Teacher Gone Wild!
One of my favorite memories in high school was debating with one of my favorite teachers (who also happened to be my dorm father) about communism and socialism. I was against, he was for. Despite our heated exchanges, I do not recall one incident of him losing his cool and yelling at me to "respect the President!" In fact, Ronald Reagan was our nation's president at the time. So, no. I never got a lecture about how I shouldn't say anything disparaging about the sitting President. Carter, on the other hand... well, that's a story for another day.
Today, Fox News did a story on a North Carolina student who dared to dis President Obama and got yelled at by his teacher, a Social Studies instructor, as I understand it. Apparently, Social Studies teachers much swear a blood oath of undying fealty to their President and perhaps offer up a child or two on the altar of their god. If you want to hear the longer, version, it's here:
- Comment (45)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (4)
Comments:
Mar '11
Re: Teacher Gone Wild!
To think I once had ambitions of being a high-school history teacher too.
Now I'll never get that chance to belittle others while making a fool of myself.
Oct '10
Re: Teacher Gone Wild!
Hailing from a time when classroom discipline, education and merit were the rule of the day, this exchange is disturbing. The emotional maturity of the teacher appears below that of the students.
Just how endemic is this and how far has the system fallen ?
Sep '10
Re: Teacher Gone Wild!
And public school teachers wonder why the public holds them in low regard.
Jul '11
Re: Teacher Gone Wild!
I listened to this the other day and was astounded at all the kids talking away and then I heard the teacher and realized her IQ was under 100 by a fair piece and her judgement is just as poor.
Dec '11
Re: Teacher Gone Wild!
I did not realize that MSNBC had a classroom show.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this level of cluelessness. Respect for the presidency is an important thing but respect for the truth is even more important. I do have to hand it to this teacher though she knows how to teach about bullying. :-)
Oct '10
Re: Teacher Gone Wild!
Well, she is seeing the same polling numbers everyone else sees. And it's North Carolina we're talking about here so it's understandable that she's frustrated. But you never take it out on the kids.
Jun '10
Re: Teacher Gone Wild!
On the positive side, the teacher appreciates modern art, and shares it with the kids:
Nov '10
Re: Teacher Gone Wild!
I heard this a couple of days ago. Besides the teacher's staunch and clueless defense of Obama, demanding that the student not "disrespect" the President and wild claim that people were arrested for criticizing Bush, I was absolutely appalled at her seeming lack of command of the English language. It was difficult to tell who was the teacher when I started listening because she sounded more uneducated than her students.
My 15 yo was listening with me and couldn't believe it either. It's really horrifying that there are teachers like that in the classroom, and furthermore, that the teacher's unions would seek to protect them, and the local school districts would shelter them.
When I saw the news story, the local school district had refused to that point to take any action. She wasn't suspended until it hit the Twitter-verse and went viral and they became a national laughingstock.
Jun '10
Re: Teacher Gone Wild!
Here in NC, we seem to be the home for "Election Season Lefty Teacher Viral Videos". Here's a vid from the 2008 campaign where another NC teacher berates students who support McCain.
"OOOh, Lord - John McCain; OOOOh, Jesus - John McCain". This is a Swedish(?) upload - school vid starts at 0:15.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyRWcnElKo0
Edited on May 22, 2012 at 4:56pmApr '11
Re: Teacher Gone Wild!
As someone who is a high school social studies teacher (GASP a conservative behind enemy lines) this kind of stuff just kills me. There are many people I work with in my school who are liberal in bent, but always approach things with at least somewhat of an open mind and allow those with differing opinions a fair hearing. People like this woman are why the public holds teachers in such low regard. I did major in education as an undergrad (also double in history) and was in history PhD program before I left to teach, so I have a very good grounding in both US history and the history of Western Civilization, which I teach as well). The ignorance of this woman is by no means uncommon in my experience, but neither is it the norm. There is some truth to the fact that good people avoid teaching because of they way they are view and treated and I am considering leaving for these reasons, among others. Unfortunately, the unions are bound to protect them through due process, regardless of how much idiocy and ignorance a teacher spews.
Edited on May 22, 2012 at 4:46pmSep '11
Re: Teacher Gone Wild!
