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.
mr wonderful should run for office...
But, but... You say you are conservative, of course you are fair, and of course you think the best of others.
Howerver, the other side, the Socialists, the dark side, has no such inclinations and that is what is being discussed here. Of course you are fair, of course they are not, and to generalize about that is quite proper.
I'll bet you anything this kid ends up getting punished for recording the teacher...
The thing is, only the Socialists do that, you don't ever read about Bush-bots doing that, do you? It seems conservatives have an inate sense of right and wrong that keeps them from doing such things, but the classless and clueless tools of the Left have no such compunctions. So, if the frog had wings it wouldn't bump its azz when it jumped, yeah? IOW, what if, what if, doesn't add anything to the argument.
This is yet another reason why the Marxist government-run schools need to be shut down and sold off to the highest bidder. Most parents have no idea what the Bolsheviks who populate the ranks of government "educators" are telling their children.
Had a recent example of this.......one of my son's teachers at the local high school. I finally heard enough about this guy's drivel; wrote him an email.
I stated clearly and firmly that I didn't send my son, or any of my children, to that school to be subjected to pathetic attempts at leftist indoctrination. I challenged him to openly debate me in front of his class on literally any topic he chose............any. Do that.....or forever hold his trap shut in front of these kids on such things.
He wrote the most fawning, spineless, belly-up little note of apology and contrition back to me that you could possibly imagine. Totally backed down.
They're wimps, folks, and you've got to call 'em at this stuff or they won't stop.
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.
Good. Then fire the SOB. He can hang out with Cindy Sheehan, where he can bitch to his heart's content. When it comes to politics and religion in the classroom; teachers need to keep their piehole shut. (Unless the class calls for such discussions. Geography? I don't think so.)
LOL.
Get them in the room, close the door, and subject these poor kids with the most vile, most hate filled diatribe, and hopes nobody notice.
Makes me sick.
He looks like that guy who played in Too Close for Comfort (John J Bullock or something like that)
Public education has become the propaganda tool of the left to indoctrinate and brainwash children since an early age.
I had an economics professor at Central Texas College who refused to allow anyone to record his lectures because he was afraid that clip could be taken out of context and be used to make him sound like a communist, (something he most assuredly was not).
He said he recorded all his lectures...just like lots of other students.
I had a teacher like this idiot in HS.
I wish I had thought to tape record him. I could be on Hannity and Colmes, too. lol
with the audio recorders they have today, it could be not noticeable and in your pocket and still record great from clear across the room. It isn't like he could stop you from recording it really, though it would have been harder before digital recorders.
He sounded like he was around for the brown acid in the 60s, so he's what, about mid-50s?
I can't wait to read the next issue of "NEA Today."
I'm sure the kid will be portrayed as a villain, and the teacher will be portrayed as a hero, a defender of free speech.
From what I have heard, Sean was taping his teachers' lectures with their knowledge and consent.
I would not be surprised to learn that Sean has some kind of "learning disability" that makes it difficult for him to get ideas down on paper quickly enough or clearly enough to take lecture notes.
Sean may actually have an IEP, agreed to by him, his parents, and his teachers, that prescribes the use of a tape recording to back up or supplement his note-taking. This would be an "accommodation" of his "disability" as required by IDEA, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
Examples of other "accommodations" might be unlimited amounts of time to complete tests, the right to have a test read to him, the right to allow him to read the questions aloud to himself, etc.
Let me state clearly that I do not know it to be a fact that Sean was recording lectures for this reason, but twenty years of public school teaching experience make me quite suspicious.
Generally, teachers do not routinely permit students to record their classes for exactly the reason we're witnessing right now.
"Public education has become the propaganda tool of the left..."
In a word, "Yep".
One of my colleagues was preparing a lecture on the 1980s. He has a sections on the airstrikes against Libya; the title for that portion of the lecture is "Reagan Terrorizes Libya". What can we expect from a worshipper of Alan Colmes?
I don't think a teacher can tell a student not to record.
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