What Not to Teach or Display in A Classroom

Here is the poster child for what not to display in classrooms and what should not be taught to children: http://davidwboswell.wordpress.com/2009/09/20/pluto-correctness/ . Blogger David Boswell displays this image under an entry titled “Pluto Correctness,” illustrating an actual poster in his daughter’s preschool classroom. If a picture is worth a thousand words, this is clearly the picture for the worst possible education children can be given about the solar system. Pluto crossed out—what is the message here? Circling and crossing out exercises are often used with preschoolers. The general idea is circle the right answer and cross out the wrong one. For example, a worksheet will show several objects and ask children to cross out the one that doesn’t belong. A typical assignment might show a truck, a motorcycle, a car, and a television. Crossing out the television, the correct choice, indicates that the television does not belong since the other three objects are vehicles, and the television is not. In her fantasy novel A Wind in the Door, Madeleine L’Engle invokes the image of “Xing” or crossing things out as a way of negating their very existence. The antagonists in the story seek to “X” whoever they view as a ...