Teacher's anti-bush rant endorsed by school district
One of the stories that got garnered minor attention from some of the media last week was of the tape of Jay Bennish's 10th grade world geography class. It was covered widely in the blogosphere, most notably by Michelle Malkin, who says of Bennish, "I think he needs medical help".
With due respect to Michelle, her coverage suffered the same problem that I observed in the media's coverage along with that of the blogosphere - it centered on the teacher's lecture (with was wholly inappropriate) and missed the real story entirely. The real story is the Cherry Creek school district's reaction:
Cherry Creek School District officials are investigating the incident, but no disciplinary action has been taken, district spokeswoman Tustin Amole said.
Bennish was placed on leave "to take some of the pressure off of him" during the investigation, which could wrap up in a week, Amole said.
Superintendent Monte Moses, who received a copy of the recording on Monday from 850 KOA-AM radio show host Mike Rosen, said it appears "a breach of district policy" occurred.
"Our policy calls for both sides to be present ... in the interest of intellectual discourse," Moses said. Bennish's presentation appeared to be unbalanced, he said.
The district is looking into whether the incident was an isolated one and will ensure that a balanced viewpoint of the president's State of the Union address is provided to students, Moses said.
So the Cherry Creek School District Superintendant is not concerned that a 10th grade geography teacher is engaging in political proselytizing? No. Is he concerned that the topic of discussion is inappropriate for a geography class? No. How about the rampant factual errors in his diatribe? No concern.
No, the good Superintendant centers his concern around whether the teacher ended his rant with the words, "but some people disagree" or not. To him, it's about balance, not whether the topic is inappropriate.
There's a reason we don't let children vote in this country. The young are impressionable and immature - a dangerous combination that is easily exploited by folks like Mr. Bennish. But the responsibility not to indoctrinate has fallen aside in some of our schools. Developing critical thinking skills is a good thing. But coaching the students on the desired outcome of that thought undermines the process - a child is likely to view facts through a prism in an attempt to shoehorn them into pre-conceived views.
Is this a wide-spread pattern? Perhaps, but I'm hopeful that it isn't. But this story, also from this week, weakens my hope:
President Bush is being tried for "crimes against civilian populations" and "inhumane treatment of prisoners" at Parsippany High School, with students arguing both sides before a five-teacher "international court of justice." The panel's verdict could come as soon as Friday.
While I'm certain that John Conyers would applaud, I wonder if many parents think this is really healthy.
What are your thoughts? Comments welcome.
Comments
My thoughts? The first guy, who was using the classroom for anti-Bush rants, is a moron. He should be told to cut it out, and if he doesn't do so, he should be fired.
The second guy sounds like an incredible teacher, the kind who really inspires his kids. Let's look at the facts:
1. When Clinton was in office, he had his students conduct a trial of Clinton. The point isn't who's in office for him, the point is what his students learn via debate.
2. He's making sure both sides are being presented fairly and equally.
3. He's not injecting his own personal opinions into the process.
4. He checked with the administration first and cleared it through them before doing it.
5. He seems to really, genuinely be about his students and their learning. The students are defending him, and the students unanimously agreed to do this before it began.
Is Bush an impeachable war crminal? Jesus Christ, no. Of course not.
But is there a valuable learning experience for the kids in being able to talk this out, debate it, take roles, and test their ideas analytically? Yes, definitely.
This teacher is inspiring his students to think, and he's not trying to guide them to a specific conclusion like that moron in the first story you linked to.
Posted by: Joe | March 4, 2006 1:54 PM
Thanks for the comment, Joe. Good points on the NJ class - the reason I'm not convinced is that the teachers are going to render the verdict.
Even though the result is supposed to be kept private, do you think that we'll hear about it anyway? And will the result determine whether it's page 1 or 31?
Posted by: LB | March 5, 2006 1:38 PM
My comment is my submittle of an email letter I sent to all managing authorities a Cherry Creek School District.
Dear Cherry Creek School District:
I commend you on exercising your authority and taking the responsible steps towards a formal investigation into Mr. Bennishs recorded remarks (he made in class) in is efforts at drawing hard line similarities between the current President of the United States with Adolf Hitler. There is no comparison in even the remotest since.
Mr. Bennishs dissatisfaction with the President is his personal right and freedom and that could be understood and justified. However, being a teacher with the power to influence young minds is a greater responsibly then ones own personal belief. To be a good teacher you have to be unselfish with thoughts and here lies the heart of this investigation.
How can I be so cretin that Mr. Bennish did not equally balance out he radical remarks so he was acting in accordance with the heart of "a policy requiring of him that he presents a balancing viewpoints presented in classes". I will answer that question with a question. What could Mr. Bennish possibly have said in contrast to these extreme statements that could even begin to balance out that viewpoint? Anything short of claming Bush was like Jesus Christ would fall shot seeing as he has clearly call the President the devil. So what ever the 50 minutes of missing tape the Mr. Bennish clamed on "Today" "This is 20 minutes out of a 50-minute class. The rest of the class provides the balance," would sure be interesting to hear. Wouldn’t you agree?
I know these times in American are challenging when we all have to be careful because of our civil rights and the lawyers waiting in the wings to take our cases. But if a standard exists for equal protection of teacher and student then it needs to be defended and enforced. Because who, for Gods sake, will protect the freedoms of the students if teachers continue to run rough shot over the policy requiring balancing viewpoints be presented in classes. It is the students right and more then that it is at the heart of true education. And the tie should go to the runner (students) in any gray area because they are Americans future and they belong to a time the you and I and Mr. Bennish will never see.
Thank you for listing to my comments.
Sincerely
Frank Penberthy
Concerned citizen
CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/03/08/teacher.bush.ap/index.html
Teacher who compared Bush and Hitler put on leave
Bennish is on paid leave from Overland High School in suburban Aurora while Cherry Creek School District investigates whether his Feb. 1 lecture violated a policy requiring that balancing viewpoints be presented in classes.
A student recorded at least part of the lecture in Bennish's world geography class and took it to a Denver radio station, which played parts of it on a talk show.
Bennish told "Today" the excerpts broadcast weren't representative of the full lecture.
"This is 20 minutes out of a 50-minute class. The rest of the class provides the balance," he said.
Posted by: Frank | March 8, 2006 1:12 PM
I have been following this story with intense interest. I realize that teaching is a noble profession and I had some great teachers in a small rural Indiana town. As my children grew, I realized the very precious education I received was gone. We decided to homeschool our children to offer them protection from an education that was otherwise an education. Our daughter is in love with education and has a passion for learning. Politically? well that is also a passion and she would have done the same thing this young man had since this teacher would have been interferring with her educational process.
Posted by: alice everage | March 8, 2006 1:34 PM