I don't see any problems from a legal/rights perspective, but I think there are valid questions/issues about the appropriateness of the teacher's behavior. A public teacher who wants to indoctinate the students vs. giving them objective material and allowing them to form conclusions is not the type I'd want to have teaching my kids.
Quote:
Chenkin, 36, a teacher for seven years, said he isn't shy about sharing his liberal views with students as a way of prompting debate, but said the quizzes are being taken out of context.
"The kids know it's hyperbolic, so-to-speak," he said. "They know it's tongue in cheek." But he said he would change his teaching methods if some are concerned.
Sorry if I'm too pessimistic, but I don't buy all of what this guy is selling in these comments.[&:]
Not much real info given in the artical. I wounder if that is the only offending question or if there were more.
I believe that political questionsshould not asked in English class. He was definatly wrong doing that. However in social studies these things need to be discused and without being there and knowing how the discussion is directed and/or manipulated we can't know if it was inaproprat.
The teachers political viewpoint should not be known to the kids I think.
Some kids might be swayed by the teacher other will not be and still others will go in the opposit direction just to rebell. I think that more than likely no damage was done.
I believe that political questionsshould not asked in English class.
I was assuming it was an English class too, since it was a vocabulary quiz. He is an English/Social Studies teacher, so it could have been a Social Studies class too, I guess.
Here's an additional question I found on another site.
The governor (of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger) should have been (excoriated, coherent) by the press for calling Democrats "girlie-men" but instead was invited to speak at the Republican convention; it only goes to show what kind of people they are.
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Here's an additional question I found on another site.
The governor (of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger) should have been (excoriated, coherent) by the press for calling Democrats "girlie-men" but instead was invited to speak at the Republican convention; it only goes to show what kind of people they are.
Ahh, So this teacher is entitled to make a "tongue in cheek" quiz, but Arnold is not entitled to make a "tongue in cheek" comment.
No, teachers should NOT impose their personal opinions and beliefs -- to reword your question slighlty. I don't like teachers brainwashing children, and this is typically what happens when a teacher presents complex material one sidedly -- whether this be to present a liberal view or a conservative view of events. The children implicitly trust the information the teacher doles out. Additionally, the children typically are not armed with the intellectual defences that adults have -- hell, many adults have no intellectual defences and believe any preposterous stories that are dished up to them. For these reasons I prefer teachers to stay off of current events and current political themes. It just isn't needed to teach students through high school.
My guess is that all you people saying teachers shouldn't be injecting their politics into the lessons really mean "unless those politics agree with mine." I bet no one here would be complaining about it if the teacher was promoting a pro-gun or pro-hunting agenda.
A teacher, however, does not have first ammendment protection in the sense that they have carte blanche to say whatever they feel - they are employees and are held to the same standards other employees in this country are, i.e., they must do what their employers tell them. If a teacher is told to stop teaching X, Y and Z by their principal, school board, etc. and they don't, they can be fired. Not a question.
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This will probably go a lot quicker if you just recognize that you are wrong and I am right.
Let's all take a liberal quiz !
