Scientology --- It's the lie, not the truth, that hurts

It's the lie, not the truth, that hurts

December 18, 2002

Children don't get hurt by finding out that there is no such thing as Santa Claus. They get hurt because they discover that they have been lied to by the persons they trust most -- their parents.

This doesn't mean that there need be no more Santa Claus, or no more Tooth Fairy. Children know and understand games of make-believe. Celebrating with these traditions does not require that adults insist on characterizing fantasy as truth.

To teach children to "do the right thing for its own sake," as you quote a psychologist saying, children need to learn about natural consequences that flow from their actions. Getting external rewards as a bribe for "doing the right thing" is a contradiction to that.

Additionally, to the extent that the fantasy of receiving external reward is not replaceable once destroyed, then right along with this fallen angel so goes its integrally associated "doing the right thing for its own sake."

Finally, it's absurd to demand that the public school system figure out which children must be lied to, and which other children, some of whom don't even celebrate Christmas, may not be lied to. Perhaps it's time for the public schools to cease their own pretense that multicultural celebrating, decorating, theming, socializing and pandering even belongs in school in the first place.

And by the way, if the Boy Scouts don't belong on premises during school hours, neither does Santa Claus (who discriminates in what kinds of children he visits) belong there, especially for a purpose to "convince skeptics" that he's "the real deal." This is not merely frivolous; not merely offensive; not merely a time waster; and not merely a difference of opinion. It's illegal.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/letters/search/sfl-pbmail805dec18.story Schools are not to reinforce beliefs Sheldon F. Gottlieb Boynton Beach

December 18, 2002

I was disturbed by the reactions not just of the parents of the children who were told the truth about Santa Claus, but, more importantly, those of the assistant principal, Lisa George, for reprimanding the substitute teacher, Fabiola Mehu-Pelessier, for teaching the children the truth about Santa Claus and for "advising her to be more sensitive to holiday traditions."

The function of the public school system is to educate children and not to foster or perpetuate the mythologies of any belief system or tradition. Dr. Mitch Spero was quoted: "The role of the teacher in a child's life is to educate and the question is when is the child ready to learn certain things."

Just as a child is to have his or her questions about where children come from answered truthfully for its level of understanding, so is a child to be told the truth about the world in which he or she lives. The faster children are disabused of mythologies, the more receptive they will be to the magnificent wonders of the natural world. Children may live in fantasy lands when they play, not when they are in school to learn.

If there is a problem with public education, the Santa Claus incident pinpoints part of its source, i.e., parents who want the schools to reinforce their personal belief systems instead of teaching about the world in which we live, parents who interfere with teachers who are doing their jobs and parents who refuse to support teachers who more than meet their responsibilities as educators, and school administrators who rather placate the ignorance of the public rather than recognizing and rewarding the excellence of good teachers.

The school system is in dire need of more "Mrs. Ps" and fewer Lisa Georges.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/letters/search/sfl-brmail770dec18.story Stand up for truth David Dudley Maryville, Tenn.

December 18, 2002

I want to thank substitute teacher Fabiola Mehu-Pelissier for standing up for one thing that all schools should be standing up for: the truth. How some fat old lie like Santa Claus continues to get so much popularity is beyond me.

Please don't write me off as some kind of over-the-hill Scrooge who wants to throw cold water on little kids' Christmases. I am in the process right now of raising five children of my own who aren't taught to believe a lie. They are taught that the main truth[sic] in this universe is the birth of their Lord, Jesus Christ.

Let us pretend that a parent who had lived on the banks of the Mississippi and because of this parent's love for "Old Man River" had drilled it into his child's mind that the Mississippi was the longest and most powerful river in the world. Would we all expect this teacher to continue the lies of this misguided parent? I hope not.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/printedition/search/sfl-ralph17dec17.story For goodness sake! Santa Claus is comin' to town Ralph De La Cruz

December 17, 2002

All this stuff about the substitute teacher who told kindergartners it's their parents -- not Santa Claus -- who puts the presents under the tree has concerned me greatly.

To the point that, last week, I called in all favors to line up an audience with that exalted driver of reindeer, himself. Santa Claus.

