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Well, I am the teacher you all are discussing and I just thought I'd like to have a chance to share some perspective. The essay is actually titled "The US Stinks". Now this may be just semantics but I wanted to clarify regardless. Also, I am a male age 32 (so the reference to my hippie past might be misguided) and I am a white male (so theories of white male bashing have their limitations as well). The text of the assignment sheet reads as follows:
As citizens of the US, we tend to believe our nation is truly wonderful, as well we should. We are champions of freedom, the protector of the free world. Yet, despite all this, it seems as if many people in the world dislike us. Why? Your job is to evaluate the statement that "the US stinks" as said by random people throughout the world...Obviously, I don't feel this way and I don't think you should either. However, it is always important to see both sides of every story.

Now you may not agree that it is important to see two sides of a story, but that's alright, that's just your side of the story.

I am encouraged by some people's references to me being fired, sued, and maybe even executed like they do in other nations.

If we'd like to pretend that no one dislikes the US that's fine. When teaching contemporary events, I don't have the privilege of doing so. Realize that on no occasion did I ask the student to agree with this statement just to evaluate it. Their evaluation could lead to their belief that it is either justified or not. I suppose you'd want we to make up their mind for them...isn't that what a liberal would do?

For the record, I am a liberal. For some reason I guess you think that matters.

By the way, on occasion, students have opted-out of the assignment for personal reasons. This has always been allowed. Their alternative assignment is simply to change the statement to "The US is wonderful."

I try to encourage my students to understand (not necessarily agree) with different perspectives. It seems as if some would rather wear blinders, which would parallel that statement that ignorance is bliss in some cases. So you're right, everybody loves us.

However, I've wished you hadn't given the wrong impression of my assignment just to have something to sing to the choir about.

By the way, your neighbor's daughter is a sophomore, not a junior, and she's quite the young lady. I am sure your just trying to protect her from liberal revisionism.

You know where to find me, if you'd like to talk...and I mean that with no aggressive tone.

Awwwww rats.

And we were having such fun.

There you go and bring ?reality? and the other perspective into it! What a drag.

Ah well.

IF you are authentic and you were trying to encourage genuine critical thinking without trashing the USA . . . Happy to give you some slack and even apologize for some of my more rash posts--though they were fun IN THE CONTEXT of our assumptions.

However, we have had trashing our beloved nation up to . . . well the tops of the twin towers. And any hint of that is understandably likely to be shredded and trounced on here wholesale. No apologies for that, actually.

Now you may not agree that it is important to see two sides of a story, but that's alright, that's just your side of the story...

By the way, on occasion, students have opted-out of the assignment for personal reasons. This has always been allowed. Their alternative assignment is simply to change the statement to "The US is wonderful."...

I am sure your just trying to protect her from liberal revisionism...

I'm only a writer with over 15 years' experience and a college degree so I can't teach English in the schools (to be certified to teach I would have to get the equivalent of a master's degree first, since my education classes are "out of date," whatever that means). But I'm pretty sure there's no such word as "alright." I think the phrase is "all right." You don't need a hyphen between the words "opted" and "out." You'd only need that if the phrase were an adjective-noun being used as an adjective (i.e., "students can use the opt-out option and write an alternative essay"). Finally, "your" is the possessive form of "you," not a contraction of "you are," which is actually "you're."

Nope, I guess I'm not qualified to teach English.