Shortly before the Christmas holiday, 4th grade teacher Kate Rudloff was out for the day and her class was being covered by a substitute, who during a reading of a Christmas poem, told the class the truth about Santa Clause, noting that Santa (i.e., Saint Nicholas) died in 394 AD in modern day Turkey and upon this individual, the modern fairy tale of Santa is based.
Many kids, who had been lied to by their parents since their earliest memories, reacted with shock and outrage. How could Santa not be real, they pondered? Naturally parents were furious. After all their attempts to deceive their children in order to get them to behave, while secularizing a religious holiday for material gain, had gone awry. Parents contacted the PTA, the principal and the school board. Some demanded that the substitute be disciplined, others that she not be allowed to sub at their school again. Why? Because she refused to lie to their children?
The school reacted by showing kids the movie “Polar Express” and parents reassured, their misguided children that Santa was indeed real. Some even made reference to the editorial: “Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus.” Well sorry to rain on the parade of quite a few parents, but no there is no Santa Clause and those who engender this lie to their children are doing a disservice to themselves and their children. Perhaps it could be argued that this sub acted in poor judgment, after all its not her place to dictate how some parents choose to raise, and mis-0inform, their children, she would have been well advised to leave well enough alone, but to be disciplined for not promoting a lie, what nonsense!
http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_3349275
