused and engaged in the lesson. I raved about it in the staff room. Then my bubble was cruelly burst by a barrage of parental complaints. One of the children had developed the question: Does magic exist? I thought it was a good question. I didn’t offer any opinion of my own. The children discussed it and used all the vocabulary I had taught them. I was so pleased. I vowed to myself to teach philosophy more often. Until the head called me out, ‘I’ve had a complaint from one of the parents.’ Oh no!
It had come up in our discussion whether Father Christmas existed or not. I let the children have their opinions and reinforced there was no right or wrong opinion. One little boy told us how he had caught his dad eating the mince pies he had left for santa. The complaint from the parent had been that her daughter thought Father Christmas really did exist and I had burst her bubble. I hadn’t meant to. Now, I feel gutted for the kid. I feel her pain.
I remember that pain. I discovered gifts in the boot of my dad’s car. I didn’t say anything but it was obvious Santa didn’t exist when it was the gifts from my dad’s car which appeared in the stocking. Balls! Don’t you hate it when you’re full of enthusiasm with every good intention and it goes wrong???
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Your philosophy lesson on Father Christmas sounds good. How old are the kids you're teaching? Teachers do so much good work, yet the odd angry parent is ready to leap on any whiff of a 'transgression' and the 'head' invariably responds. Trust the 'head' was supportive of you. Yeah, I hear you about finding out there was no FC ( - but I was eight at the time and probably shouldn't have been holding on so tenaciously to that fantasy!!) Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteCheers. Fraudster.
As Fraudy said: Keep up the good work. You can only do your best and it's obvious that your intentions are in the right place. Make sure you remember that and be less hard on yourself.
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