9-Year-Old Student Banned From Writing Report On Popular Historical Figures Her Teacher Says Are ‘Immoral’
Frame Stock Footage | Shutterstock An elementary school teacher banned a 9-year-old from writing a report on historical figures she deemed "immoral." Needless to say, her mom was displeased.
"Immoral" is one of many things that are in the eye of the beholder, but that never seems to stop certain people from imposing their morality on others. The girl's mom is understandably furious, and her story has sparked yet another discourse about conservative overreach and imposing a moral agenda on children in schools.
The 9-year-old was banned from studying 'immoral' historical figures like Prince and Freddie Mercury.
In a Reddit post, the mom explained that her 9-year-old daughter's school has a yearly event in which each child "embodies" a historical figure and presents a report on the impact they had on the world. Each child provides a list of three options for approval from their teacher and is then allowed to pick which one they'd like to cover.
This mom's little girl had three interesting choices: Prince, Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, and Anne of Cleves. "Today the teacher messaged me saying that Freddie Mercury and Prince aren’t acceptable because they weren’t 'moral' people," she wrote. Given the last two years her daughter had played controversial figures like Frida Kahlo and Josephine Baker, she was shocked.
Even Anne of Cleves wasn't suitable for the teacher, who said "she didn’t make enough of an impact on the world," despite being one of only two of Henry VIII's wives to survive the experience of being married to him. (One suspects the teacher had simply never heard of Anne of Cleves and made a snap decision.)
When the mom pushed back, the teacher made false claims about the historical figures' 'loose morals.'
Initially, the mom's husband told her she was overreacting, but she pressed ahead anyway, explaining to the teacher that she thought her decision was inappropriate, for starters. "Morality is subjective, every human is complex and not wholly moral or immoral, my family doesn’t believe in judging other people’s morality," she said, adding that "choosing a 'moral' person wasn’t even a condition as part of the assignment."
The teacher fired back that Prince and Freddie Mercury were "'rockstars' who used drugs and had 'loose morals,'" which, in the case of Prince, who very famously didn't even drink, let alone use drugs due to his religious beliefs, is not even true.
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In the case of Freddie Mercury, he was widely rumored to be a drug user, but we can probably safely assume that what a teacher this uptight actually means by "loose morals" in Mercury's case is that he was a bisexual man who died of AIDS.
"Regardless," the mom wrote to her daughter's principal, "it’s wildly inappropriate to assume [my daughter's] report would include a section about how Freddie Mercury liked to party [with] his drug of choice. Please." She also pointed out that the assignment was to "showcase people of influence, not morality."
In the end, the school administration made the teacher back down.
As so often happens with moral pearl-clutching these days, this child likely wouldn't have even known about Mercury or Prince's supposed "immorality" if the teacher had not foisted it onto the discourse in the first place.
In the end, the school administration seems to have agreed: The mom received a new note from the teacher explaining that she and the principal "have decided students may choose any of their choices.”
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Many educators say that this mom handled this exactly the way she should have: By trying to engage with the teacher first and only when that failed, escalating it to the administration. This prevents things from going sideways right off the bat and gives the teacher an opportunity to self-correct.
Even better, the mom was able to make it a teachable moment, using it as an opportunity to explain what "loose morals" means and that other people's opinions aren't necessarily factual or relevant.
Most important of all, she explained to her daughter that "it’s okay to question the rules if we don’t agree with them" and "people who have different beliefs are not bad or good people." Those are lessons her teacher could definitely stand to learn, too.
John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.
