Oklahoma Pre-K Teacher Who Called Left-Handedness 'Evil' Resigns

[uhnope]

A Oklahoma pre-kindergarten teacher has resigned after new details emerged in controversy over remarks she made to a left-handed student. As previously reported by Opposing Views, a 4-year-old boy was forced to write with his right hand last week because his teacher said that left-handedness is "evil."

Mother Alisha Sands said that her son Zayde, who did everything left handed, suddenly started writing with his right hand. When asked if any of his teachers asked about his hands, he raised his left hand and told his mother, "This one's bad." When Sands sent a note to her son's teacher, she got a very unexpected response sent home with her son in the form of a letter, titled "When Will I Know Which Hand She Will Use?" written by Dr. Donna D'Allesandro.

“In many western cultures, right-handedness was/is considered the ‘correct’ or ‘right’ hand to use, and left-handedness was unlucky, inauspicious or frankly evil," the letter reads. Zayde has since transferred to a new class.

Now, Superintendent Tony Dean of Okemah Public Schools says that the teacher resigned on Sept. 25. KFOR spoke to the family of a little girl, Alli, another student in the same teacher's class. Alli said that her teacher made her write with her right hand, even though she is left-handed, and if she didn't, she was put in the corner.
read more http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/oklahoma-pre-k-teacher-who-called-left-handedness-evil-resigns

At least the teacher got the boot when this came to light

[Dont call me Shirley]

1. Good, ideas like hers belong nowhere near children.

[Demit]

2. So glad. This crap was bad fifty years ago. Appalling it still happens.

[KamaAina]

3. The whole thing was just a sinister plot to get rid of her.

[HereSince1628]

23. There's a massive dextral conspiracy out there!

[Snobblevitch]

4. My grandfather was forced to write with his right hand.

That was more than a hundred years ago.

[awoke_in_2003]

5. My sister and I

hit kindergarten in the early 70s. We both started out lefties (like our father), but were broken of it. This was in Ohio. They were too cheap to buy left handed scissors and base ball gloves.

[Snobblevitch]

8. I'm a couple years older than you.

I never saw any lefties go through what you and your sister did. How was your handwriting? I have seen kids (now in their 20s) who had such bad printing skills that it looked like they were forced to switch hands.

[awoke_in_2003]

9. For many years my writing has been horrible...

I have gotten into fountain pens (my favorite is my 1947 Parker51), and have taken care in making it better. It is now passable

[Snobblevitch]

10. My other grandfather gave me a fountain pen when I was a kid.

It's been in a dresser for years. I wonder if it would still work? I suppose these old fountain pens are available on e-Bay? I might check that out. I remember buying and using 'fountain' pens when I was in grade school, but they used ink cartridges and were not true faiintain pens. My mother taught school in he early 50s and I have a photo of her in her classroom with the sleigh-like desks (all on the same wooden ski/runner) and there were inkwells on the desks.

[awoke_in_2003]

11. If you want, you can

shoot me some details in a PM, or go to Fountain Pen Network (.com, I believe). The old stuff is rugged. My 1947 Parker is a vacuum filler, and you generally have to replace the diaphragm. A few years later the switched to a slightly different fill system, and that synthetics appears to have a shelf life of forever.

[Snobblevitch]

13. It would seem that my fountain pen will not work.

I won't impose upon you. If I get a whim, I might investigate getting a fountain pen, but I likely will not. I have a lot of other projects that need my attention.

I once met a guy who collected fountain pens and pocket knives. He would show me one or the other each time we crossed paths. This was 20 years ago and even at that time, he was paying $100 or more for these items. I wonder what they are wirth now?

[awoke_in_2003]

14. My Pelikan M200

Goes about $150. The M800 I want is almost 400. As to older pens, a lot of times dried ink will clog the feed. A soak and flush can fix that.

[Snobblevitch]

15. Wow,

there is no way I am going to get into fountain pens at those prices.

This may dissappoint a fellow DUer, but at those prices, I would rather invest in another deer rifle.

[awoke_in_2003]

18. You can do better price wise

$50 can buy a great pen, $20 will buy a good one. Pelikan is a higher level pen out of Germany, with proprietary filling system. Most pens can use ink cartridges or universal carriage/converters. This brings the price down.

[Laffy Kat]

6. "Resigns"?

Why wasn't she kicked out on her ass?

[Stuart G]

7. I think I was switched???

I prefer using the mouse..(still do) with my left hand..more comfortable..but I write with the right..

I recall learning to play pool at a local youth center when I was 9 or 10..so guess what..I am a left handed pool player..
What am I going to do????I learned to type pretty well, but I can't spell..but now they have ..Check Spelling

Oh my????

[Archae]

12. I used to be exclusively right-handed...

Until I got a videogame system.

Now I can use my left hand nearly as well as my right, except for writing.

[pinboy3niner]

17. I wonder why that is...

[Dawson Leery]

16. Ignorant jackals have no business teaching the children.

[Quackers]

19. Dumbass teacher.

I'm left handed, my wife is left handed, our 3 kids are right handed. Go figure.

[Egnever]

20. I was forced to write with my right in first grade

I skipped kinder.

It never took though, even then I was a defiant asshole. I took a lot of crap from it from that teacher that year though. She tried her best to make me right....lol

[Dorian Gray]

21. For fuck's sake!

Glad she resigned. She has no place in a classroom.

Those poor children.

[ileus]

22. 45 years of left-handedness here, still as sweet and harmless as ever.

Used to be common that schools would try and force students to write right handed. They did my brother but it didn't work too good for the scumbags he still writes with his left. Lucky for me the progressive 70's come along and it was never attempted to force me to be right handed.

[LWolf]

24. As some of us have been saying for a very long time,

it's not that hard to fire teachers for cause. Our unions, and tenure, do not protect us from being fired, as long as we get due process.

A teacher new to my school was fired 3 weeks into the school year last month. It took 2 days to go through that process.