Posted on 01/05/2009 4:06:11 AM PST by Peet
At the public high school where I teach, a school-sponsored student club, Sharing Our Spirit, staged a "Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity" during school hours. Students wore red armbands and did not speak. The club's faculty adviser sent an e-mail to the entire faculty, including this: "They will be standing on behalf of the one-third of their generation that have been innocent victims of abortion." Was the students' activity legitimate? The adviser's? -- Name Withheld, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
-----
If the school rightly permits students to form clubs irrespective of ideology, from protesting the Iraq war to promoting a pre-emptive attack on Mars, there is no reason to bar this one. If its members do not hamper the school's educational function -- and a daylong silent vigil need not -- their activities ought to be allowed. The school would have a beef if, for example, a club directed students to refuse to answer questions in math class.
The teacher, too, has an ethical right to free expression, but because she is in a position of authority, she must be sure all students, regardless of their views, are welcome in her class and treated fairly. Nothing in your account suggests that this wasn't the case. And it is noteworthy that she sent her (to me, nutty) e-mail message to her colleagues; she did not declaim it in class. As a legal matter, Arthur Eisenberg of the New York Civil Liberties Union cautions, "She may not turn the classroom into a soapbox for her views on matters unrelated to the curriculum."
Another lawyer I consulted noted that a public school, as a government institution, may not promote a religion. Although the club's message is expressed in secular terms, anti-abortion activism is so often bound up in religious sentiment that a religious message can be implicit. When the adviser of a school-sponsored club takes up religious advocacy, the school must intervene.
(Readers can direct their questions and comments by e-mail to ethicist@nytimes.com. This column originates in The New York Times Magazine.)
Cut and paste because I wouldn't put it past NYT to modify this.
My response, typos and all (which Mr "Ethics" will likely ignore):
"And it is noteworthy that she sent her (to me, nutty) e-mail message to her colleagues;"And that, in a nutshell, is why NYT's stock is in the tank. I suspect, though, that an "ethicist" who is that judgemental is equally unable to see the irony in his own words...
I am,
Awaiting the demise of the MYT
Best wishes,
And that statement about the ACLJ saying that a teacher can't use her classroom as a soapbox for his or her personal beliefs? So how come we don't hear them complaining when they use it to promote global warming hysteria and homosexuality?
The teacher, too, has an ethical right to free expression
Ah actually not.
The teacher is an employee and as an employee is subject to restriction on speech on the job site as any other worker in America is.
Because the “teacher” is entrusted with the care of our children for a period of time, their right to free expression is even more limited.
For example the Math teacher has no “right” to teach that 2+ 3= 87
Or the Art teacher who belives that nudity is the only lifesytle has no right to teach art class naked.
Most Americans forget that free speech only works as long as common sense
I wonder how the ACLU feels about globull warming lectures in class other than science?
I would support a pre-emptive attack on Mars, as long as it was combined with an associated attack on Hershey. Morinaga 99% dark chocolate rules!
OK, seriously. It was Chairman Mao who asserted that a hundred flowers should bloom, and a hundred schools of thought contend. Unfortunately for the Chinese, he didn’t really mean what he said, and unfortunately for our students, our public schools, which claim to be unbiased and un-agenda-ed while actively promoting or suppressing various ideologies, don’t follow the Chairman’s teachings either. When modernism, with its emphasis on truth discerned through evidence and reason, is replaced with postmodernism, with its emphasis on truth being nonexistent and therefore being anything those with authority say it is, then there is no education, only indoctrination, and the only recourse is civil disobedience. The silent students are walking in the footsteps of Gandhi and King and Tien An Men, but few will give them the credit they deserve, regardless of belief.
Typo alert: it’s the ACLU; the ACLJ is the American Center for Law and Justice, Jay Sekulow’s organization, who probably would be on the side of the students.
“globull warming”
I LOVE this! I think I will begin spelling it the same way. Thanks. ;-)
The ACLJ, as I'm sure you know, is the American Center for Law and Justice, a conservative group that defends against attempts to stiffle conservative and religious expression in schools and colleges.
The teacher, too, has an ethical right to free expression, but because she is in a position of authority, she must be sure all students, regardless of their views, are welcome in her class and treated fairly. Nothing in your account suggests that this wasn't the case. And it is noteworthy that she sent her (to me, nutty) e-mail message to her colleagues; she did not declaim it in class. As a legal matter, Arthur Eisenberg of the New York Civil Liberties Union cautions, "She may not turn the classroom into a soapbox for her views on matters unrelated to the curriculum."
What strikes me is how hypocritical the ACLU is. They would be first in line to denounce David Horowitz's Academic Bill of Rights if it was proposed for New York schools even though it takes an identical stance on the misuse of the university and college classrooms for ideological indoctrination.
Glad to be service though. :)
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of interest.
Obama Says A Baby Is A Punishment
Obama: “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”
Woops-my bad. Reading one thing and typing another.
“Although the club’s message is expressed in secular terms, anti-abortion activism is so often bound up in religious sentiment that a religious message can be implicit.”
Wrong.
Slavery wasn’t “wrong” because a religious movement formed the backbone of the agenda to END slavery, nor was the argument against slavery religious in nature.
The same holds for the arguments against massive infanticide (50 million dead in the US).
Barack Hussein Obama said that it was above his paygrade to determine when a fetus is a human deserving of basic human rights as an individual.
Can you be a little bit pregnant? There is your answer.
“I wonder how the ACLU feels about globull warming lectures in class other than science?”
#####
Not that the climate change mythology has anything to do with science, either.
It would be most appropriately discussed in a course on propaganda, under the subheading of:
Obfuscation in promoting one cause (global warming), when in actuality the underlying agenda involves something else entirely (socialism).
Yes, this is the case.
New York students organized to write letters by their teachers:
Letters to the Next President (Friday, November 07, 2008 | 7:26 PM)
At the Robert F. Wagner Secondary School for Arts and Technology, educators have a very high priority on their students ability to write."We're trying to teach them that writing is a very important part of their development as young people," principal Bruce Noble said.
Wagner students were encouraged to write letters to the new president. Some 5,000 letters are posted on the Web site of the National Writing Project.
Soldier shocked by pupils' letters(guardian.co.uk, Thursday 24 February 2005 01.46 GMT)
A teacher has apologised for letters sent by his sixth-grade students to an American soldier, accusing the US military of killing civilians and destroying Iraqi mosques in a futile war on terror. Alex Kunhardt sent the letters to Private Rob Jacobs for a social studies assignment. Pte Jacobs, who is serving 10 miles from the North Korean border, said his excitement at getting the letters from the Brooklyn schoolchildren turned to shock as he read them.One of the letters from the 11- to 12-year-old pupils, stamped with a smiley face, said the soldier might have been risking his life for his country, but then asked: "Have you seen how many civilians you or some other soldier killed?"
Followup:
Mr Cohen replied to my message but has not since replied to a request to POST his reply so I’ll paraphrase/describe:
First (and to me most telling) he considers the snarky “nutty” PERSONAL insult a valid part of opining on ethics. Yes, insulting based on your personal prejudices SOOoooo enhances your message.
Second, he thinks the NYT is in OK condition — Doood! I hope you have a back-up employment plan. Oh, yeah, it is called “bailout.”
He thinks I see his column because I read the NYT. *snort*
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.