Posted on 03/07/2006 5:09:43 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest
by Mark Finkelstein
March 7, 2006
Turns out the real culprit in the Colorado kerfluffle over the teacher who compared Pres. Bush to Hitler is . . . the student who complained about it. Just ask Matt Lauer.
Interviewing teacher Jay Bennish this morning, Lauer laid out this sympathetic scenario:
Lauer: "The family here, the student's family, didn't go to the school board with this tape."
Bennish: "They never contacted me."
Lauer: "They shopped it around to conservative media outlets and finally released it to one and created an uproar. On the tape you can hear Sean Allen [the student in question] asking you questions that seem to be egging you on a little bit. Do you feel you were set up?"
Wait a second, Matt. Isn't the essence of the teacher's defense that he was trying to provoke discussion of these issues? Didn't you just hear him say that "my job as a teacher is to challenge students to think critically," that he was trying to "encourage critical thought" and that students would "get extra credit regardless of their viewpoints"?
But when a student does just that, he is "setting the teacher up"?
Think Lauer would have floated the same theory if, for example, a Muslim student had recorded a teacher propagating the notion that Islam is an inherently violent religion?
LOL - great work!
One key to doing well in school, is learning what your teacher wants from you. Give them the answers that help you obtain the high grade for you GPA. There is no need to argue opinions... the teachers won't listen. Just agree to disagree and move on. I learned this in high school.
This is a slow news cycle story. The guy deserves local coverage and disdain, not national coverage.
Local talk show host Peter Boyles interviewed Bennish after the Today show interview. When Peter asked him about his political beliefs he said he hadn't really thought about where he is on the political spectrum--left, right, in between--he didn't know. He's a life long learner and is only 28 years old and has an open mind. So like most lefties he's also a wuss.
It's not earth shattering like a terrorist attack but it's worth national coverage because this kind of stuff goes on nationally. Most of us on FR know it, but alot of people that don't follow politics and news like we do don't know what is going on.
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