Rosen: Intellectual child abuse (Jay Bennish)

Rocky Mountain News ^ | March 10, 2006 | Mike Rosen

[beaversmom]

Here's how the Los Angeles Times spun the story: "Teacher suspended for Bush remark." Wrong! Several other news stories in our local papers have been no better. Congratulations to Rocky Mountain News reporters who got it right: "The teacher, Jay Bennish, is on paid leave pending the outcome of an investigation into whether he violated a district policy requiring balanced viewpoints being presented in class."

Bingo! If teachers were disciplined merely for criticizing President Bush, half of them would probably be out of work. Bennish is under scrutiny for violating his public trust as a teacher of callow young minds by carting his personal political soapbox into his 10th- grade geography class in violation of a perfectly sensible and reasonable Cherry Creek Schools policy that requires teachers to be "impartial and objective" when dealing with controversial issues.

There's an old saying among lawyers: "When you're weak on the facts, argue the law. When you're weak on the law, argue the facts. And when you're weak on the facts and the law, abuse your opponent."

So Bennish, the Overland High School left-wing political activist who masquerades as a geography teacher, has retained David Lane to personally attack Sean Allen, the 16-year-old student who had the courage to expose Bennish as the propagandist he is. Lane - who also represents Bennish soundalike Ward Churchill - doesn't have much to work with. This is not a First Amendment issue. Lane conceded on my radio show last week that the district policy requiring that teachers offer a balanced presentation in class is most certainly constitutional. And anyone who has listened to the recording of Bennish's 20- minute tirade (you can hear it by clicking on the "Mike Rosen" link under "Shows" at www.850koa.com) will recognize it as a one-sided, left-wing rant. So all that's left is to attack the whistleblower, Allen.

Lane isn't really lawyering for Bennish at this point since a lawsuit would be premature. The district hasn't concluded anything yet. No, Lane is Bennish's PR man, his media flack. And he's made young Allen the target of preposterous claims that he doctored the recording or that he's lied about Bennish's past political diatribes. Allen has offered to make the recording available to an audio expert and has been corroborated by past students of Bennish who have testified to a pattern of left-wing indoctrination in his lectures, which may be why the school district has decided to extend its investigation.

Equally preposterous is the claim that Bennish's remarks have been "taken out of context." Just listen to the recording yourself. It must be heard to be believed. It's indefensible. He sounds like Michael Moore - only angrier! He isn't merely "playing devil's advocate."

Bennish is supposed to be a teacher not an agitator. And, no, balance wouldn't be served by an offsetting right-wing diatribe, wholly unlikely for an ideologue of his leftist ilk - and just as inappropriate in a 10th-grade classroom. His pretense is that this is Socratic dialogue meant to engage students. Nonsense. Socratic dialogue is reasoned, measured and dispassionate, not ranting and raving. Bennish's tone is bitter and inflammatory. He's a demagogue. He asks rhetorical questions and answers them himself with simplistic, left-wing sloganeering. "Capitalism is a violation of human rights," he declares as incontrovertible fact. Really? According to whom, Karl Marx? Josef Stalin? Kim Jong Il? That kind of a declaration would be out of line even in a class on comparative economics and has no relevance whatsoever in a geography class!

Bennish shamelessly concludes his 20-minute harangue saying: "And I'm not in any way implying that you should agree with me. I don't even know if I'm necessarily taking a position," after he just finished doing precisely that. What chutzpah! This is part of his charade as an advocate, pretending he's just provoking thought. He inserts this facile disclaimer, imagining that it inoculates him from charges of manipulating the impressionable young minds he rewards for regurgitating this twaddle back to him on a test or paper.

Lane, the Bennish button man, has questioned Allen's "agenda." Allen has made that clear. He believes it's wrong for a teacher to exploit his position of trust to engage in self-indulgent ideological indoctrination. And Allen's parents believe their public education tax dollars shouldn't be used to subsidize Bennish's political agenda and that their son is entitled to a fair and honest education. Apparently, many other parents and taxpayers agree. Nobody's taking Jay Bennish "out of context." He damns himself with his own words. This is nothing less than intellectual child abuse.

Mike Rosen's radio show airs daily from 9 a.m. to noon on 850 KOA.

[mewzilla]

"The teacher, Jay Bennish, is on paid leave pending the outcome of an investigation into whether he violated a district policy requiring balanced viewpoints being presented in class."

What does that mean?

That Bennish gets to spew twenty minutes of lunatic inaccuracies, distortion and lies provided that also gives twenty minutes of something approximating the truth?

[Alia]

Yeah.. and where's McCain and Feingold on this? haha-nowhere. Our taxpayer dollars are being secreted into classrooms via teachers to promote a political party: Democrats.

The teacher's unions think this is groovey.

As I've said before, this type of "professorial" behavior is one step shy of metaphysic (intellectual) child abuse.

I want it stopped.

[beaversmom]

That bothers me too--too much wiggle room for the propagandist indoctrinators.

[libertylover]

"The teacher, Jay Bennish, is on paid leave pending the outcome of an investigation into whether he violated a district policy requiring balanced viewpoints being presented in class."

Not only that, but he's supposed to be teaching Geography!

[sgtbono2002]

There is nothing wrong with Bennish that opening up a can of Whoop-ass wouldnt cure. Too bad he only spews his crap to High School kids, He should try it at the local bar some night when he could face some men.

