Maine TEACHERS PEACENIKS Warned - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

leathermang · #1 02-28-2003, 11:00 AM

http://www.cnn.com/2003/EDUCATION/02/28/teachers.iraq.ap/index.html

Amazing.....

rickg · #2 02-28-2003, 01:09 PM

I hear what your saying Paul, and don't really disagree. I need to read more about this, and maybe then I'll go along with it. But on the surface, it looks like more PC overkill. Your about the same age as me I think. Don't you remember all the debates over the war in Nam when you were in school? I remember some of my teachers taking very strong sides on that, and no slapped their hands. But I'll shut up here until I get time to read further.

leathermang · #3 02-28-2003, 01:36 PM

True Paul, but on the bigger picture, isn't it amazing that they did not learn that in their 'professional training ' ? Why would they need to be reminded or taught that after they are already in the classroom ?

BENZ-LGB · #4 02-28-2003, 01:53 PM

...take over the role of moral mentors when parents abdicate their place in their children's lives.

These teachers are filling in (or trying to fill) the moral vacuum left by so many absentee parents. It's a good thing that there are still parents who are willing to say NO and not let others usurp their rightful place.

Robert Mowbray · #5 02-28-2003, 02:15 PM

I have a 17 yearold son in a private, Catholic high school, with a theology teacher who likes to spout of about the Fascist governement running our country. I told my son that I'm about this close to writing a letter to the school principle. In the mean time, I suggested that he tell his teacher, the next time she starts this drivel, to say that both his grandfathers fought against the real Fascists in WWII, and because they did, she's allowed to voice her opinion. I just wish she wouldn't do it in the classroom.

#6 02-28-2003, 03:36 PM

Quote:

I'm not surprised that this is happening. I know of a few instances where teachers have been engaging in the practice of attempting to instill their political and/or religious beliefs into schoolchildren. Pre-Iraq. Very galling to me. Teachers are employed to present a specific curriculum to their students. Period. Using the classroom as a bully pulpit is a flagrant abuse of the authority they hold over their students.

What about if teacher's views went the other way? I hope Maine would feel the same way about "indoctrination", pro-war or anti-war.

-Sam

rickg · #7 02-28-2003, 04:23 PM

Ok. I re-read thru it. If teachers are only allowing their side of the issue to be discussed, they're wrong.

From article:
He said discussion should allow for questions and differences of opinion, but "be grounded in civil discourse and mutual respect."

If a teacher can't responsibly present both sides of an issue, they need to be reviewed and "adjustments" made.
One of the best teachers I ever had in high school was very good at this. No matter what the popular opinion of an issue was, she would take the opposite view and make us as a class defend our view. She did this in a very proffesional manner, and never made us feel inferior. She taught us to see both sides of an issue, and to decide why we really chose one side or the other.
To make students feel inferior and undesirable is seriously wrong.