Posted on 12/15/2009 5:44:07 PM PST by Steelfish
2nd-grader sent home for crucifix drawing Dad says teacher became upset when boy drew himself on a cross
Dec . 15, 2009 TAUNTON, Mass. - An 8-year-old boy was sent home from school and ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation after he was asked to make a Christmas drawing and came up with what appeared to be a stick figure of Jesus on a cross, the child's father said Tuesday.
Chester Johnson told WBZ-TV that his son made the drawing on Dec. 2 after his second-grade teacher asked children to sketch something that reminded them of the holiday.
Johnson said the teacher became upset when his son said he drew himself on the cross. Johnson, who is black, told WBZ he suspects racism is involved. He said he thinks the school overreacted and wants an apology.
Johnson told the Taunton Daily Gazette, which first reported the story on Tuesday, that his son gets specialized reading and speech instruction and has never been violent in school.
An educational consultant working with the Johnson family said the teacher was also alarmed when the boy drew Xs for Jesus' eyes.
A call to Johnson was not immediately returned.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Time for papa to teach the kid to draw eyeballs.
Sounds like the kid’s a little off, but a more appropriate way to address it would be for the teacher to a arrange a conference with the parents and a school counselor or principal. I understand that teachers are expectetd to do *something* when one of their students produces writing or artwork or speech that could be a sign of considering self-harm or suicide, but if you’re worried that a young child is mentally unstable in a dangerous way, reacting by sending him home “in trouble” is more likely to trigger some sort of flip-out than head it off.
Johnson said the teacher became upset when his son said he drew himself on the cross
That and the X's for eyes (which children frequently use as meaning death) would alarm me, too.
This teacher didn't punish the kid, per se. He/she just wants an evaluation.
The headline doesn't accurately describe what happened. This isn't persecution of Christianity.
Reminds me of an old Charlie Brown cartoon. Linus has drawn a picture of himself with his hands behind his back. Lucy begins to pyscoanalyize, “Drawing your hands behind your back means that you can't deal with problems and are insecure.” Linus answers, “Drawing my hands behind my back means that I can't draw hands.”
Often the simplest answer is the correct answer.
>>Your apparent lack of concern for religious freedom makes me want you to get an evaluation too.<<
You better check all the rocks around your house. I am sure there is an atheist behind each one, ready to jump OUT at you and steal your religious freedom and precious bodily fluids.
There is religious persecution against Christians in this country. But this is not an example.
Read the article again, this time for content — that means you have to read all the words.
I’m sick of the PC, Smack her in the snotlocker.
>>Often the simplest answer is the correct answer.<<
Do you want to be the teacher when this kid does something nuts because a slippery Occam’s Razor standard was applied?
Better safe than sorry.
But the more important point is this isn’t a religious prosecution case — it is a teacher reacting to signals of potential problems. The level of that reaction may be up for debate but the underlying issue should not be.
>>I’m sick of the PC, Smack her in the snotlocker.<<
As much fun as it is to post without reading the article (and God knows I have done it many times), I suggest you actually read the article this time and maybe rethink...
I guess I have a problem expecting an 8 year old to know something I don’t.
In 17 years of schooling, nobody ever told me that drawing crosses for eyes meant somebody was dead. I make small sketches and drawings to give to people that work for me to show them things I want done. Hope I’m not including any secret signals.
>>Hope I’m not including any secret signals.<<
But wouldn’t you be concerned when a kid says he is Christ on the cross, maybe dying? It could be a simple matter, but I would be concerned.
Maybe a call to the parents would have been a better move, but at least the teacher had the kid’s welfare at heart.
As I said, this ISN’T about religion.
FWIIW, cartoons use Xs in the eyes to portray death and knocked out. If you never saw kids using them before wouldn’t it be a bit disturbing to see them?
But we are losing the point of the OP.
The article in the Taunton Daily Gazette said the boy said the drawing was of Jesus, not himself. Is this about another Liberal caught oversteping their authority and then trying to lie their way out?
It's not the business of a public school teacher to question the validity of religious expression on behalf of the state (See: "get an evaluation").
Regarding atheists hiding behind rocks, don't try it. We have a tower with a remote autofire array. You wouldn't have a chance.
When my youngest was about five, she drew a few pictures of dead people and animals with Xs for eyes. I think she even drew Jesus this way. She sees the crucifix in church every Sunday - maybe that was the year she really took in the reason for Easter.
The drawings did look creepy and took me aback. But I knew she was a stable healthy child and she was just using a convention or a stereotype - like the sky being a blue line across the top of the page - because that’s the way children draw.
Somewhere between four and eight is when children start to get the concept of death and it’s a big concept to deal with. Not surprising they draw it sometimes.
The cause of this over-reaction is the obsessive-compulsive adherence to zero tolerance guidelines in the school system.
>>The cause of this over-reaction is the obsessive-compulsive adherence to zero tolerance guidelines in the school system.<<
That sounds plausible, for sure. But at least in this case it isn’t punitive.
>>It’s not the business of a public school teacher to question the validity of religious expression on behalf of the state (See: “get an evaluation”).<<
You are the wingnut that make the rest of us Christians look like nuts. This was a simple matter of a teacher seeing a kid with potential suicidal messages perhaps overreacting.
>>Regarding atheists hiding behind rocks, don’t try it. We have a tower with a remote autofire array. You wouldn’t have a chance.<<
I am sure you get them all every night. And the ones under your bed as well.
If you are attempting to paint me with some kind of brush, it is very childish (and wrong).
This isn’t about religion, no matter how badly you want to be persecuted.
>>If I had a student depicting his own death, I’d be taking some action, too. I wouldn’t suspend him, though—I’d just contact his parents and the school counselor.<<
Well, now you are an atheist (no matter what you really believe) for not seeing this as an attack on Christianity.
Many on FR are Thought Police and get to tell you what you believe and kick you out of Christianity if you are not found to be Pure and interpret every encounter with the gummit as an attack on your religion and freedom.
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