It wasn't easy. Transcontinental negotiations. A flight to Trondheim, Norway. The pick-up at the airport by a bunch of short guys in beards and trench coats. Finally, a wild ride in the back of an Austin mini with a candy cane in my mouth and stocking cap pulled over my eyes.

We arrived someplace cold. When the stocking was pulled up, I found myself face to face with ...

Claus: You seem surprised. Don't tell me you're another one of those who's surprised I exist. Of all people. Do you think anything but a mystical/spiritual fount could keep up with that considerable list you generate every year? Certainly no single set of parents, I can assure you.

Me: You're a bit more, uh, spirited than I had expected.

C: Sorry, didn't mean to dump on you.

You know, I do all this work. Devote my eternal life to it. And except for a few hundred thousand cookies and a couple thousand gallons of milk, all I get for it is doubt and grief.

And even the milk and cookies aren't all they're cracked up to be. My blood sugar's already too high. And they don't digest particularly well in a reindeer's system, if you know what I mean. And it's not like you can convert them easily into hard dollars. They don't have much of a shelf life, either.

Milk and cookies, at least I can handle.

People questioning my very existence is another thing. You wouldn't believe how many people, when they first meet me, want to pull my beard.

Me: But isn't that part of the magic? Never quite knowing.

C: Pulling my beard is NOT part of any magic. The magic is in a worldwide organization that gathers, collects and analyzes information, converts it into product and delivers it. A month, from wish to delivery.

All this talk about sneaking down chimneys and keeping things secret is a North American obsession. In some places, I knock right on the front door. And I'm not always Santa, of course. I'm Jultomten, Julenissen or Kerstman. Joulupukki or Sinter Klaas. Father Christmas or Pere Noel, Los Reyes Magos or El Niño Jesus. And too many others to mention.

The form doesn't matter.

But the downside of that is, people end up wondering whether I even exist. That's why I agreed to this interview.

I bet even you hear people question my existence.

Me: Are you kidding? In my line of work, I hear people question my existence.

But I have noticed that believing does get tougher as you age. After a while, it seems the only thing you really believe is that you know what's going on. Which is the biggest fantasy.

Almost all my life I've heard people say you're not real. I'm still hearing it at age 44.

C: What do you tell them?

Me: Well, I got the answer from my two kids. For two months, they've been talking about Christmas. And it struck me that, long before they knew they wanted a Polly Glitter House or Yu-Gi-Oh cards, they were dreaming about spending time with their cousins and grandparents.

I realized, you don't just deliver toys. You deliver the opportunity to share our wants and needs -- our lives -- with the people who are close to us.

So, each time a kid yearns to spend five hours on a plane, I know you're still kicking.

The old man smiled and nodded.

C: Time is short. Anything else I can help you with?

Me: It's been a long time, and this might seem a bit peculiar. But, with all this reminiscing, I was wondering: You think maybe one more time, I might ... sit on your lap?

C: ELVES!!!

Ralph De La Cruz can be reached at rdelacruz@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4727.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cnosanta14dec14.story Claus for joy: He's real, by golly!

A visit from St. Nick soothes young students aftger a substitute teacher said he wasn't real.

By Kevin Smith Staff Writer

December 14, 2002

CORAL SPRINGS -- The kindergartener had been told the man standing before her really did not exist. But there he was, right in the middle of her classroom, telling her to tug on his beard.

"Is it real?" he asked, and when she nodded, he said, "Yes! I'm the real Santa Claus."

The jolly old elf inspired wide eyes and spontaneous hugs on Friday morning as he toured classrooms at Forest Hills Elementary School. With sleigh bells and a snowy beard, he was able to reassure the 4-, 5- and 6-year-olds that, regardless of what they had heard, he did indeed exist and would be visiting their homes on Christmas Eve.

A native of the North Pole making regular appearances at an area mall, Santa visited the Coral Springs school to counter the statement of a substitute teacher who told students on Tuesday there was no Santa Claus.

After visiting one pre-kindergarten and four kindergarten classes, Santa arrived in the classroom where his existence had been called into question. Though the children's eyes were full of more enthusiasm than skepticism, he made sure one student got to tug on his beard.

"The pulling on the beard, that makes it all real," said Lisa Young, a parent volunteer whose son Ryan was among students told that Santa doesn't exist. Young said her son came home on Tuesday "a little doubtful and curious" and asked her whether Santa existed, but his 8-year-old brother was able to wipe away worries with just a few words.

