Posted on 03/02/2006 3:38:43 AM PST by Glacier Honey
The Overland High educator is on administrative leave. Cherry Creek's superintendent said a balanced viewpoint will be given to students.
An Overland High School teacher who criticized President Bush, capitalism and U.S. foreign policy during his geography class was placed on administrative leave Wednesday afternoon after a student who recorded the session went public with the tape.
In the 20-minute recording, made on an MP3 player, teacher Jay Bennish described capitalism as a system "at odds with human rights." He also said there were "eerie similarities" between what Bush said during his Jan. 28 State of the Union address and "things that Adolf Hitler used to say."
The United States was "probably the single most violent nation on planet Earth," Bennish also said on the tape.
Bennish, who has been part of Overland's social studies faculty since 2000, did not return calls seeking comment Wednesday. 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.
Moses also said the district will be fair to Bennish. "People in life make mistakes occasionally," he said. "We address them. We learn from them."
The 20-minute recording of only a portion of the class was made by 16-year-old sophomore Sean Allen the day after the president's speech. The recording has raised questions about what level of academic freedom is acceptable for high school teachers. It also has generated discussions about Bennish on dozens of websites.
Sean, who appeared on Rosen's show Wednesday morning, said in an interview he had been disturbed by the "political rants" he heard in Bennish's class. He added that he wanted to tape the session for his father, who later shared it with the media.
Sean, who described himself as a political independent, said the comments seemed inappropriate for a geography class.
"If he wants to give an opinion in class, I'm perfectly OK with that," he said. "But he has to give both sides of the story."
James McGrath Morris, an author who has written about academic freedom issues, said Bennish's comments are acceptable for an adult audience, but they are hard to defend in a high school classroom.
In a number of legal cases, courts have ruled that "up until the age of majority, children are easily influenced ... in a way that they don't have the faculties to sort out rights from wrongs," Morris said.
Yeah, like Tucker's 1803 Blackstone's Commentaries and the Federalist and anti-Federalist Papers weren't enough!
(j/k)
Just received confirmation that student Sean Allen will be on the Sean Hannity radio show this afternoon at 4pm ET and probably on Hannity & Colmes later tonight.
Hannity asks students to tape left wing profs, this is right up his ally
Hannity has been encouraging students for some time to tape their teachers and professors. I was impressed by the clarity of the recording using MP3.
If the technology is that good, there should be hundreds of recordings taken in the classrooms.
Wow, I also caught a rare defender of the US in there over our WWII atomic bomb use, and there were actually a few level heads there, including one self-proclaimed ultra leftie who says this in school is wrong.
That's some seriously good tag line material.
Yep. You win the prize!
On 9news, they interviewed one of our neighbors that goes to that highschool. She said in the interview 3/4 of the teachers in that school say the same things. I don't know if she was exaggerating or not--I'll have to ask her. Overland was once considered a good school because it was in the "Cherry Creek School District".
The word preducator added to the FReeper lexicon, and now a tagline.
Watch out, world... I'm on a roll.
laughing
A perfect solution. It even could be sold as a way to prevent teachers from erroneously being accused of doing this. Since the public schools are funded by the public, the class sessions should be available to the paying public. All classes should be taped and archived for at least one month.
Godwin's law, but it's not absolute. It really depends on whether you're trying to use the logical fallacies "appeal to emotion" or ad hominem. Sometimes a Hitler reference is apt, but before you do it you have to sit back and ask yourself about your motives in using it.
This guy was clearly trying to demonize Bush, going for both fallacies, so the law would apply.
I admit I use it sometimes. "Smoking Nazis" is one case. It is a reference to the first modern anti-smoking campaign with attendant propaganda that the current campaign closely follows -- almost every point is mirrored. My intention is that the anti-smoking campaign is leading us closer to a totalitarian state where individual rights are not valued and government power is supreme, and I believe it is valid to use Nazis (a shining example of such a state) with this context and intent.
They are avid viewers of CNN, and some of them are probably on the DNC fax list.
1. What is the capital of Nebraska?
Who cares when it's being destroyed by the evil Bush regime?
2. What is the term for a small river that flows into a larger river?
All the rivers in the country are being poisoned with aresenic by Chimpus Khan and his minions!
etc. for an easy A+
-
Can somebody explain to me why there should be 2 sides to a geography lesson?
This SOB should be dangling from a rope. This country hasn't enforced its trason laws for a long, long time. It's about time to start. And this guy would be a good place to begin. After that, Ward Churchill would be another good candidate.
Geography is a pretty big field that encompasses political and social issues. Where the lines are drawn on the map is definitely political.
IIRC, physical geology (where the continents and oceans are, etc.) was a very small part of my high school geography class.
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.