This idea has not came up in class yet but it is something we will all have to face. Last semester in 5th D my pre-school student was interested in Native Americans. We were having a casual conversation about them and he told me that they were bad people. I asked him why he thought that and he said because his dad told him Indians killed all the white people and that white people did not do anything mean to them.

I was just wondering what you all would do if a child said something their parents told them that you knew was completely not true and how you would handle the situation!

That is a difficult situation, but I think it is important to correctly inform the student as much as you can. Pointing the child in the right direction may be hard, especially when their parents told them something different, and of course they want to believe their parents. But I think it is our job as educators to present our students with the real facts, and the truth. However, I wouldn't want a confrontation with the parents to occur or anything like that. I think the best you could do is to try to explain to the student what you believe is the truth and let them do with it what they will.

This is a really hard situation to deal with, but like you said, one that we will all eventually have to face as teachers. I agree with Megan and think that it is important to teach our students the facts although it can be difficult when they are getting different information and differing views in their household. I would just approach the subject by teaching as many facts as possible, maybe even using a textbook or other sources, and not just make it seem like I am disagreeing with the student and their parents. Some parents are going to become upset when they realize their child is being taught the opposite of what they have been teaching them. That is why I think it is particularly important to use sources and not just present the information as opinion.

I think this is a great question to ask because it will mostly likely happen to all of us in the classroom at some point in time. I feel that it is ok to correct a kid about somthing that he or she said "my parents told me that" but I do think that there is a way to go about it. I feel that if this happens and the student is obviously wrong or expression feelings that are not ok for the classroom environment, then the teacher shouls appoarch the child as, "well in this class we are going to learn it this way!" or something along those lines. The teacher does not need to say "No, your parents are wrong!" because this is when problems will happen.

This has happened to me during the summer at a camp that I work at! I agree with the way that Katie Gray suggested to deal with the situation. I forget exactly what my camper said but it was some type of generalization or stereotype that they spoke of as if it were fact. If what the child says is obviously wrong or inappropriate there is an "okay" way to correct them or suggest a correct idea. I think that it is important to make sure that you do not discredit the parent's information in a disrespectful way, or just say that they are wrong. Even though you want children to learn accurate information you want to be sure not to step on the parents toes!

I think you can teach facts about the falsehoods or stereotypes that come up with your students, but try to present them in a normal manner. Don't make it obvious that you are trying to tell them that their parents were wrong about what they told them. I know we as future teachers will be faced with these situations and it will be hard to figure out how to deal with the ignorance of some stereotypes that are planted into young children's minds.

I think this is a situation that will happen more than we want to in our classrooms. Students biggest influences before they become part of our classroom is their parents. Parents are essentially already set in their ways, as teachers we aren't going to change that. We can not tell a student that their parents are wrong, they are the people they really look up to and are a major part of their lives. No matter how much we disagree with what they heard or have learned from their parents. When I come across the situation I would lead the student to come to their own conclusion. I would do everything I could to help them understand that their are different views and help in them learning about whatever topic it maybe. One big situation that may come up in the classroom is when dealing with race. Generations before ours and ones after our are definitly not as open to differences in people's race, culture, or whatever. I think it is important to point out we all have differences,but we all have our similiarities as well.

I don't think it would be out of line to tell your student something that goes against his/her parents' words when it's something that is factual. There's a difference in saying "No, Native Americans were not bad people who killed all the white people" than arguing against something a parent might have said on their religion or something. In cases like this, I think examples are a great way to help a kid understand and relate. I would tell the kid that I am part Native American, or let my grandmother (a full blooded Cherokee) come into my classroom to talk to the kids one day, to show them that Native Americans aren't bad. Or maybe a kid said something about Asians or African Americans...surely there are Asians or African Americans in your classroom to help the child relate and understand that there is nothing wrong with someone/nothing you can really tell based on color or background. I think when it comes down to it, a teacher would do more harm in the long run letting a kid wander around with these narrow minded assumptions than ticking off a parent who's probably going to get over it.

I would present factual information about what actually happened in history. We are teachers, and it is our job to teach the facts. I would try to refrain from stating that the parent was wrong or from including my personal opinion. However, I'm sure the parent will approach me about what I'm teaching their student. Honestly, I would have to tell them that I'm just doing my job and teaching their children facts. A parent can tell their child not to believe me but at least I know that I've done all I could to make sure the child at least heard the truth.

Going along with what most others have said, I would present the student with some facts or a list of sources to learn more information about the subject. I would refrain from directly stating how I feel about their parent's views.

Getting between a child and their parents can be dangerous, just like with bears. With all the work I've done with kids I have had several situations like the one original cited and it is never fun. I have kids' parents telling them things like Coke is good for you all the way down to black people can't be trusted. I was advised by a mentor that the best thing to do is to first never flat out tell the kids that his/her parents are wrong. Do that and they will immediately shut you out and you'll lose them to reason as well as possibly start an unwanted conflict with a parent. The most effective strategy is to subtly challenge that belief by asking them if they've seen that for themselves or saying that you've never experienced that. A word like misunderstanding is better than just plain wrong.

I really agree with Alicia Yewcic on this topic. Our parents are one of the major influences that we will always have. I think that the best thing to do is teach our lessons and help the students to come to their own conclusions. This topic in particular would be a great reason to teach about the trail of tears and even about pilgrims and how we took away the Native American's land. This problem could occur in many different ways and as future teachers we have to understand that we will constantly face these problems because of the influence that parents views have on their children. I mean I know that when I did my tutoring I had to listen to boys daily say how they wished that Appalachian did not exist or would blow up or that some one would bomb it. This was due to the things they had heard their parents saying about App. and how it ruined the town of Boone. Kids will take on the beliefs of their parents for the rest of their life if no one else tries to help them see the views of other people and allow them to come to their own conclusions about life.