Mom Gets Called Into Parent-Teacher Conference After Her Son Writes An Angry Letter To Teacher For Disciplining Him
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Most children have a tough time filtering what is appropriate to say to others and what they should keep to themselves. Their lighthearted bluntness often leaves their parents in very awkward situations. But some things just have to be said, and there’s no one to stop these kids!Recently, one such instance went viral across various social media platforms after Jaquya Bradford shared a letter her coworker’s son wrote to his teacher. The coworker was invited to a parent–teacher conference because of the content of the letter. Apparently, her son Isaiah was talking during class, so to discipline him for disrupting the lesson, the teacher decided to take his stuff away. This made the 6-year-old boy furious. To express his frustrations with the teacher, the boy wrote her a candid letter and said everything he thinks of her. While the letter clearly embarrassed the boy’s mom, both her coworkers and people who stumbled on the letter online couldn’t help but laugh. Isaiah’s brutal honesty won the hearts of thousands of people. Read what he wrote below!
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Image credits: Jaquya Bradford
“Dear Ms. Jones I am angry of you Because you took 25 of my humm-ing bird Bucks all because I was talking to Conner that’s no big deal im only 6 I cant be quet all the time and that makes you a theif and crook a toy are going to Hell real Hell the burning 1 because you a theif. I worked hard for those bucks and my Only prayer in chaple today was that god gets you to hell fast super fast and your new hair cut is Bad real bad
Isaiah”
Here’s how people reacted to the letter
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I ran a middle school behavior program and have worked with kids for 15 years now. I assume the Hummingbird Bucks are a token economy for the classroom that kids earn to exchange for some sort of prize or privilege. It's a bad idea to take away something a kid has already earned as that generates a feeling of injustice. Imagine if you work 4 of 5 days but then no show for the 5th day. It's understandable to not be paid for that 5th day, but what if they also deducted 1 or 2 other days' pay as a penalty for your behavior on the 5th day? That's why it's good to have kids earn privileges (video games, etc) for good behavior instead of them feeling like it's a "right" to be able to play video games or whatever.
It's a bad idea to take away something a kid has earned? Even if it's a consequence of bad behavior? You don't know how disruptive this kid has been, it could be an ongoing issue and this was the result. Not holding people accountable for their bad behavior gets you a society full of entitled spoiled brats who think the rules don't apply to them.
Child psychology 101 says to punish the behavior in the moment, but don’t take away an earned prize. He wasn’t espousing what you were implying. At all.
Talking to someone is not disruptive. You don't know what he said, he could have just said "hi" or something.
Does no one here realize that fines are a huge part of the legal system? If we want to find real world analogues for a teacher's role, employer is only one. Police and judge are two more.
Taking money away from people as a means of punishment doesn't change their behaviour. It has proven to be counterproductive because people feel they pay for the right to be wrong. In my country we have ridicoulously high fines. 240 Euros for holding your phone while driving, 140 Euros for not wearing a seatbelt, 240 Euros for running a red light, speeding 25km/h above the speedlimit on a highway 232 Euros. And guess what, the number of people holding phones while driving is increasing and so are the number of speeders. Fines really don't change behaviour.
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Employer is the one that fits best imo. Police and judge doesn't really fit due to them not having much interaction outside of the legal system. It's not like it's the police/judge that pays out salaries to everyone.
Exactly what I was saying. You don't get pay taken away from you at work just because you are reprimanded. If your employer did that they would be violated under the fair wages act. How would she feel if they docked her pay when she did something that they feel wasn't right?
I thought that's exactly what a fine was
If you're absent a day, you don't get paid in some jobs. If you break work rules, you get docked. Happens to adults, too. He broke the rules, he got fined. I'm sure the classroom has rules.
Your credentials certainly make you more qualified on this topic than I, but I'd just like to point out your analogy is a poor one. Being absent isn't the same - the teacher obviously thought talking to Connor warranted some sort of punishment.
