Posted on 12/20/2008 12:04:31 PM PST by Tai_Chung
A public school teacher in Mississippi marked down an eleven-year-old’s Christmas poem assignment and told the boy to rewrite it because he used the word “Jesus,” which, the instructor explained, is a name not allowed in school.
Liberty Counsel, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, reports that sixth-grader Andrew White of Hattiesburg, Miss., chose to write the poem on the assignment “What Christmas means to me.”
After White turned in his rough draft, however, his teacher circled the word “Jesus” and deducted a point from his grade. The teacher then explained that he needed to rewrite the poem without the offending word.
When White’s parents questioned the teacher, Liberty Counsel reports, they received a response email explaining, “[Andrew] and another child did a poem about Christ. I know we can’t discuss these type [sic] of things in school so I asked the two of them to do another poem of their choice.”
Mathew D. Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and dean of Liberty University School of Law, expressed dismay that despite many legal clarifications on the issue, there are still educationl officials that mistakenly believe students can’t speak of their faith at school.
“Some educators need education that the story of Christmas is not banned from public schools,” Staver said in a statement.
Staver says he was “horrified that a sixth-grader was told by his teacher, ‘we can’t discuss these types of things in school.’ I don’t understand why some people don’t get it. Christmas is a state and federal holiday. Schools are closed to celebrate this holiday. Obviously, Christmas is constitutional.”
The principal at White’s Thames Elementary School agreed with Staver.
After White’s parents encouraged Andrew to turn in his first, unedited poem, Principal Carrie Hornsby changed the boy’s grade to a 100 and conceded that there was nothing improper in using Jesus’ name. Hornsby also coordinated a mailing to all the school’s parents, explaining that students’ religious expression is permitted under federal guidelines.
White’s parents, however, told OneNewsNow that the situation has caused them to consider homeschooling their son, concerned about other challenges to the faith Andrew may be experiencing apart from their knowledge.
Andrew’s original poem, “A Great Christmas,” reads: “The best Christmas ever is when everyone is there. It is when everyone is laughing here and there. That is the Christmas I want to share. Christmas is about Jesus’ birth. About peace on Earth. This is what Christmas is about. It is when He lay in a manger. And the three wise men come to see. That’s what it means to me.”
A+, Andrew!
It's too bad that many parents have to wait until they or their child personally experience something like this before considering homeschooling.
The ASSIGNMENT mentions Christ! The kid was just doing the assignment!
Andrew got "the point" better than the dumb teacher!
The Principal took care of this situation.
When a teacher is both ignorant and prejudiced, parents ought to consider an alternative.
Yes, but now this ignoramus “teacher” will be out to get this kid for making him look foolish, and worse yet, forcing him to back down.
The kid would be far better off outside this dubious “school”.
I’d expect this kind of bigotry in a deep blue state but Mississippi? It is disgusting that such liberal human waste have begun to infest such a place.
A+ Andrew
C’mon, folks. Give Andrew an attaboy.
An essay to our fifth grade class back in the 60's"
Date April 26th, 1968)
Some would wish the war would end. I do, but gramps says we can win and i believe old sad Sac . If I could have anything in the world it wouldn't be to be rich. It would not be to have peace on earth. it would be to have a healthy mother. My mom only has one leg from gas gangrene . Back in 1948 she skinned he knee playing softball at Lincoln High School in San Francisco and instead of giving penicillin and sulfa medications they amputated her leg three separate times until the disease finally stopped. "Doctors don't sue doctors." said my grandma Dynamite
I have five brothers and sister. I am the oldest. Mom cam down with breast cancer in 1964. They gave her six months to live. Now it's April 1968 and she's in the hospital more than at home. Last night she took a taxi home just to see us, an IV still in here arm, skinny and in her hospital gown. She hugged us all, cried, and left.
The other day Dr's Chino, and two others amputated her adrenal glands and spleen. She hasn't much time left. No body parts either, no breasts, no lymph nodes, no kidney, no adrenal glands, no leg, no spleen, no hair, but she's our mom and we love her. She'll die soon because even if I'm only 9 years old the doctors told me the anti-bodies are losing. Last night we, the doctor and I used some from my chemistry test tubes and drove to UCLA( 150 miles round trip) and he told me we were looking for similar enzymes.
We had a "man to man" talk. Between you and me she will not live long but I'm still too young to understand death. So yes, I want the war to end. I hear the bombs every night from Camp Pendleton and hear the low jets flying. This is a dangerous world to grow up in. But what I want for "anything in this world, is just so simple is a healthy mother because I love her, and I have no idea how to be a man at my age.
( She died a few weeks later. Last words, "I'll be out of here by tomorrow). She was.
If a person is going to pray to the King of Kings, he hears your voice whether a child or the homeless old man down the road. maybe the answer will be no, maybe yes....but never quite, never surrender and never lose faith, May the Lord bless you may his face shine upon you and bless you all the days of your life.
Where was this in MS? I would think most teachers would understand the underlying principal here. Also, the essay was what Christmas meant to this student. He answered that. I don’t think it would happen in Big D where I live, but you never know.
The true meaning of Christmas will not be taught by the Communists trying to subvert our culture and overturn capitalism. It is a wise thing that parents take a little time to home school their children with knowledge of the historical foundation of Western Civilization, Christianity. This is something that many teachers have forgotten, never learned or aligned themselves with the Marxist hate campaign against Christianity.
The NEA (National Education Association) is the teachers union, and probably the cause of this event.
What if the kid’s name had been Jesus Martinez?
“I’d expect this kind of bigotry in a deep blue state but Mississippi?”
I was also surprised to see this from a Mississippi school, but the dark side is invading everywhere.
At least this had a happy ending.
If this had been California, the kid would probably have been expelled, and the teacher been promoted.
The first thing communism does is eliminate religion, so that the government can be the only body that tells people what is right or wrong.
There’s the Principal’s email address. We always write when things are wrong, we should write when someone sets things right.
Good for Andy’s parents. They stood behind him and stood up to an ignorant, PC teacher. More parents/citizens need to do this. Perhaps the left would hit an occasional speed bump on its way to the destruction of a great nation.
Good for Andy’s parents. They stood behind him and stood up to an ignorant, PC teacher. More parents/citizens need to do this. Perhaps the left would hit an occasional speed bump on its way to the destruction of a great nation.
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