.."A Taunton father is outraged after his 8-year-old son was sent home from school and required to undergo a psychological evaluation after drawing a stick-figure picture of Jesus Christ on the cross.".. http://www.tauntongazette.com/news/x1903566059/Taunton-second-grader-suspended-over-drawing-of-Jesus I suppose some will be surprised to learn that there is actually more to Christmas than maxing out credit cards. Honestly I'm in shock. I feel like I don't have a clue as to where I'm living anymore. How do people get to the point where it's not only something to ignore and keep out of school, but now you would question a child's mental stability? Just wondering though....can we blame this on Belichick, too? First the incident with Colonel Barfoot and now this....the time to fly our flag upside down is fast approaching.
I wonder what the school wanted him to draw: was it presents? was it santa? or perhaps if it was jesus on a cross instead of "X"s over the eyes do they want him to put little smiley faces instead? I know if I were christ and I looked down and saw someone putting little smiley faces while I'm nailed to the cross I'd be pretty pissed off.
If you take out the religion, the 8 year old boy drew a picture of a man being tortured to death. Also jesus wasn't put to cross on his birthday, maybe they want to send him to a psychological evaluation because he thinks Christmas is Easter
That's really stretching things, don't you think? Why would you remove religion from the discussion? For a very significant portion of the population in this country the (birth) of Jesus is center to the holiday. The ones who ignore it are still aware that for others it's important. A psych eval because he associates Jesus on a cross with Christmas?....really?...
I understand why they take religion out of schools. I mean there are so many different religions and ppl want there kids learning certain things but to ask for a pyshic eval? I wonder if this is an on going thing. hmmmm
Woah, boys. Relax... All he's saying is that if an outsider is looking in, and knows nothing about christianity, it would appear disturbing that the child drew a picture of a man being tortured to death.
Well, they asked them to draw something assosicated with Christmas. Its Jesus's birthday. Little boy knew it had SOMETHING to do with jesus...he wasn't sure. Image of Jesus crucified is the most famous one, they have it on churches and alot of crosses, or charms that people wear have it. If I had to draw the image of Jesus crucified, I probably wouldn't do much better than a stick figure on a stick myself. He is an 8 year old, he doesn't need no stinking psychologist, what he needs is a parent who will help him get his facts straight. What if a boy isn't even Christian? Ridiculous.
What you described is most likely exactly what happened. And I couldn't agree more, it is utterly ridiculous. The environment of hyper-political-correctness in schools these days is absolutely ******ed. I wouldn't doubt that the teacher is one of those douchey atheists that has an axe to grind and wanted to use that hyper-sensitive environment to prove some kind of point. I hate athiests like that. They make all of us other atheists look bad...
I am 100%, unequivocally in favor of the separation of church and state, and of keeping religion out of schools. But this does seem either excessive or, to a degree, punitive or vindictive. While it is disturbing that a child's first conjured image of the celebration of Christ's birth should be his torture and murder, I don't think that in and of itself that should be reason for a psych eval. But keep in mind that we don't know the whole story, and that it would make more sense if the child's teachers might have observed other signs of psychological disturbance before this incident. We're seeing it in a vacuum, especially given the charged nature of the subject matter; the teachers might have an entirely different perspective, and it might be justified in light of that.
Well technically it isn't. He was born sometime in August. That being said, this is a tad ridiculous. Kid doesn't need any psych evaluation.
Also bear in mind that while there are petty people who might have an axe to grind regarding religion and might take it out on a child, no one teacher could possibly put the psych eval in motion on his own. That teacher would have had to observe behavior, then justify his opinion to his Principal and probably other school staff, and possibly the school district; which tells me that there is more to this story than what we're being told.
Are you sure? Many schools have adopted a "zero tolerance" policy when it comes to this type of thing. I have no clue how it works, but maybe they don't need a committee to order a evaluation on a kid anymore. BTW, I would have been institutionalized if the teachers today would have seen my stick-man war epics I would draw when I was a kid!!...
In an age in which everything is so legally-bound, and the corporate mentality is so pervasive? Positive. Nothing happens unilaterally in America anymore in any sort of structured environment. edit: where the hell is Taunton, anyway?
ya and if you take you and your spouse having sex and remove age......it could be rape..... seriously bro?
I agree. Students are allowed to draw and write about religion. The separation part enters if an employee is "preaching" or "proselytizing." On independent work, student expression is neither limited nor contained unless it goes against the code and conduct, which would be violence or inciting violence. Senior literature curriculum often includes parts of Ecclesiastes and the parables, some of the earliest literature known. Taught, not preached, is the approach an educator must take. Students write about religious rites of passage all the time and recount memories that are often religious based. If in fact this district is trying to stifle the child's religious expression, they do not have a leg to stand on legally, morally, or constitutionally.
hmmmm like nabs said there is probably more to this story then we are hearing. Having said that even if the teacher did demand a psych evaluation I think using this to highlight the war on christianity or amercia becoming too pc is not entirely accurate.
He shouldnt be punished for his beliefs. Some kids believe in Santa Claus. Some believe in Jesus. Some believe in Spongebob Squarepants. Whatever fictional character you choose to believe in, it's your right to believe it.
x2 I want to know more of the back story and see if the child had a history of bad behavior etc. Although that is possible my hunch is really that this is about a nervous teacher fearing what parents might say and getting a church-state war going on more so than this being an attack on Christianity. Like Nabo said laws are so strict today and people get so bent out of shape I can undersatnd why a teacher would be nervous about having anything religious in school (I'm not saying its right or wrong but you can understand why they'd be nervous...screaming parents, public outrage, etc.). From what I know now though the psych evaluation is a bit much to say the least and in fact this situation could be a breach of freedom of religion for the child. A child should be able to draw any religious reference they want when its appropriate and Christmas is appropriate. I'd like to know why the teacher did this first before jumping the gun though. Obviously the newspaper wanted to use this story to create buzz and get people all flustered but may be leaving out key facts as the media likes to do. So from what I know this is inappropriate but I would like to know more...mostly because the web page didn't load for me and I am going off responses etc. Now tell me more about this Spongebob Squarepants religion? It could be the fix I've been looking for.
Isn't Wiccan is a religion? And in any event, Pagan used to scare me, but then I saw a cute video with him and a snuggly wuggly puppy. True story.
I wonder what would have happened if it was a drawing about a different religion ... someone had to ask.
Couldn't happen...because only Christianity uses a symbol of someone's torture and murder as its most identifiable icon. Someone had to say it.