Actually, Bruce's analogy is just right. If an employer pays you for the work you've done and then you make a misstep at work, the boss isn't going to come to you and say "Pay back some of your wages." He may fire you. But in the case of this kid, the teacher could have made him do "community service" where he does things out of charity..not out of expecting to be "paid" to show there are consequences for breaking rules...the same as when you break the law as an adult. The teacher could have clearly handled it better and shouldn't be surprised the child wrote such an angry letter. But mom needs to teach him that you don't write such letters to your bosses as they can get you fired and/or on the receiving end of legal trouble.
Bruce J, On a related subject; I've always thought it was wrong for teachers to take a kid s property and kept it. The lesson there is that those in power can steal openly. While this may be true in the real world, it's not a good example of adult behavior. Your thoughts?
What do you think driving bans are for when you drive dangerously? Taking away the ability to drive that you earned because you abused the privilege. What do you think a fine is? A penalty you have to pay with your hard earned money because you did something stupid. What do you think a time out is? A space of time away from others because you couldn't play nice when you were expected to. Taking the earned play money for poor behaviour is an adequately kiddy version of a punishment the way an adult would be treated for an infraction. It is not unfair and not an injustice. This child was way out of line, not the teacher. For someone who has been managing behaviour for 15 years, you don't seem to know how the world works. Worrying.
Bruce if I do something wrong I have to pay to stay out of jail. The money does not go back to my work it goes to the city. That is the only difference.
I only wrote that once and it popped up 4 times. And under someone else's comment. I swear I didn't do it.
It's not okay to tell your teacher she is going to burn in hell. That's a big deal coming from a six year old. He needs some help managing his emotions.
And then to throw the hair comment in...says a lot about his parenting if you ask me.
He's managing them just fine. He didn't act out, he wrote a letter instead.
Exactly, he expressed his feeling and got it out in a very healthy way. Once he wrote that letter he was probably able to move on.
@Parmeisan a 6-year-old is NOT a mature adult, why expect them to act like that? You should not be allowed near kids if you expect them to act like adults.
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He did much better than he could have, but the response we'd expect from a mature adult would be to write the letter but not send it. Or re-write it several times until it was something that the other person might actually respond well to instead of becoming defensive. It wouldn't hurt to keep working on it a little. I don't think he should get in further trouble or anything but a little (seemingly casual) talk might go a long way.
By what he knows, when you do something wrong you end up in hell. She did something wrong (taking a way hummingbird bucks is not ok as reasoned by others) so she should burn in hell. He didn't yell it in a fit, he wrote it down. He's awesome if you ask me!
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I am going to guess that you don't have kids.
While he may have earned his "bucks", the letter is disrespectful to his teacher.
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He expressed his frustration and why he though she would be punished for stealing his bucks. He did not call her names. Because he did not kowtow does not make him disrespectful. Teachers should not expect to be on pedestals.
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The bad hair part was a little disrespectful I guess. But he didn't tell her to go to hell. He expressed his desire that she one day winds up there. He allowed to feel his feelings.
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Hardly.
I ran a middle school behavior program and have worked with kids for 15 years now. I assume the Hummingbird Bucks are a token economy for the classroom that kids earn to exchange for some sort of prize or privilege. It's a bad idea to take away something a kid has already earned as that generates a feeling of injustice. Imagine if you work 4 of 5 days but then no show for the 5th day. It's understandable to not be paid for that 5th day, but what if they also deducted 1 or 2 other days' pay as a penalty for your behavior on the 5th day? That's why it's good to have kids earn privileges (video games, etc) for good behavior instead of them feeling like it's a "right" to be able to play video games or whatever.
It's a bad idea to take away something a kid has earned? Even if it's a consequence of bad behavior? You don't know how disruptive this kid has been, it could be an ongoing issue and this was the result. Not holding people accountable for their bad behavior gets you a society full of entitled spoiled brats who think the rules don't apply to them.
Child psychology 101 says to punish the behavior in the moment, but don’t take away an earned prize. He wasn’t espousing what you were implying. At all.
Talking to someone is not disruptive. You don't know what he said, he could have just said "hi" or something.
Does no one here realize that fines are a huge part of the legal system? If we want to find real world analogues for a teacher's role, employer is only one. Police and judge are two more.
