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OK. I'm on the fence with this one. I've done biology in highschool and we talked about the female and male sexual reproductive organs and it's no big deal but how do you approach something like this when a teacher asks you to draw a male organ in front of everyone? Hm.... I must admit, gotta hear the teacher's side of the story to make my decision so for now, I'm not sure.

  [FONT size=6]Teacher reassigned for anatomy drawings [/FONT]

Fri Jan 26, 8:22 PM ET

 YONKERS, N.Y. - A teacher has been barred from classes after having his seventh-grade students draw male genitalia on the blackboard during health class, a school spokeswoman said Friday.



 The teacher, whose name was not made public, was assigned to administrative duties and Superintendent Bernard Pierorazio will ask trustees to fire him, said Yonkers school spokeswoman Jerilynne Fierstein.

 "There was no way we were going to let him be in front of children," she said.

 Fierstein said the state's seventh-grade curriculum calls for lessons in human anatomy and sexuality, but "as a teacher you have to be sensitive and you have to look at the age-appropriateness of any activity that you ask a child to do. And this was just not appropriate."

 Pierorazio said the teacher had began his lesson by asking students to volunteer to come to the board to draw male anatomy.

 Fierstein said the administration learned of the drawings, which occurred in a class of boys and girls at the Pearls Hawthorne school, when a parent complained.

 Trustees will consider the teacher's firing at a March 21 meeting, she said.

 Jon Klibonoff, a father of a student at the school, said he did not believe the material was inappropriate.

 "This is biology, it's anatomy, it's human sexuality," he said. "They're in puberty. They're aware of it on one level or another."

 Fourth-grader Noah Klibonoff disagreed.

 "They're not supposed to know what it's supposed to look like at this age yet, so I think it's a little embarrassing and it's also a little inappropriate," he said.

 Pierorazio issued a statement saying, "I will not tolerate insensitive, inappropriate behavior by any staff member toward our students. Every student's physical and emotional well-being is paramount in our decision making, therefore immediate action was taken."

 

I think it is better to become acquainted with anatomy in school instead of the back seat of a car after school.  By seventh grade most kids are aware of genitalia anyway.

whatever. you think kids today at that age havent seen or know nothing about something like that. I dont believe anything like that. He didnt do anything wrong as they will see drawings like that in the class, he also asked for volunteers, nobody had to. I remember talking about this in grade 5 when I was in elementary, we were shown drawings and such.

  Another example of the pussification of society. Life isnt perfect, and neither are you <rhetorical statements directed at no one>  

Well, as much as I think it's healthy to learn of male and female anatomy, the one thing that bothers me about his method, is the absence of modesty.  I know it's old fashioned, but I think it's equally as important to learn that your anatomy should be a somewhat private issue.

What's wrong with a pencil and paper.....why the need to haul a kid up in front of the class to do it.  I would almost turn inside out when I was a kid if I had to do a math equation on the blackboard.  I think it's at least bad judgement.  

I have to agree there, P.C.  A lot of kids are shy, and a pencil and paper is the ideal solution.  I wonder what his motive was, if not to embarrass the kids that were shy.  There must have been a horrible amount of teasing after class.

Did you change something miss PC?

  I know what you mean.. but he asked for volunteers. I really dont see any problems.. but like you said, different ideals? is that the right word?

    EDIT: but it would be less embarrasing to use a pencil and paper.

  EDITEDIT: Thinking about it, thats what we did.

You all have a good point to make. That's why it's so hard to tell without hearing both sides of the story.

  The teacher should have handle it with more tack. He could have illustrate the whole anatomy by getting a chart out or projecting it on the overhead projector instead of asking his 7th graders to draw one on the blackboard.  

Russ asked: Did you change something PC?

  Yes, I quickly fixed a typo.

  I just think it should be common knowledge....it  shouldn't be commonplace.  

  I wonder how the school would have reacted if a student drew a picture of a penis on the washroom walls.  Would it have just been an issue of defacing school property or would the fact that it was a penis be brought into the equation.      

I don't understand why the assignment was only directed at the penis.  One would think that female anatomy would be equally important to learn, and if necessary, to draw.  

kitten wrote:
I don't understand why the assignment was only directed at the penis.  One would think that female anatomy would be equally important to learn, and if necessary, to draw.

 
     Totally agree with you there, kitten! I don't think most men know anything about it. My husband certainly learnt a lot during pregnancy/birthing classes much to his everlasting embarrassment.

That must have been a shock to his system!

Was it evar, kitten! I don't think I've seen a man squirmed as much as he did.... at least in the beginning. As  for the rest of the lessons, he proceeded to doze off so he wouldn't have to learn any more.

It would have been really funny if the kid drew the penis really small and had an arrow pointing to it saying, "Mr. (insert last name here)'s penis is this size!!!"  

LOL Marik.

  Wow. The votes are split evenly. Interesting.

i dont get what the point was to have a student go up in front of the class and draw a penis. i bet if he asked someone to draw the female genitalia, there would be way more complaints.

  i think it was inappropriate for him to do it.