A pre-kindergarten teacher in Oklahoma refused to allow a four-year-old boy to write with his left hand because left-handedness is “evil,” the boy’s mother claims.
The site of the writing row is Oakes Elementary School in Okemah, Okla., reports area NBC affiliate KFOR-TV.
The public school teacher in the small town of 3,223 recently sent a letter home with the boy, Zayde, suggesting that being left-handed is frequently linked to “evil,” according to the boy’s mother, Alisha Sands.
Left-handedness is also “unlucky,” “sinister” and associated with the devil, the letter explained, according to Sands.
The problem is that Zayde — like his mother, as it happens — appears to be a natural lefty.
Howeve, Sands said, when Zayde practiced writing letters at home, he would use his right hand to write.
“I just asked, ‘Is there anything his teachers ever asked about his hands?’ And he raises this one and says this one’s bad,” she told KFOR.
After that discussion, Sands contacted the unidentified teacher. It was then, Sands told the NBC station, that she received the letter about how left-handedness is wicked and impure.
“It breaks my heart for him because someone actually believes that, believes my child is evil because he’s left handed,” the mad, sad mother added.
Sands said she complained to the Okemah school district superintendent — Tony Dean, according to the city website — but got nowhere.
“There was no suspension of any kind. There was basically nothing done to this teacher,” Sands told KFOR. “She told them she thought I needed literature on it.”
Sands said she plans to her transfer Zayde to a new school and to file a complaint with the local board of education.
A KFOR reporter contacted the principal at Oakes Elementary for an interview. The principal hastily hung up.
About 10 percent of the American population is left-handed, according to several sources.
Notable left-handed people in contemporary American and in history include Harry Truman, Bill Gates, Angelina Jolie, Jimi Hendrix, Jessica Alba, George Bush Sr., Scarlett Johansson, Eminem, David Ortiz, SpongeBob SquarePants and Barack Obama.
Ronald Reagan was, of course, ambidextrous.
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