Taking money away from people as a means of punishment doesn't change their behaviour. It has proven to be counterproductive because people feel they pay for the right to be wrong. In my country we have ridicoulously high fines. 240 Euros for holding your phone while driving, 140 Euros for not wearing a seatbelt, 240 Euros for running a red light, speeding 25km/h above the speedlimit on a highway 232 Euros. And guess what, the number of people holding phones while driving is increasing and so are the number of speeders. Fines really don't change behaviour.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Employer is the one that fits best imo. Police and judge doesn't really fit due to them not having much interaction outside of the legal system. It's not like it's the police/judge that pays out salaries to everyone.
Exactly what I was saying. You don't get pay taken away from you at work just because you are reprimanded. If your employer did that they would be violated under the fair wages act. How would she feel if they docked her pay when she did something that they feel wasn't right?
I thought that's exactly what a fine was
If you're absent a day, you don't get paid in some jobs. If you break work rules, you get docked. Happens to adults, too. He broke the rules, he got fined. I'm sure the classroom has rules.
Your credentials certainly make you more qualified on this topic than I, but I'd just like to point out your analogy is a poor one. Being absent isn't the same - the teacher obviously thought talking to Connor warranted some sort of punishment.
Actually, Bruce's analogy is just right. If an employer pays you for the work you've done and then you make a misstep at work, the boss isn't going to come to you and say "Pay back some of your wages." He may fire you. But in the case of this kid, the teacher could have made him do "community service" where he does things out of charity..not out of expecting to be "paid" to show there are consequences for breaking rules...the same as when you break the law as an adult. The teacher could have clearly handled it better and shouldn't be surprised the child wrote such an angry letter. But mom needs to teach him that you don't write such letters to your bosses as they can get you fired and/or on the receiving end of legal trouble.
Bruce J, On a related subject; I've always thought it was wrong for teachers to take a kid s property and kept it. The lesson there is that those in power can steal openly. While this may be true in the real world, it's not a good example of adult behavior. Your thoughts?
What do you think driving bans are for when you drive dangerously? Taking away the ability to drive that you earned because you abused the privilege. What do you think a fine is? A penalty you have to pay with your hard earned money because you did something stupid. What do you think a time out is? A space of time away from others because you couldn't play nice when you were expected to. Taking the earned play money for poor behaviour is an adequately kiddy version of a punishment the way an adult would be treated for an infraction. It is not unfair and not an injustice. This child was way out of line, not the teacher. For someone who has been managing behaviour for 15 years, you don't seem to know how the world works. Worrying.
Bruce if I do something wrong I have to pay to stay out of jail. The money does not go back to my work it goes to the city. That is the only difference.
I only wrote that once and it popped up 4 times. And under someone else's comment. I swear I didn't do it.
It's not okay to tell your teacher she is going to burn in hell. That's a big deal coming from a six year old. He needs some help managing his emotions.
And then to throw the hair comment in...says a lot about his parenting if you ask me.
He's managing them just fine. He didn't act out, he wrote a letter instead.
Exactly, he expressed his feeling and got it out in a very healthy way. Once he wrote that letter he was probably able to move on.
@Parmeisan a 6-year-old is NOT a mature adult, why expect them to act like that? You should not be allowed near kids if you expect them to act like adults.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
He did much better than he could have, but the response we'd expect from a mature adult would be to write the letter but not send it. Or re-write it several times until it was something that the other person might actually respond well to instead of becoming defensive. It wouldn't hurt to keep working on it a little. I don't think he should get in further trouble or anything but a little (seemingly casual) talk might go a long way.
By what he knows, when you do something wrong you end up in hell. She did something wrong (taking a way hummingbird bucks is not ok as reasoned by others) so she should burn in hell. He didn't yell it in a fit, he wrote it down. He's awesome if you ask me!
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
I am going to guess that you don't have kids.
While he may have earned his "bucks", the letter is disrespectful to his teacher.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
He expressed his frustration and why he though she would be punished for stealing his bucks. He did not call her names. Because he did not kowtow does not make him disrespectful. Teachers should not expect to be on pedestals.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
The bad hair part was a little disrespectful I guess. But he didn't tell her to go to hell. He expressed his desire that she one day winds up there. He allowed to feel his feelings.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Hardly.