My son got in trouble at school – for making a (sort of) religious joke…

I’d like to know the thoughts on this, as I’m bloody annoyed that the teacher made such a mountain out of a molehill.
One of the kids made a circle sign with their thumb & forefinger in front of their forehead and my 8 year old said “Are you a hindu?”
This information took a bit of extracting, but he’d been asking me what bindis were for earlier and I looked it up on Wiki. (No idea meself).
Apparently they used to be something Hindi women did, but now they are purely decoration.
He has to go back to this teacher with an explanation about what a bindi is. Seems like a small punishment but he was really quite stressed about it last night, so there may be more to it.
As far as I’m concerned he has done absolutely nothing wrong and this teacher is completely out of order for making him stress out about something so trivial.
What say you?

your bang on mate.
have a visit.

has it been established what the kid who made the gesture meant – in my experience it means ‘you are a willyhead’.

Well both of you have found out something new about other people.
Is it “punishment” or an opportunity to learn?

Sounds a bit odd ( the teacher making such a point)but are you risking making a mountain out of a molehill yourself?

YOu be chilled about it and maybe your kid will be.

Speak to the teacher so you have all the facts. Kids can sometimes be a bit economical with the truth as I’m sure you are aware.

The gesture is apparently what they have to do when they have an idea.

aP – explain? Who have we learnt about? HE obviously has been taught the Hindi connection by the school, they do a fair bit of multi-cultural education (eg. he knows what diwali is).

One of the kids made a circle sign with their thumb & forefinger in front of their forehead

That sign meant something completly different at our school 😉

DezB – does seem a bit ott, would make me wonder if there was more to the story tbh?

I think your over reacting.

Do you know the exact context of what happened?

and what is wrong with asking your son to research and comeback and explain? It helps him understand other cultures rather than learning through hearsay?

We used to take the piss out of ‘top-knots’ at school. Which wasn’t fair or right.

If your child feels stressed about it, I’d go in and have a word with the teacher

So explain to me what was so offensive about your 8 year olds question? Personally I think it was quite perceptive of him to associate that gesture with being a hindu. Nothing wrong that I can see.
Oh and they’re 8 years old FFS! That teacher needs to chill a bit IMHO.

And so do you now.
I think you’re winding yourself up over nothing – why not just think, “well I learnt something new” and get on with the rest of your life.

Isn’t that the international dickhead sign?
perhaps they should be talking to the other lad.

My parents never came to school. Even when I had a fight. Thank ****.

I had to find my own way and learn my lessons the hard ways. 🙂

We had something similar earlier this term – my son was having the piss taken out of him for his middle name (Lesley, my grandfathers name) by a muslim classmate, who Josh considers to be one of his friends, but for some reason it went too far that day, and Josh ended up saying “Christians didn’t cause 9/11”. The other pupil also alledges that Josh went on to spout other stuff about bombing Pakistan etc, which josh denies, but basically the school treated what he said about 9/11 as a racist comment.

I got called in at the time of the incident, and found my son very upset and being forced to write a statement about the event in the company of a teaching assistant, while the other kid was sat in the head teachers office.

CBA’d with that school anymore, and if he wasn’t so close to high school, he’s year 5 now, I’d move him. School let bullying persist for 12 months before finally doing something about it, and when the incident above happened Josh describes being dragged by his arm by one of the lunchtime assistants who then proceeded to scream & rant at him.

Schools will always overreact whenever they are worried that “racism” or an ethinic minority group would respond badly to a situation. We went to see the head, wrote in about the lunchtime assistant, wrote to the head of education services in the local authority (who took a month to respond).

hora – I didn’t realise you ever went to school? 😆

you are definately over-reacting.

i think the teacher is absolutely right to ensure that your child knows what the words he is using mean, while double checking that he is not just copying a (potentially) racist comment he may have picked up at home.

oldgit – Member

Isn’t that the international dickhead sign?

Looks like we went to the school OG 😉

yeah surely what has happened is the teacher thinks your son is suggesting all hindu’s are ****heads ?

Where as what it is he just doesnt know what the sign means.

I used to have a Teacher called Mr. Condon. As he said on the first day it is pronounced like “LON-DON”.

