Wednesday, December 18, 2013

NM Teacher Scrooge and Racist?

A teacher in New Mexico told his students that they could dress up as Santa, elves, or reindeer. A black student came to class dressed as Santa and the teacher said"What are you doing wearing a Santa Clause outfit? Don't you know that Santa Claus is white?" 

Is this teacher stupid? Does he have no common sense? Is he a rude humbug Scrooge? Racist? An ignorant insensitive, hurtful moron?  

The teacher shouldn't have said a damn word criticizing the student. The students were asked to dress up as one of three Christmas characters and the black student dressed up as Santa. So what if Santa is portrayed as white. The activity sounds like it encouraged creativity, imagination, and fun.  The teacher ruined the spirit of the project. Bah humbug! 

I think this teacher is ALL of the above.  To me, what he said to the student sounds racist. I'm not sure there is any other way to take what he stated.  

The teacher did apologize and was put on paid administrative leave. Here is a statement from the director of Rio Rancho Public Schools: 
"This situation involves a teacher recently hired by Cleveland High who made -- and admits he made -- a stupid mistake," the director said. "The remark was inappropriate and should not have been made. The teacher feels very badly about what occurred. He self-reported the incident to the principal and has apologized to the student and to the student's parent. Appropriate disciplinary action has been taken."

Michael Rougier, the student's dad, believes the teacher should be fired.  The teacher has apologized to both the student and his father, and has been put on leave so anything more would be taking this incident out of proportion IMO.


One more thought: Maybe the teacher misspoke stupidly and really isn't racist. But his statement certainly shows a racist tendency.




3 comments:

Woodsterman (Odie) said...

He did act stupidly, but admitted his mistake and apologized. Could we find any on the left that would do the same.

Joe said...

It was pretty dumb at the outset. Teachers can be dumb, too. But who could blame the teacher in this stupid world where right is wrong and wrong is right and right is left and left is right and so on, and so on?

Always On Watch said...

I certainly cannot defend this teacher. However, as a teacher myself, I know how words can just pop out -- particularly if one is taking certain medications (such as Lyrica).

Just sayin'.

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Merry Christmas, Teresa. We've been so busy this Christmas Season that I haven't had time to make blog rounds. But it's a good kind of busy, and we're having the best Christmas that we've had in years.