It was my 8th-grade history teacher, Mr. Stine, a proud Democrat, who one day told us that "communism doesn't work because it doesn't take human nature into account". He asked us, "Does anyone know what is the opposite of communism?" No takers. "It also starts with a 'c' ", he cajoled.
A hand timidly went up, and a small voice asked, "C..c...capitalism??" This was around 1960. Probably I am the only one from that class who remembers the exchange, because the timid voice was mine. I owe Mr. Stine because he started me thinking about these things.
Can you imagine such a thing in a public school today?
Sep '11
Re: Teacher Gone Wild!
Michael, I take heart and hope you stay in the trenches!
Apr '11
Re: Teacher Gone Wild!
Maggie, I explore the evils of communism early and often with my sophomores. They all understand that it does not work because it destroys individual incentives and for all its talk of equality, leads to nothing but tyranny, despotism, and massive human loss of life. It is the great monster of the 20th century.
Dec '10
Re: Teacher Gone Wild!
Remember the old days, when none of us had a clue what our teachers' politics were? How was that possible?
I have some compassion for any liberal teachers at my kids' charter school. Because, when the kids are asked their opinion (in reality, their parents' opinion), there's pretty universal condemnation of Barack Obama's policies. Go alternative ed (charters), or go home (schooling)!
Mar '11
Re: Teacher Gone Wild!
Beyond the ridiculous claims of the teacher, the overall control of the class room was disturbing. Several students swear in the video. I am not that old but "back in my day" we would have been sent out of class for swearing.
Mar '11
Re: Teacher Gone Wild!
Hang in there, Michael. We want you on that wall. We need you on that wall.
I never had anyone even remotely as bad as this as a teacher until the Marxist/Feminist teaching assistant in Anthropology 101. The hooey was so deep that you needed hip boots, and at times a snorkel.
This kid showed no disrespect for the President. He made a statement of fact based on what is in one of Obama's autobiographies. Obama wrote that he pushed a girl down in the playground. (I have no idea if this girl was a composite, like the girls he dated. Maybe someone could ask him.)
Jun '10
Re: Teacher Gone Wild!
That wouldn't happen here because the teacher was also swearing, saying that GWB "was sh***y."
Jan '12
Re: Teacher Gone Wild!
Me too and I second his point. This is not normal. As much as I abhor the statism of public education, I am well aware of the good people who do damn good work in our schools. Wagging our heads and tut-tutting about public education makes us more like the liberals than reasoned conservatives. The teacher should be fired rather than just suspended. Maybe it'll happen.
And while I generally find unions repugnant, I can tell you that the TnEA does a wealth of good work, from defending good teachers from bureaucratic miscreants to helping improve the classroom effectiveness of teachers across the state. But, we are a right to work state, and I don't have to deal with a lot of the nonsense of the union culture.
I guess my point is, I've never seen anything like this in my schools - and I have a lot of exposure to them. My kids went to good public schools - and we moved to a particular location to ensure that they did because I know there are a lot of bad schools too.
Apr '11
Re: Teacher Gone Wild!
@ Western Chauvinist
Here within is one of the largest problems I have with conservative attitudes within education; people giving up on public schools. Yes, there are certainly problems and there are bad public schools but when one begins to look closer at the record of charters, the results are not that much better (especially considering the way charters pick and choose students, not all do it but enough do to skew the results) Rather than take an active role in the school, most conservatives I know adopt the "take the ball and go home" approach.
If people really wanted better public schools, it would happen but there are too few people willing to put in the time, research, and effort necessary to do so. Get active in your school. If people had any idea the kind of constraints that we are forced to work under, their heads would spin. Charters are not going to be the panacea that many seem to think they are and as people who spend a lot of time on this site deriding crony capitalism, we should be wary of the various "Charter companies" that do not deliver the cost savings or results that they promise.
Edited on May 22, 2012 at 6:16pmApr '11
Re: Teacher Gone Wild!
And as a conservative in public education, it is possible to affect change and bring some balance to the force so to speak, but as I mentioned, active parental involvement in their kids lives and in the life of the school is the way to solve the problem. Our hands are often tied by the threat of litigation as well as by the idea that we are looked at as the cure to all ills in society. We are supposed to be teachers, mentors, coaches, surrogate parents, psychologists, anti-bullying crusaders, and the list goes on.