Should This Liberal Teacher Be Fired?

I would agree with what you're saying. He sounds pretty one-sided. It could be that he's playing devil's advocate and just arguing against the prevailing opinions, but he does seem to have a chorus of students in the background agreeing and filling in for him--couldn't they stand to be challenged too, and by a position more sophisticated than the student we hear most clearly (the taper, I presume)?

I haven't seen it anywhere, but what is it that he teaches? Economics? World affairs? Arabic?

Kidding--I presume it's one of the first two. I dig it. And if he had a radio show, I'd listen to it. :) In fact, why did that lazy kid stop taping? I wanted to hear him continue!

The unspoken issue here is that in teaching government or economics, there isn't a truly neutral position. Anyone who thinks the text book definitions of things are neutral, who thinks that the status quo is neutral, is fooling themselves and needs a teacher just like this!

This teacher was fascinating to listen to. I don't understand why he is being challenged. We heard stuff like this all the time in college. This is further proof in my mind that our freedom of speech is going down the drain and rapidly too. Isn't alway being positive about the government one-sided too? How can you be a two-party Democracy if there is only one side?

John, he teaches geography. Some people say he was wrong because this wasn't about geography. I would argue that geography is inherently political (unless you're just doing elementary school color-the-map stuff). I think the kid quit taping because class was wrapping up, although the teacher is still talking. Kids always start packing their stuff up before I'm finished. I swear I want to rip the clock off the wall!

Rosebud, high school teachers do not have the same range of academic freedom as college teachers because of the ages of our students. Still, to have students graduate at 18, old enough to vote, without teaching them to think politically...well, maybe that's how W got into office.

I heard portions of the tape yesterday, and I think the whole thing was just plain wrong. In another student's shoes, I would have been terrified by the man's delivery of his statements, alone. Yes, Bush does use many of the techniques cited, but the classroom was not the time or place for that kind of speech.

Mike Leuszler

When I really looked at the file name, I figured it might be geography--or else geometry, in which case he'd be way off topic!

The other issue that's being skirted around here is parent influence vs. teacher influence. Our educational system as it's currently configured is partly based on the premise that teachers know more than parents do about educating children. Part of what we "know" is that it's important to challenge our students' preconceived notions, most of which they've gotten from their parents. Parents usually teach their kids "what's right and wrong," not how to think about what's right and wrong. We teachers know this, and so we work at cross-purposes to parents in some cases because we think it's best for the kids and we know that parents won't do it.

This is, of course, the gripe of the conservatives about "liberal" teachers indoctrinating students. Our defense, of course, is that we're teaching them to think for themselves, but when that sometimes means--as it will--that they no longer unthinkingly parrot mommy and daddy, conflict can arise.

When I arrived at the school I teach at, the clock in my room was broken, and since I'm in the fine arts building, there aren't any bells. I never bothered to get a new clock and I've been pretty happy with that decision for 5 years. Even if the kids have been late once in a while.

Yo Paula, The purpose of education, in both your nation and mine, is to indoctrinate. People who have learned to think are a danger to the status quo so teachers must be corrected for straying from the party line. As we know any lie must be defended to the death, some one else's that is. It is impossible for Bush to open his mouth without uttering a lie and any sound of dissonance must be quelled. JWL

I can only echo what the two Johns have said.

So again I ask, Mike, would you also object if this had been pro-status quo? If so, I can respect that.

Paula, this has been a national story. I don't know the answer but I do believe that students should be taught to question everything, including (especially?) authority, as an intellectual exercise and a survival technique. This will be an interesting story to follow. Thanks for sharing it.

I have been following this story too, and it makes me afraid for teachers everywhere. Here is a link to a site: A man offers $100 to students who tape record classroom lectures of professors who spread liberal propaganda. I wonder if that's where that boy got the idea to record his teacher. http://www.uclaprofs.com/

Would I object if it were pro status quo? That's too general of a question. Would I object, for instance, if the teacher in question went off on a tangent about supporting the president because not to do so is unamerican? Yes.

I think kids should be taught to think. Not have opionions forced upon them by a zealous adult who is charged with their education.

Mike

But the teacher didn't say that to support the president was unAmerican. That's not a direct equivalent. What if he had gone off on a tangent about how the war in Iraq was a valiant effort to create a stable democracy, one that would prove strategically invaluable once it succeeded (with no mention of the idea that it might not succeed)? What if he had spent a great deal of time talking about the money the U.S. gives to various causes without ever mentioning the harm we may cause with our disproportionately high consumption of natural resources? Suppose the gist of the lecture were that America does almost nothing wrong, ever. Would you still object? If so, would you object as strongly?