My daughter’s classroom is not your ideological platform
On Wednesday Kiki’s German teacher was sick and there was a substitute. Instead of following the lesson plan, the substitute teacher showed a documentary of his own choosing. The documentary’s purpose was to show that all psychiatrists are evil people who make up illnesses in order to get money. In support of this claim the documentary showed footage and photos of dozens of unethical, torturous experiments done on humans and animals. It also showed interviews with people who claimed that permanent damage had been done to them by psychiatric medication. Kiki came home from school and cried for two hours. We talked through everything she had seen and how she felt about it. We also carefully sifted out the truths from the falsehoods. We had a long digression into conspiracy theories and why people would ever think it was right to do these experiments.
A huge part of Kiki’s upset was because she knows that her brother takes medication for ADD. She was terrified that his medicine might be doing him harm. I talked her through our decision process for putting Link on the medicine. I also helped her remember her own observations of her brother’s behavior both on and off the medication. Her observations were a direct contradiction of what the film showed. She was also appalled that people could be so cruel to each other and to animals. It took a lot of talking and soothing to help her work through her emotions about that. She was hugely conflicted because she was not sure whether the video had been given by her regular teacher (whom she adores) or the substitute. She felt sick the whole time the video was shown and even gathered her stuff to leave, but was scolded back into her seat by the sub.
Because of the A B schedule, today was the first chance we had to talk to Kiki’s regular teacher. We found him in the office with both of the school Principals. It was such a relief to Kiki to discover that this video was not approved in any way. Her regular teacher was nearly in tears. He’d spent most of the day talking with his students and getting written statements from them about the video. The Principals were both very focused and apologetic. They intend to pursue disciplinary and legal action to make sure that this man is never able to substitute in a classroom again. They’re also going to make sure that the school district reviews the screening procedure for substitute teachers. They requested a written statement from me, which I gave to them. I’ve also volunteered to testify in person should that become necessary.
Kiki is going to be fine. She has me and Howard to talk her through all of her concerns and to look at this experience from every angle. She now has a deeper understanding of how cruel humans can be to one another. She also has learned that just because a person holds a position of authority does not mean she should automatically trust them. She has also learned that there are times when we must stand up and testify about the wrongness of something. These are not bad lessons, but this is not how I’d have her learn them. I am much more concerned about the other students, the ones who don’t have parents who can talk them through it. I’m worried about the kid who is on medication and decides to stop taking it because of that video. I’m worried about the kids who tell their medicated friends to stop taking medicine because of the video. I’m worried about the kids who may decide not to see a therapist when they need one because of the video. For these reasons I intend to keep on top of the situation. I intend to track the disciplinary action to make sure it goes through. I intend to make sure that the affected children get information that counteracts the video they were shown.
I’m pleased to say that most of my action will be just watching. I am very impressed with the teachers and administrators at Kiki’s school. They have the situation well in hand and I believe they are making the right steps to address the issues.