Okay, So I posted a few days ago about my teacher giving an extra credit assignment about the Mayan doomsday documentary. But coming back to school after the weekend, he decided to make us watch and take notes on it. He said it'd teach us the "truth" about Mayan culture, and since we're studying the Maya, he said it'd help with the chapter. I asked if I could just not take notes, ( I thought about how crappy it was, and wanted a nap) and he got mad, told me I'm making a big deal about a "noncontroversial thing" and that I should just take notes, that It'd help alot. He also threatened to change anyone who didn't take notes on it to make their last week test grade a 0, and give a 0 for notes. Anyways, while watching the documentary, I couldn't help but laugh. They cut the people who study the Maya off in mid sentence to make the documentary seem true, and skip over soooooo much about the Maya. I'm not a mayan scholar, but I'm pretty sure that they're wrong when they say "Death was the one of the highest honors one could receive among the Maya." Anyways, I had a good laugh today, can't wait till next friday :P
Ok your teacher is obviously a loon that believes 2012 is the end of the world, even worse he is forcing you his students, to watch this bullshit and is trying to make you believe it. He needs to be fired, he is only harming you by showing you those movies.
Take notes, you can later confront him with the failure because you have the notes.
Edit:
One of the most annoying about the US documentaries is that that create a 10 minute story and extend it to 45 minutes by repeating the same claim over and over again with slightly different wording and slightly different 3D clips. Repeating scary thing is very effective to brainwash people into believing it is all true.
Wow, why are teachers buying into this 'Maya Doomsday' crap?
This really bothers me that teachers are dragging this garbage into the classroom. Although a bad grade is never a good thing, I applaud you for standing up for yourself in that situation. I myself LOVE history and learning about other cultures….but the Mayan's never said the world would end so it isn't relevant…He should probably brush up on his info before he teaches. Teaching kids the wrong information isn't helping society. Is this college or high school? I have been in college going on 4 years and have never had a professor even mention this at all..and I have taken several history classes that cover different parts of the world and cultures. It is interesting to me that a teacher would buy into this nonsense and honestly it kind of worries me. I do not want morons like that teaching my children. LOL…
Honestly, that teacher is a disgrace. Now I don't know what the context of the assignment was, whether it was to disprove or approve of the Mayan prophecy BS. But I'm sure if you or any of your classmates had real anxiety over this and presented those feelings to your teacher, he probably would've let you sit out. This is the age old question with educators today. Most have their own agenda and opinions which shouldn't be dragged through the classroom. Teachers aren't doing what they get paid to do these days, and I don't know if this more an American issue than over sees, but here its very apparent. Now don't take me the wrong way, if a teacher is able to not have a prejudice when discussing politics, or issues out side the classroom and presents both sides equally, then this is a good thing. But too often we see educators pushing their ideas onto our young with every intention to corrupt their minds. Its a disgrace
I saw a documentary on the US education system and I was appalled. Here, Teachers follow the syllabus and are working hard in Primary Schools on Maths and Science. My 6 year old can read really well, since she was 4 and my 9 year old is excellent also.
Carol,
Im glad to hear that your children have had such a wonderful school experience thus far. I am in the process of getting my bachelors degree to become a Biology teacher. I decided to become a teacher because in school, my teachers were terrible….When I made it to college, I realized I was so unprepared and knew nothing about anything really. I was going to be a Rad Tech…Then I realized I can help the up and coming generations and the world by becoming a wonderful teacher who teaches to the best of my ability and giving it my all unlike the teachers I had in school.
Good for you HLP1245, hope you inspire the youth of tomorrow. Where are you from Carol? Just curious. Here in the US, our education system ranks pretty bad across the board in k-12. Our colleges and Universities however, rank among the best in the world. Go figure, right. Thats because most of our great higher education schools like Harvard or Columbia take in a great deal of foreign students. Thats why our higher ed is ranked so high. Its a disgrace, and like HLP pointed out the education system here doesn't prepare students for college all that well unless you fully desire college. The system needs to change here, and hopefully one day it will. I'm gald to hear about your kids, and I never trusted my kids to learn reading and writing in the first years of school so I took it upon myself with the help of my wife to teach our kids to read and write before entering school. Its amazing how much kids soak up at such an early age, and it gives them confidence when the enter school. Often the kids that struggle in the early years trying to learn the basics are the ones that continually struggle through life.
Carol, in the us the schools are different from district to district. it depends upon the administration and often upon the support of the parents. My kids happen to be in a school that is one of the top performers. The schools my children are in also follow the "syllabus." All my kids can read and write very well. They are also profcient at math. Unfortunately however, in the us, and also in other countries, the teaching unions have it so that incompetent teachers, such as this yahoo who is teaching worry70, cannot be fired for being and idiot. Thus you end up with teachers, who are truly ignorant, teaching kids based on the teachers personal belief system and not actually teaching skills.
As far as what happened with worry70, that was absurd. I would like to know what class this was in. The so-called teacher obviously did not do any research about what the maya really believe. I know if one of my children's teachers pulled this crap I would be up at the school immediately raising cain about it.
@ Johnny
Yes. I heard about that. Teachers not teaching correctly and children entering lotteries to get into the good seeder schools. I watched the documentary, I think it was called "Waiting for Superman" about the system and how some teachers have created there own schools which is helping to turn the tide.
@Jason
I am from Ireland
@ worry
However a teacher having a class watch a Doomsday type video is not appropriate. Can you report it?
To Worry70: I wanted to ask exactly what class does this guy teach? He is obviously not very well educated if he would make the claim that this program would help you to understand the truth about mayan culture.
There are far too many idiot teachers today. Far too many.
The class is World History. He told us today, when we finished it, that he was pretty sure nothing would happen, and if something would, we wouldn't realize it. I know from watching it that the Mayans have been misrepresented. We have a kid in my class who's from Guatemala, and is actually Mayan. He got mad and stormed out. Btw, I didn't know mayan ball courts were designed to mirror the milky way galaxy, or that their pyramids all have similar features that make them "countdown clocks" (sarcasm) ultimately, I think I'll enjoy next Friday. I really look forward to blasting "Today Was A Good Day" by ice cube at around 7 :D
The video should have never been shown. A classroom is supposed to be about learning. That "documentary" was downright disrespectful to a culture. If there was a video of my culture misrepresenting that way… I would storm out too. I'm Colombian… and believe me… I've been misrepresented and insulted before. People misrepresent other cultures all the time. And that's exactly what they did with the Mayans. The "history channel" in particular should be looking at all sorts of lawsuits afterwards. If I ever decide to study law (which could be a possibility), I would have been honored to represent groups that felt they were slandered.
I took a few anthropology classes in undergrad that focused on Central and South America… and believe me such a video would never have been aired. And if mentioned probably for its serious errors and logic failings.
Most doomsdayers rely on strawman arguments… much like the same way rapture people do.
While watching it, there were many times they'd have a legitimate person talking about it, but edit the video and cut them off in their sentences to make it seem like they're agreeing with them. There's even a moment when a mayanist is on and says "the calender rolls over to the 14th bak'tun (or something of the sort)" and then it cuts away, as he takes a breath, and essentially says "Or does it?!"