I was 10/11 at the time but still pretty naïve and I was never very good at English anyway.

Several times I remember him looking at me very angrily then suddenly smiling/laughing when he saw the confused look in my face.

I can only imagine I was calling him Mr.Condom but Id never heard the word before.

Edit ::
I went to secondary soon after and around the same time his kids went to another secondary school. Soon after I heard he’d changed the whole family name to Connor.

teacher is absolutely right to ensure that your child knows what the words he is using mean

That’s my point (well, one of them) – the school have taught him that already! Otherwise it would never have come into his mind.

Yeah, I guess I’m overreacting a little – but to see your child in tears about something so pathetic does wind you up.
I agree Hora, I don’t believe in going to the school to challenge teachers’ judgement – they usually discipline a child for the right reasons. Not in this case though.
He told me he doesn’t want me talking to the teacher or writing to them because I’ll “make things complicated” !! (Who knows!)

I can see your point OP but I do think there is a case for trusting the teacher. Im not saying this is the case with you but some parents seem unable to allow teachers any means of diciplining their child, and in my opinion this leads to kids having no respect for authority.
Id consider going in to support your child in explaining what they said and why.It does sound like your child has an open and inquiring mind, but others do not, Bindis are still worn by Hindu women, and they are used as a focus for racist abuse, weve all heard the jokes. The teacher was probably unsure and wanting clarification.

“Christians didn’t cause 9/11”

That’s an interesting one; factually true but of the unstated part of that statement is that the perpetrators did what they did because they were Muslim.

That’s worthy of debate, though possible not in a primary school 😯

Surely the first thing to do is establish what the other lad was signing? its more than likely that he was calling your son a DH, which is direct abuse.

I think your kid deserves congratulating for being quite sharp with a come back to the international DHead sign.

Surely the first thing to do is establish what the other lad was signing?

I’ve explained this further up mate. Keep up. 😉 (btw, it was a girl, which makes the bindi joke even better, I’ve just realised!)

hora – I didn’t realise you ever went to school?

I didn’t. I went to Royds Hall 😆

Oh God I’m confused. so she made a sign Hidus use and your lad picked up on it correctly. So the lass only had to reply yes or no. Am I over simplifying things here.

Am I over simplifying things here.

yes, she made the schools ‘I’ve had an idea’ sign and he chose to ask her if she was a Hindu.

Could have been worse he could have said ‘are you implying I’m some sort of dickhead?’ and then DezB woudl be at the school explainign how his son knew that and not looking up Bindi’s on wikipedia.

Ah so its the schools sign and not a Hindu sign, is that right?

Could have been worse he could have said ‘are you implying I’m some sort of dickhead?’

Obviously, his humour is far more sophisticated than mine 🙂

[edit](yes, oldgit, it’s the school’s “I have an idea” sign – though not usually in front of the forehead)

oldgit – Member
……more than likely that he was calling your son a DH, which is direct abuse.

we need to know if the boy is a bit of a DH first.
but i digress.

He’s not, are you?

I’ve got a meeting in a minute… what do you reckon… shall I use this ‘I’ve got an idea’ sign?

It’s w stupid idea that could go horribly wrong…..oh it just has.

TSY, Yes and just in case people dont notice, move your hand back and forth away from your head.

Excellent, it’s a meeting regarding someones forecast to the end of the financial year. My thoughts and the idea sign could be very well alligned.

Am I missing the point?

A girl in the school made a gesture which (whilst seemingly odd to me) everyone at that school would have recognised as meaning “I’ve got an idea”. She did it in a peculiar manner (at her forehead) which your son choose to use as the basis for a “joke”.

He then cracked a “joke”, which alluded to the wearing(?) of Bindi by Hindu women. The teacher thought the joke was inappropriate for the class room setting, but rather than give him some pointless, useless exercise like writing out “I must not make racist jokes” or “I will not disrupt the class with silly attempts at humour” 50 times, she’s asked him to go and learn the significance of Bindi and explain it to her?

You are upset because your child is upset. I don’t understand why your son’s upset though, he needs to learn to MTFU or Shut-TFU.

(yes, oldgit, it’s the school’s “I have an idea” sign – though not usually in front of the forehead)

Whatever happened to sticking your hand up in the air?