Shot In The Dark: Crosshairs on the Easter Bunny

December 28, 2005

Crosshairs on the Easter Bunny

Via Savage Republican, a story that I knew was only a matter of time; a teacher slags Santa in front of a group of elementary school kids:

Theresa Farrisi stood in for (Jamey) Schaeffer’s regular music teacher one day last week. One of her assignments was to read Clement C. Moore’s famous poem, “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” to a first-grade class at Lickdale Elementary School.
“The poem has great literary value, but it goes against my conscience to teach something which I know to be false to children, who are impressionable,” said Farrisi, 43, of Myerstown. “It’s a story. I taught it as a story. There’s no real person called Santa Claus living at the North Pole.”...[Jamey] Schaeffer got off the school bus later that day, dragging her backpack in the mud, tears in her angry little eyes.“She yelled at me, ‘Why did you lie?’” recalled Jamey’s mother, Elizabeth. “‘Why didn’t you tell me Santa Claus died?’”...“The teacher stopped reading and told us no one comes down the chimney,” Jamey said, curling into a ball on the couch, bracing her chin on her knees, her voice shrinking away like melting ice cream. “She said our parents buy the presents, not Santa.”

Any best on whether Farrisi has children? Anyone? Anyone?

Funny part is, I know people like this; fortysomething, "child-free" (I really really most sincerely hate that term) people who still know exactly how kids should be raised, and think it abhorrent that kids believe in Santa Claus past, say, age seven. They tend also - in my admittedly anecdotal experience which I nevertheless believe to be universal - to be joyless drones in person.

Again, just my two cents worth.

Posted by Mitch at December 28, 2005 06:22 PM | TrackBack

Comments

The scary thing Mitch, is this is not the first time it has happened. When I did my Google search (looking for this article) I found a couple from 2002 that were essentially the same story....Kindergarten or 1st Grade teacher deciding that she knew what was best for her students...

I too would be willing to bet that Ms. Farrisi has no children and her only experience in parenting comes from what they taught her in college.

Posted by: The Lady Logician at December 28, 2005 03:06 PM

"Funny part is, I know people like this; fortysomething, "child-free"... They tend also... to be joyless drones in person."

Mmmm, yes, Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham come to mind, bwa-ha-ha.

Seriously folks, I don't know about "joyless" but my anecdotal evidence shows that childless couples of that age spend less time with each other and drink more; you'd think it would be the exact opposite! How often I hear Friendly McBoozebottle calling me after a morning of chasing around our 3-year-old.

Posted by: Tim at December 28, 2005 03:33 PM

This story just fries my shorts. On a happier note, my 3 yr old daughter's daycare spent the entire month of December teaching the class all about Christmas and Santa! By Christmas eve, my daughter was completely indoctrinated into the lore of St Nick. And she now knows all the words to Santa Claus is Coming to Town.

Posted by: Elizabeth at December 28, 2005 03:48 PM

First Christmas in our new (old) house in Northfield... 6 and 4 year old... slept in sleeping bags in the upstairs alcove under the 2 skylights to have a perfect view of Santa landing on the roof. I hope it's a memory they'll always treasure. I don't know how many more Christmases they'll believe, and how they will learn Santa is merely a projection of our better selves (cousins? classmates?)... but if it's a teacher who takes it upon his/herself to tell them, that teacher will get the tongue lashing of his/her life.
What a pathetic witch.

Posted by: chriss at December 28, 2005 10:30 PM

WHAT?!!! Santa's not REAL? AAAARRRRGGHHHHH!!!!

Posted by: Kermit at December 29, 2005 08:09 AM

God help her if she's ever assigned to substitute teach a class in, say, 18th Century English Novel. What will her conscience tell her to say?

Hey kids, the character of Elizabeth Bennet is FAKE. And so is every other work of fiction from every other period. Yes, it's true: Shakespeare's characters are FAKES. And so are the hit men in Pulp Fiction. Remember Bert and Ernie? FAKE!

They're ALL fake! Everything is FAKE!

Now, on to the theory of evolution.

Posted by: nathan bissonette at December 29, 2005 09:00 AM

What strikes me is in the news story... the district superintendent hides behind school code.

"We do not have a Santa Claus policy," he said. "It's unfortunate, but I really can't say anything about it."

I'll be a lousy buck that his statement comes from a fear of the teacher's union.

Posted by: badda-blogger at December 29, 2005 12:33 PM

"Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham come to mind, bwa-ha-ha."

Nah, they don't. I'm not talking about people (politics aside) who don't *have* kids; I'm talking about the "Child-free" thing, people who actually make a lifestyle/philosophical goal not to have kids.

Posted by: mitch at December 29, 2005 01:18 PM

Mitch,
Maybe it's better that way. That whole "Darwinism" thing may have some validity.

Posted by: Kermit at December 29, 2005 01:23 PM

Good save with the qualifier about people who don't have kids. The Lovely Mrs. Eberly and I have no kids and we spoil the Nieces and Nephew at Christmas. I'd never dream of ruining the Santa deal for a kid.

It's a liberal "educator" thing, there are tons of Conservatives with child free homes that are not Scrooges.

Posted by: Tracy at December 30, 2005 07:43 AM

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