The doubts began when substitute teacher Fabiola Mehu-Pelissier read the class a book called Christmas Cats. One student asked Mehu-Pelissier whether there really was a Santa Claus, said Broward School Board spokesman Kirk Englehardt, and she tried to explain the holiday was more about peace and families.

Her answer included the suggestion that the gifts under the tree came from the children's parents and not from Santa, which Englehardt called an example of bad judgment. The question would have been better left to the children's parents, he said.

"She really is remorseful," said principal Julie Smith, who said she had discussed the situation with Mehu-Pelissier but that she would face no disciplinary action.

Mehu-Pelissier was at the school on Friday but was not available for comment.

Smith said she couldn't imagine any doubt remained in the minds of younger students, who took the opportunity of Santa's visit to remind him that they didn't have a chimney to slide down and to warn him about their dogs. Promising they had been behaving well for parents and teachers, they asked for various gifts, including video games, bicycles, puppies, and in one case, a younger sibling.

Some of the children told Santa they had seen him in different settings, but parents such as Young had ready responses to those observations.

"We just tell them that Santa has a lot of helpers," Young said, "but this is definitely the real one."

Kevin Smith can be reached at kssmith@sun-sentinel.com or 954-572-2009.

http://randi.org/jr/122002.html

Well, it's good to know that honesty-under-questioning is still with us, even in South Florida. A five-year-old's favorite substitute teacher at Forest Hills school, in Coral Springs, last week told her kindergarten class that there is no Santa Claus! Pursued by the media, the alarmed parent of the child said that she quickly assured her daughter that Santa is real and would be delivering a load of gifts on Christmas morning. "But I feel like no matter what I do or say now, the seed of doubt has been planted in [her] head," the mother said to the Sun-Sentinel newspaper. "I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to undo it . . . . "

The Sun-Sentinel reported that other local parents had also complained that their kids came home from school questioning them about Santa. But one mother said she told her daughter that "she should stick to her beliefs, no matter what anyone says." That's the way! Ignore facts and reality. Support mythology, encourage lying and deception! Is that the American way?

Now, just to be clear here, let me tell you that I have no problems with the Santa Claus legend being told to children - up to about five years of age. It's a fun thing, used with kids who haven't yet learned to recognize the difference between reality and fantasy. Snow White and Winnie the Pooh are part of this make-believe period. I'm all for it. But soon after that age, humans begin to examine the world more closely. They find that things don't always happen for the best, that there are disappointments and reversals of expectations. These are the growing-up pains. And certainly, if a child asks a question, in most cases the correct answer should be provided. This teacher was asked; she answered. She gets an A+ from me.

To the credit of the Coral Springs school administration, when some parents wanted the teacher reprimanded and not allowed back into the class, they refused. However, school officials would not comment on their decision.

The substitute teacher had been reading a holiday storybook, and "The discussion started to move toward the existence of Santa Claus," said a school board spokesman. "No policies or rules were violated, but she obviously used poor judgment." I strongly disagree. But I'm more concerned that a licensed psychologist with Child and Family Psychologists in the area, said the role of Santa Claus in a child's life is

". . . to be an incentive for good behavior. Santa has a positive connotation that holds some weight in a child's life. It's the belief that if you do the right thing for its own sake, you will be rewarded."

Hold on. These kids aren't behaving just because it's "the right thing"! With the Santa Claus myth in place, they know all about being rewarded! They've been made very aware that the "good" kids will get gifts, the "bad" ones, won't! Who's deluded here?

Ah, but either in its fear of censure or its higher wisdom, to make up for the teacher's foray into truth, the school district sent a Santa to visit the school's kindergarten classes the next morning to - in their words - "set the record straight." "This is going to be awesome, a really good way to fix what happened," one parent said. Right. Then in a few years, that parent will tell her kid that she lied to her, that an actor was even sent in to firm up the lie, and that the teacher was wrong in telling the truth to the class.

A school district spokesperson assured shocked parents that the visiting Santa, with a natural, full white beard, should convince even a classroom full of skeptics. "He's the real deal," he said.

That man needs some enlightenment. Perhaps he should ask his mother....?

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