this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023
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A Georgia school board voted along party lines Thursday to fire a teacher after officials said she improperly read a book on gender fluidity to her fifth grade class.

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[–] Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world 81 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

I'm trying to wrap my head around the intent.

Is this a case where she was fired because the book didn't have anything to do with the class she's teaching? Or because a bunch of parents went Karen and it made the school district look bad?

If a history class references passages from the bible, I think that is inappropriate in general but it depends on context. If it's using the bible to explain say the history of the Holy War, that makes sense. Having the context about the why does help.

If she was teaching Sex Ed and talking about gender fluidity, in that context it makes sense to me.

Like you can't talk about Hitler's philosophies without being up Mein kampf even at a shallow level. And to ignore it is disingenuous to education.

[–] DessertStorms@kbin.social 46 points 1 year ago (3 children)

The intent is transphobia, anything else is an excuse.

[–] DocBlaze@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I mean they have a very logical point, it's probably unlikely but for example you would have to admit if it was a maths class and there was an important standardized exam coming up, such unrelated material would be a highly unusual waste of time and in contempt of the time sensitive curriculum. We can't just politicize every headline and grab our pitchforks before we get the full picture - details and nuance are important for categorizing things like this. Perhaps it is though, the headline sounds bad but the actual article provides very little further context. Did she know it was a violation of policy and opt to be fired anyway? Why?

[–] afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year ago

Everyone says this but I remember my teachers wasting our time pretty often. I can still tell you about my 7th grade English teacher's time he met his future daughter-in-law but not the difference between an adverb and a verb.

[–] DessertStorms@kbin.social 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Except it isn't a fucking logical point, it's whataboutism and an army of strawmen.
And by playing devils advocate with these empty fallacies (and admitting you haven't even bothered to read the details, or know anything about this book that has you running scared), you are actively (and to my personal impression, deliberately) contributing to the problem.

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[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 38 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The 'insubordination' part is especially confounding. She's insubordinate by reading a children's book to children? What?

[–] harmonea@kbin.social 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

She’s insubordinate by reading a children’s book to children? What?

If it's "insubordination' then it's safe to assume either (a) she was explicitly told not to do this by a superior, or (b) there must be a rule or regulation against it in the school district.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 50 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Or (c) they're making up bullshit reasons to fire her.

[–] mindbleach@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago

Applying logic to bigotry is a waste of time. It's just ingroup loyalty. The rest is mouth noises. They won't be clever noises, and they won't be consistent noises.

[–] BarrelAgedBoredom@lemm.ee 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I did some digging to see if she was teaching a particular subject or anything. She was a teacher in the schools gifted program and per her Wikipedia page "According to the Cobb County School Board, Rinderle read the book during a time block that was supposed to be dedicated to mathematics instruction and enrichment, but Rinderle denies this allegation.".

I'm going to keep looking but it seems like their schooling is structured differently than I have any experience in. When I was in 5th grade we had 3 teachers that we rotated between for different subjects. It seems like she was responsible for several subjects or the entire curriculum for her students. Either way, the school boards intent is clear and malicious.

[–] agent_flounder@lemmy.one 12 points 1 year ago

Thanks for looking into this.

Reading an off topic book during a particular time block isn't an offense deserving of termination to any same person, either.