Who is to blame for this mistake?

[The Mystery Machine]

So it was "International Day" at my mom's school. The sixth graders were all paired up and given a country to do a presentation on. The kids who did Austria dressed up as the Von Trapp children. The kids who did the UK dressed up as Sherlock Holmes and Dr.Watson. It was all cute until the kids who did Luxembourg came in the room dressed as old Country and Western stars with cowboy boots, cowboy hats, and bolo ties. They gave their presentation on the basic facts of the country. A teacher then asked about their costumes. They said that they read online that the people of Luxembourg dress in standard "Western attire"... The teacher tried hard not laugh when she said that referred to the Western Hemisphere... not US.

For such a glaring and hysterical mistake who do you blame? The parents... who obviously had to provide the clothing, the kids for doing lazy research...or the teacher for not overseeing the research properly? I literally would mortified if I sent my 11 year old to school in such incorrect attire. I can't imagine blaming the teacher.

Were they graded on attire?

 

[momz]

by 6th grade, it is not the parent's fault. I would not think that it is the parent's responsibility to "dress" the 6th grader. Also, by this age, parents are no longer managing the kids' projects like they do in the early grades.

Also, is it the teacher's "fault"? No, the teacher has so many students, how can he/she know the details of every single project?

Are the kids to be "blamed". No, they did the research. It is a matter of misinterpretting what they were reading. 6th graders, while they know a lot about things like navigating the internet, they don't necessarily have the ability to put the phrase "western attire" into the correct context in this situation.

Clearly they put some effort into the project. I hope the teacher didn't call them out on it in front of the class.

This type of thing would completely embarrass a kid.

 

[fortwildernessishome]

The teacher was embarrassed though because it literally was one of those moments that people had to leave the room they found it so funny.

I cant even imagine parents being so rude that they actually had to get up and leave, because of the way two 11 years were dressed was "so funny"!!

That speaks volumes about the parents in this school and makes me thankful that something like that would most likely never have happened in my kids school when they were younger.

One of my sons did a project like this. I cant even remember what country he had, but it was in a warm climate and he and his buddy wore bathing suits and t-shirts. They decided this themselves and did the entire project themselves. I would have been ticked if people were laughing at them!

 

[NHdisneylover]

And in all fairness, I'm pretty sure there aren't all that many people in Austria running around dressed in costumes made from old curtains like the Von Trapp Family Singers these days.

So the Luxembourg kids aren't the only ones factually off center. Maybe at one point in time there was a singing Luxembourg Cowboy family out there and we've just never heard of them because the movie never made it past pre-production planning.

There is that too The kids and I were saying that (though, you would be surprised how many people we see in drindls and lederhosen hiking or as a group downtown, etc here). It is really hard to think of anything even remotely distinctive to associate with Luxwmbourg as far as clothing goes--and we live close and go every so often (and have family roots there).

 

[bellebud]

In my opinion, if the kids can't do the project themselves, on their own, it should be done during school time.

So the parents should not be blamed.

Should the teacher be 'blamed'? I don't think so. The kids did the research, and now they've learned a very valuable lesson about researching.

 

[Hillbeans]

I think the kids could have thought of this entirely on their own, my kids would probably dig through our box of costumes and hats and do the same thing. Hopefully they still got credit for the assignment.

I think there are many adults who wouldn't know what "Western Attire" is unless they lived in "the East".

Side note, I visited Luxembourg and Germany in October and everyone was dressed just like we do here in the US, perhaps a bit more European looking with the skinny jeans - but no one was wandering down the streets in Lederhosen holding a pretzel and a beer

 

[Tinkermommy]

This is a big event... so it would be highly unusual for parents not to know what country their child had. That's what everyone found so shocking... that any adult actually thinks they dress like they're on an episode of Bonanza in Luxembourg or that the parents were unaware of what country their child had. The teacher was embarrassed though because it literally was one of those moments that people had to leave the room they found it so funny.

It's a 6th grade event. Not the Oscars.

No one is to "blame" because it's not a big deal. No need for embarrassment either.

It's a fun/cute story that everyone might remember fondly as something an 11 year old might do.

and here's what I found by googling traditional dress of Luxumberg

http://www.ask.com/question/what-is-the-traditional-dress-of-luxembourg

 

[Mokat76]

Yeah, I'm not sure why there needs to be blame. They're in 6th grade. They did their homework and they made a mistake. I'm guessing that they will now know for the rest of their lives what exactly "Western Attire" means in general writing. Isn't that kind of the point of kids doing their homework … so they learn?