I love the way this creep cut his hair and cleaned up his act before his interview no TV I bet that hurt him.

[mewzilla]

Did you get a chance to see this thread...

FR EXCLUSIVE: Class Syllabus of Bush-bashing Colorado Geography Teacher Jay Bennish

Here's Bennish's list of sources, the ones he specifically mentions:

NPR (National Public Radio) 1340 AM · The New York Times
· The Wall Street Journal
· The News Hour (PBS) channel 6
· The BBC News (PBS) channel 12
· www.npr.org
· www.pbs.org
· www.guerrillanews.com
· www.tompain.org
· www.cato.org
· www.heritage.org
· www.indymedia.org
· www.freespeech.org
· www.newamericancentury.org
· www.brook.edu
· www.zman.org

I don't see a whole lotta balance there...

[stayathomemom]

This is nothing less than intellectual child abuse.

I call it political harassment.

[Fruitbat]

What does that mean?

That's liberal speak for "we're not doing anything against Jay unless we absolutely have to. But be assured, if this person were spouting off conservative, i.e. Constitutional, ideology, he/she'd be gone by now in spite of the teacher's union."

[ClearCase_guy]

Balance?

Viewpoint #1: "Bush is a dictator! He wants us to be theocracy! He hates black people! He's stupid! Capitalism is evil! We're a violent society!"

Viewpoint #2: "Well, ummmmm ... some people, like, down South, think that ... ummmm ... Bush might have a couple ideas ... ya know, and ... ummmm ... they'd probably vote for him again ... I guess."

Equal time, given to both sides of the question. So, all bases are covered. Nothing to see here.

[Fruitbat]

"And I'm not in any way implying that you should agree with me. I don't even know if I'm necessarily taking a position,"

Oh no, of course not Jay! Where would anyone get that idea?

[PJ-Comix]

And anyone who has listened to the recording of Bennish's 20- minute tirade (you can hear it by clicking on the "Mike Rosen" link under "Shows" at www.850koa.com) will recognize it as a one-sided, left-wing rant.

Bennish is now PRETENDING that the rant was merely an expository way of presenting a variety of viewpoints to his students. Who actually believes that hogwash? And did Bennish EVER offer a conservative viewpoint? Don't make me laugh!

[PJ-Comix]

And he's made young Allen the target of preposterous claims that he doctored the recording or that he's lied about Bennish's past political diatribes.

Uh, yeah, riggghhht! Bennish was really delivering a pro-American lecture which Sean Allen, sound editing genius that he was, nefariously made to sound like an anti-American diatribe.

[PJ-Comix]

Equally preposterous is the claim that Bennish's remarks have been "taken out of context." Just listen to the recording yourself. It must be heard to be believed. It's indefensible. He sounds like Michael Moore - only angrier! He isn't merely "playing devil's advocate."

I read exactly the same kind of Leftist rants over in DUmmieland. In fact it wouldn't surprise me a bit if Jay Bennish is a DUmmie himself. Just a matter of finding out his DUmmie ScreenName. "Ben Burch?" Wouldn't surprise me a bit.

[Young Werther]

My teachers were old school. One, who I really respected told us that we didn't have a screw top head where he could open us up and pour knowledge in. But he could teach us how to learn. He explained that informed adults in our society MUST have a reading program. The daily newspaper to know what's goin' on in our community and the world was numero uno.

Read the editorial page the front page and the comics, (to take the edge off the edtorial page and front page stuff!) Read books. One a week might suffice. Find a fun read magazine and subscribe.

I was a teen smart aleck who did take this suggestion to heart. Whenever I acted up he would pitch a black board eraser in my direction so I learned to anticipate negative feedback although every so often Mom would ask, while doing laundry, where all that chalk dust on my clothing came from!!

[AD from SpringBay]

I think it means that at the end of the semester most of his students won't be able to find the Atlantic ocean on a map.

[mewzilla]

Parents and taxpayers who put up with this need their heads examined.

[stormlead]

Unfortunately, a lot of American students probably can't. That's one thing we need to work on.

[DustyMoment]

His pretense is that this is Socratic dialogue meant to engage students.

Great rant, but misses the fundemental issue - what does Bennish's political rant have to do with geography? How does his political position help these these young skulls full of mush locate Poland, or Iraq, or Argentina on a map?

When I was in high school, my Civics teacher (No, it was NOT a course about the history of Honda) at least admitted that he was a communist. Still, he was fairly balanced in his presentation, although he did take potshots at any political position to the right of his. However, we could deal with it appropriately in the class because it was, after all, a Civics class - NOT one in which we were supposed to be able to locate Japan (the HOME of Honda), on the map!

IMO, Bennish should be fired and forced to return the money he has been paid while on his forced "leave". He has violated his position of trust, abused his students with his political rants and exposed his incompetence as a teacher by failing to TEACH the subject that his students are in class to learn!!!!

I hope that young Mr. Allen has opened the flood gates of a lot more students taping the political rants of their teachers who aren't sticking to the subject. Perhaps we can end the indoctrination of our kids and end the tyranny of the the leftist teacher's unions.

[6SJ7]

Listening to the Jay Bennish audio for more than 5 minutes is enough to give me a headache. It's a watered-down marxist indoctrination speech one might expect to hear in a communist 'reeducation camp', but delivered in a high-octive, whining, harangue.

Pump the Bennish audio into the cells at Guantanimo and, believe me, those prisoners will talk.