CA. Teacher Banned for Declaration of Independence

[shinbushi]

It was exactly as I predicted.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200412090002

This kind of thing happens all the time in this country. An overzealous evangelizer gets out of control in school. He/she gets called on it. Right-wingers and other nut cases completely misrepresent it so that it looks like Christians are being persecuted (which is a serious laugher). News organizations splash the nonsense all over the airwaves. The real truth comes out, but nobody hears about it, or cares, because the truth does nothing to reinforce their cherished beliefs of being persecuted underdogs, when in reality, they are the elite and the real oppressors.

Typical.

But this is a left-wing website. You also have to remember that ABC, NBC, CBS, and CNN , as well as most newspapers are uber liberal.

 

[Flatlander]

But this is a left-wing website. You also have to remember that ABC, NBC, CBS, and CNN , as well as most newspapers are uber liberal.

And, how is that relevant to the discussion? Do you see a specific distortion of facts that you would care to address?

 

[rmcrobertson]

After all, the mere fact that this story has been featured on Hannity, on Limbaugh--along with the yutz with the Commandments on a Big Rock snuck into the court in the middle of the night, and eighteen other sillinesses--is in no way significant.

Hey, has Hannity repudiated Bob Jones University yet? They ban jazz, and have a dorm named after a Grand Dragon of the KKK...

Nope, didn't think so.

 

[PeachMonkey]

You also have to remember that ABC, NBC, CBS, and CNN , as well as most newspapers are uber liberal.

Ah, the typical Sean Hannity-esque accusation, which has actually been shown to be totally incorrect.

 

[auxprix]

But this is a left-wing website. You also have to remember that ABC, NBC, CBS, and CNN , as well as most newspapers are uber liberal.

a bit off topic, but I'm going to call you on it anyway.


B***S***!

Media is far from being "Uber-liberal." They are sensationalist. They sell a story that people want to see. That's why you see all of the american flag burnings and anti american demonstrations. Americans WANT to see that. Before you jump on me, let me clarify. Americans don't really want to see the flag desecrated, but that is the sort of image that draws viewers. Remember that mad cow scare? we saw the same footage of that sick heffer stumbling around a billion times. People like human pieces, things that are easy to relate to. We see demonstrations at Trade conventions, but hear little about what's going on inside.

I've always thought that the labeling of the media as "Left wing" has been an ingeneous ploy for conservatives to cover their butts.

 

[loki09789]

Please. There are no schools in this country where teaching the Declaration of Independence is banned. Notice the very selective choice of documents actually discussed in the article and the reference to other unnamed religious documents. It sounds like a rather typical fabrication to me. This kind of nonsense happens all the time. Some hyper-religious nutcase decides to use his or her position of power as a teacher to indoctrinate captive students in their religion, and gets called on it. Right-wing echo-chamber picks it up, and voila! Sensationalism at its finest. The real story will come out in a few days, but will be completely ignored.

Or some hyper political/literalist is so paranoid about "God comments" that any mention of it is 'wrong.' Similarly in literature, just because a book contains a sexual scene or a curse word does not make it a 'bad book.' I have had this stuff come up in terms of teaching/using Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter books in class (not to this extent by any means.)

The simple trick to this is to video tape classroom instruction periodically. It is a powerful teacher assessment tool so that teachers can do the 'tale of the tape' thing AND it is evidence of any comments that might be out of sync with the state standards or the approved curriculum.

If the percentages/time devote to the topic are as he mentions, how is it wrong to talk about 'God/Religion' as one of the many motivations/value systems/philosophies that people drew from in creating the Nation?

 

[rmcrobertson]

Ah. In order to safely discuss religion in the classroom--and by "safely," we mean in order to protect oneself against the godless Left--we impose a surveillance mechanism upon ourselves, so that others can check up on exactly what we're doing.

That's just ducky. At least it helps clarify the connection between the demand to "discuss religion," (which in this case, actually translates out as, "impose my particular version of Fundamentalist Christianity upon my students") and the deployment of State control on behalf of the Christian Right.

One still hasn't run into any examples of the Admin attacking a teacher for discussing religion in the classroom, in more than twenty years. And one suspects that this is one more put-up job---along with the bus driver, and the pharmicist, and etc. etc. etc.

 

[rmcrobertson]

Ah. In order to safely discuss religion in the classroom--and by "safely," we mean in order to protect oneself against the godless Left--we impose a surveillance mechanism upon ourselves, so that others can check up on exactly what we're doing.

That's just ducky. At least it helps clarify the connection between the demand to "discuss religion," (which in this case, actually translates out as, "impose my particular version of Fundamentalist Christianity upon my students") and the deployment of State control on behalf of the Christian Right.

One still hasn't run into any examples of the Admin attacking a teacher for discussing religion in the classroom, in more than twenty years. And one suspects that this is one more put-up job---along with the bus driver, and the pharmicist, and etc. etc. etc.