Love this answer!!!!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

And in all fairness, I'm pretty sure there aren't all that many people in Austria running around dressed in costumes made from old curtains like the Von Trapp Family Singers these days.

So the Luxembourg kids aren't the only ones factually off center. Maybe at one point in time there was a singing Luxembourg Cowboy family out there and we've just never heard of them because the movie never made it past pre-production planning.

Bahahaha....best point ever.

 

[NHPatsFan]

Were they graded on attire?

No, there was no requirement to dress up.

 

[SLP958]

Yeah, I'm not sure why there needs to be blame.

They're in 6th grade. They did their homework and they made a mistake. I'm guessing that they will now know for the rest of their lives what exactly "Western Attire" means in general writing.

Isn't that kind of the point of kids doing their homework … so they learn?

I laughed when I read this. Just a funny kid mistake. No need to place blame.

 

[Bluestars]

I don't think anyone needs to be blamed. It's just one of those moments in life when something was misunderstood, everyone laughed about it, and hopefully moved on.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

HAHAHA!! That's funny. Just a funny 6th grade kid mistake.

 

[DopeyDame]

It was a school project and a kid did a part of it wrong. Happens about a billion times a day all around the world.

It's a cute story to relay at the kids' college graduation parties or something. Not a big deal and certainly not something deserving of blame for anyone!

And kudos to those kids' parents for actually allowing them to do their own work in 6th grade rather than micromanaging and doing it for them (as it sounds like others at the school did)

 

[Southernmiss]

It was a school project and a kid did a part of it wrong. Happens about a billion times a day all around the world.

It's a cute story to relay at the kids' college graduation parties or something. Not a big deal and certainly not something deserving of blame for anyone!

And kudos to those kids' parents for actually allowing them to do their own work in 6th grade rather than micromanaging and doing it for them (as it sounds like others at the school did)

This. 'Blame' is too strong a word for this situation. Dd is in 6th grade and I have no idea what projects she's done this year. She's pretty autonomous with her school work as she should be by this age.

I could see her telling me she needed to dress western for a project and we'd get a cowboy hat. No questions asked.

 

[anniemck]

Yeah, I'm not sure why there needs to be blame.

They're in 6th grade. They did their homework and they made a mistake. I'm guessing that they will now know for the rest of their lives what exactly "Western Attire" means in general writing.

Isn't that kind of the point of kids doing their homework … so they learn?

I absolutely agree... I would be mortified at the adults who found it necessary to laugh at children. And they wonder where kids get their bullyish behavior from... hope these kids don't hear about it the rest of their school days about the time they played John Wayne for International Day. Geesh, don't people have better things to do?

 

[The Mystery Machine]

No, there was no requirement to dress up.

Well at least they would not gets points off there.

I would say it was an innocent, naive, misinformed mistake on the part of the students.

 

[Stacerita]

Kids are't the only ones who make mistakes with research and not quite understanding what they come across. A few years back I went back to school and there was a group project I was involved in, we each had our portion to do and were graded seperately, but we presented together. After meeting and checking in with each other, every stated they knew what they were doing, were almost done, and it was coming along great. One of the group memebers was to present on instruments in jazz music. Well he decided to start with drums. So he goggled, came up with drums, got pictures for his powerpoint, researched pricing, histroy of them and everything. Sadly his search came up with drums as in the barrels you put toxic waste in, and not the actually instrument. His reseach was accurate, but not what the presentation called for.

 

[laughinplace199]

I do not see any reason to blame anybody

The parents were (hopefully) not over-involved in the kids' homework and either did not do any of it, or simply helped find costume pieces when the kids said they needed to dress "Western" for school--without ever hearing mention of Luxembourg to know there might be an issue.

And the kids DID do research; they were simply unfamiliar with a term, and had good reason to think they DID know that term. I can easily imagine 11 year olds misinterpreting that.

I think it sounds like a simple "mistake" that is no big deal, no one should be blamed, and the whole class learned what the term "Western Attire" means. That is a teaching and learning win in my book.

 

[NCDisneyMom]

There is always the possibility that the parents DID know what the term "Western Attire" meant, but chose to allow their children to do THEIR OWN assignment how they saw fit. Even if they knew it was wrong, parents are not here to make sure that every answer is right on homework, and every mistake is fixed. If we don't let kids make mistakes, they are not going to learn.

There is nobody to "blame" here. At all. They made a mistake. If any adults were laughing at them (to the point of having to leave the room), I'd like to ask them when the last time was that they were perfect.