Kansas Teacher Claims Conservative Views Led to Loss of Job

Fox News ^ | 6.12.09 | Joshua Miller

[libh8er]

......

Latham also said that Gentry asked him about a "McCain-Palin" bumper sticker on his car.

"She said, 'I don't know how you could support that woman,'" Latham said. "That was the beginning of what was going on. They were trying to find a reason to get rid of me."

The married father of three said the experience hasn’t affected his desire to teach. And support from students and a local conservative group have inspired him to fight for his job.

Chloe Mercer, who graduated Lawrence High School last month, said Latham's class was her favorite and said he was fair despite his decision not to show Obama's inauguration in class.

"He chose not to show it, but he printed out Obama's speech and we read it and discussed what we felt was good about it," Mercer told FOXNews.com. "[Latham] was fair. He listened to all sides of every issue. He actually made print-outs of every candidate and how they felt on certain hot-button issues."

Latham defended his decision not to show Obama's inauguration because he'd opted not to show any similar events.

"I've never shown an inauguration," he said. "I never showed any of Bush's; I wouldn't have shown McCain's. I was not showing any bias towards Obama ... I didn't intend to interrupt the class."

Asked if she felt Latham brought his personal politics into the classroom, Mercer replied, "Not really. He was very good about looking at both candidates. Sometimes his conservative side would show, but my opinion along with anyone else's was always valued."

.....

[Rifleman]

My wife has a tshirt with a pic of Quantrell on it and “Lawrence is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.” She thinks that we west-central Missourians need to ride to Lawrence about once a decade and burn ‘em out, just to keep our hands in.

I think that is a...little excessive.

[FreedomPoster]

I already thought it deserved one. Your comment made it a must-do.

CWII ping, on the story, and the comment replied-to. They are almost certainly indoctrinating your children if they are in public schools.

[Hat-Trick]

Most all Big 12 college towns are liberal crap-holes - with Boulder topping the list and Lincoln, NE not far behind. Austin is another liberal town, Ames also. I think Baylor is pretty conservative, and I can’t speak for College Station.

[thulldud]

Never seems to be an issue when leftists do it.

But if you really want to get the politics out of the schools, you should get the government out of them.

That would ease the problem considerably.

[patriot preacher]

Keep politics out of the schools. Right or Left, it is wrong.
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As a College Professor who teaches Religion and History, I can tell you that is NOT possible. While a good teacher can articulate both (or all) sides of a given issue, in many cases the students themselves will make the connections to current issues that relate to past events or underlying philosophical/ideological principles. The GOOD Teacher can GUIDE the discussion — even debate/encourage debate — without totally tipping his/her hand on their personal beliefs usually.

It should NOT, however, be a goal to separate current events from their historic/philosophical roots — THAT is why the LEFT has been SO good at indoctrinating our children, because they’ve learned that the FIRST step to indoctrination is to separate their reality with the events that produced that reality... Empty, uncritical minds are perfect canvasses on which they paint THEIR vision of Amerika.

[patriot preacher]

But if you really want to get the politics out of the schools, you should get the government out of them.

That would ease the problem considerably.
_________________

Agreed! Want to solve the education problems in America? Privatize the schools — ALL of them. Every Pre-K - 12th should be set free. Let ‘em charge tuition (remember, no one would have to pay local, state or even the federal portion of taxes going to education, so tuition could be more affordable...) Abolish the federal Dept of Education (one of the few failures of Ronald Reagan as President), toss out all those stupid federal test requirements, programs, measurements, regulations, etc...NONE of the Feds business!

What of the poor kids whose parents still can’t afford to send them to school? What? Seems to me this is the perfect opportunity for many do-gooder liberals who, coincidentally would be OUT OF WORK because their cushy bureaucratic federal education jobs would be gone! They would be PERFECT to actually RAISE support, solicit CONTRIBUTIONS from their wonderfully giving and charitable Liberal friends and networks, and teach these kids in the CLASSROOM setting, with them, daily! :-D And, if they decided that wasn’t their “cup o’ tea,” I’m quite sure the Catholic Church would expand their parochial schools (not to mention a host of Baptists and other Protestant and religious groups!), and Private schools would institute new outreach programs, and private educational corporations — seeing the great opportunity to make a buck and train future employees and entrepreneurs — would JUMP at the chance to build successful teaching programs, school systems, etc... Heck, the States could even RENT OUT the old school building TO these groups — and LET THE PARENT DECIDE WHERE their kids attend school, and WHAT they learn there....

Just thinking out loud folks....Sorry...