[beyond the sea]

"While the public occasionally hears about weird rantings by some teacher or professor, what seldom gets any media attention is the far more pervasive classroom brainwashing by people whose views may not be so extreme, but are no less irrelevant to what they are being paid to teach. Some say teachers should give "both sides" -- but they should give neither side if it is off the subject."

Right on ............. ping.

[Ninian Dryhope]

Sowell cuts through the nonsense and sets the record straight. Too bad Bush didn't do the same thing when he was asked the question about the teacher's free speech rights during his press conference.

[liliesgrandpa]

Well said, a video camera should be placed in his classroom, and all lessons taped and reviewed by parents at random.

[beyond the sea]

schools ................ ping

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Some say teachers should give "both sides" -- but they should give neither side if it is off the subject.

A good example of this I have come across lately is the book, "Where there is no doctor". It sounds like a health book for people who don't have quick access to medical attention and it sort of is. But the two main mantas in the book is the promotion of communism and abortion.

He couldn't shut up about it. It was in every chapter. It ruined what could have been a very useful book by making it mostly unreadable.

[gakrak]

Ping.

[Born Conservative]

If you have asked to be added to this list, and haven’t been receiving the pings, please let me know. I’ve had a problem with my file synchronization between my home and work computer, and apparently have lost some names on the list. I think I have the problem fixed, and will gladly re-add your name.

[P.O.E.]

If it wasn't for weird rantings, FR would take up half the space. :)

[DustyMoment]

Sowell is usually spot on, and this column is no different. Too many people got wrapped up in the whole political rant that Bennish made and lost track of the fact that his entire rant was inappropriate because he was supposed to be teaching geography. Geography is the study of where places are on the globe - NOT politics.

While I'm at it, I'll also toss this in - I predicted that nothing would happen to Bennish, the incompetent socialist - and I was proven right. He is bacxk in the same classroom spewing the same political garbage that landed him on the front page.

More "much ado about nothing" since nothing of any benefit came from it. This is more reason that our system of public education MUST be completely overhauled, starting with the elimination of the teacher's union.

[NonValueAdded]

Good for Governor Owens too!

[VOA]

bump

[BurbankKarl]

That teacher should be fired for not teaching the precribed courses at a minimum.

[jazusamo]

Dr. Sowell is unique in that he can take an issue that has been argued for weeks, get to the meat of the issue and put it down on paper so most anyone can understand it. I don't believe there is any columnist that uses more common sense in their position than him.

[TheForceOfOne]

Here is a similar article printed recently...


The Link

An Accelerated Curriculum of Ignorance

Excerpt:
Education/Frank Salvato, Managing Editor
March 10, 2006

In days of old, when teaching right from wrong was the responsibility of parents, schools exclusively taught the basics and neither teachers nor parents could be charged with a crime if they disciplined unruly children, not only was a public education worth something, the country was a civilized place complete with ethics, morals and values. Today, the “village,” governmentally empowered to educate and look after our children, is producing arsonists and anarchists. Civility is nowhere to be found. Oh, happy day!

It’s ironic that “evolved” liberal institutions of learning (such are our universities and increasingly, our high schools), complete with accelerated courses in the humanities, sociology and ethics, are increasingly producing graduates who have no ethics, no understanding of morality and no mastery of the skills that can reasonably be described as the basics of education.

[george76]

Thomas Sowell's "Inside American Education" documents numerous ways teachers attack parental authority.

Teachers have asked third-graders, "How many of you ever wanted to beat up your parents?"

In a high school health class, students were asked, "How many of you hate your parents?"

[little jeremiah]

Later read Sowell BTTT.

[Coleus]

Indoctrination of our youth

[kittymyrib]

What this spineless school administration should have done the morning after the student released the teacher's rant was to administer the National Geography Test to his students. That would have revealed how much time he had spent teaching the subject for which he was being paid. No teacher should be free to indulge in political masturbation to make himself feel good, while his subject is neglected. What should upset the parents of Bennish's students is that only ONE had the backbone to object to this incompetents abuse of classroom ethics. Of course, this is CO, after all. I would hope that in Texas there might be more students with courage to challenge such indoctrination.

[JZelle]

Sowell is the MAN bump!