SERIOUSLY? Texas teachers scare, shame and bully kids about standardized tests
If, as The Daily Caller speculates, there’s a special place in hell reserved for people who think up ways to make little kids feel horrible about themselves when they disappoint adults, then a bunch of teachers and school officials at Lamar Elementary School in El Paso, Texas should consider praying for mercy.
Some parents of Lamar Elementary students believe teachers and school officials bullied their third-grade kids by sending home a bizarro, menacing handout about this week’s state-mandated STAAR standardized tests, reports local FOX affiliate KFOX.
The Daily Caller has obtained the full text of the handout, entitled “What if I don’t try on the STAAR?” (See the image below.)
It’s a doozy.
Trying is not defined on the handout. However students who don’t do it to the satisfaction of the adults at Lamar Elementary risk flunking for the entire school year – so, no pressure kids! – and being labeled as “lazy.”
The crowning achievement of the missive is a not-so-subtle threat to the kids about how teachers will suffer if the kids don’t do well enough.
“Your teacher will feel bad because you didn’t try. She gets paid for teaching you. She wants her boss to see what a good teacher she is, but if you don’t try, her boss won’t know what a good teacher she is.”
Also: “Teacher will be upset. Mom and Dad will be upset. Mrs. Martinez and Mrs. Aguilera will be upset. You’ll be upset because everyone is upset with you!”
Some moms and dads were upset, alright—about the handout.
“I felt disgusted,” one anonymous mother told KFOX after her daughter brought it home.
“Were talking about 8-year-olds,” the mad mom added.
School officials insisted they meant no harm with the handouts. They also noted that students at Lamar Elementary students originally uttered the statements.
“The counselor in prepping the students for the testing that’s taking place this week wanted to talk to students about resilience, perseverance during test taking and the only way to get to that is we have to hear from the students themselves,” Manuel Castruita, the school’s director of guidance services, the KFOX. “So this is a collection of actual student comments.”
Oddly enough, Castruita did not describe the conditions under which any 8-year-old kids were coaxed to make such statements.
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