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.
It sounds as if the teachers Speed and Meth kicked in at the same time. Too bad he didn't have some homegrown to mellow out with.
Hey, Jay! Name a system that is better in sync with human rights. Looks to me as if history demonstrates that human rights have never been more honored than they are under capitalism.
The United States was "probably the single most violent nation on planet Earth," Bennish also said
Yeah, we routinely conduct violent riots over cartoons.
On this point I would tend to agree. Why these terrorists think we are a nation of cowards is beyond me.
This guy can't present both sides because his mindset doesn't allow opposing views.
Bennish's presentation appeared to be unbalanced, he said.
Moses's powers of observation are uncanny. /sarc
I like it ;-)
May I use it?
Translation: He'll be back to work after a couple weeks' paid leave, with a mild rebuke and assurances that he won't be quite so strident in his approach to advancing the liberal cause.
Sorry, from I see in classrooms this doesn't happen nearly as much as you think it does.
Mr. Bennish...
I'm just reporting what kids and their parents have told me.
Sexual predators are about as common as political predators in schools today.
OB
sure he will, he'll start frisking kids for recording devices at the door.
When are people going to realize that you can't "tape" something on an MP3 player? Record? Yes.. Tape? No...
Half my kids teachers would be on admin. leave if I made a federal case out of it. One of my daughters teachers had "Kerry" bumper stickers for the taking on her desk. Not to mention the rants against Bush and republicans.
I say give the kid a medal. Did anyone notice the kid interviewed on the TV news piece that said it was not an unusual occurance in the school; the same thing would be heard in all the classes there. Hmmmmm.
Parents better start finding out what is going on in their public schools; that is if they will let you in to observe a class. A lot of schools won't let parents monitor classes.
OB
edu-predator
Defintely the time has come to air out the whole education system from top to bottom.
Tape recorders will help.
Law suits will be important.
Vouchers will ultimately solve the problem.
bookmark to read later
in THEORY you could have digital tape in a device and record MP3s on a linear medium, but ... I see your point.
ACTUALLY, when I started to read your post, I thought you were going to make a comment about how it was ILLEGAL or AGAINST POLICY for the student to make a recording of what the preducator had to say in class!
If what you hear based upon reports from kids and parents has any truth to it, you NEED to call the principal and administrative officials and report it.
This should NOT be happening.
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