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Originally Posted by stewtheking /img/forum/go_quote.gif
As a fresh graduate, and teacher, I resent that generalisation hugely.
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No kidding.
Not to mention that the vast majority of people passing their "expert opinion" know very little about the minds of children or the teaching angle that was to be accomplished through this (for example it could have been used as an illustration of comeuppance).
Although I will say that it is not the best decision ever made, it is far from the worst. I doubt I would let my class do this, but there is nothing inherently wrong with it (although I think that some of the censorship choices were poor).
People concluding that these children will go out and shoot people when they are 15 is completely laughable.
It seems like some harmless fun, sort of like play fighting which also gets people up-in-arms but has well documented and studied benefits. Regardless, the impacts of the exercise according to sociocultural theories of motivation definitely outweighs the possible minor repurcussions of this exercise, especially when applied to activities after the plays performance.
Cowboys and indians, cops and robbers, you name it. Everyone played it and have done for a long time. In the past, children would sing about death and disease in rhymes. I'm pretty sure they mostly turned out okay. Not only do children this age not have the capability of grasping the concept of death (Piaget), they would also not make the association with mother-fudger, nor would they think that coke was a drug, instead thinking cocacola most likely. I am not a fan of the mother-fudger censorship, as I mentioned previously.
Regardless of whether you agree with the decision or not, the teacher in question is a professional and undoubtedly knows more than the average person about education, development and child psychology. Although there is no real substitute for experience, a lot of new teachers do very well in their occupation because they are trained, prepared and passionate individuals who have a moderate amount of practicum. Teaching is a difficult job and is underappreciated by most of western society, and thus consists mostly of those with a desire to do it, rather than those who didnt score high enough to become a doctor.
