…it’s the teachers who are in need of correction.
Those of you who are familiar with my writing know that I’m not a big fan of unions, especially the unions that are in public schools, largely because they make no bones about their primary goal being making a better life for their members, and the students be damned.
But one of my major bones to pick with teachers unions is that they do not promote excellence, and often end up protecting bad teachers, who either have problems with fact, or who bully students rather than teach them. Today’s Union Approved Mark of Excellence Teacher is the brilliant Constitutional scholar, Tonya Dixon-Neely, who after a contentious discussion with a student who dared to point out that if her “Fact of the Day” on the alleged Romney bullying story was a big deal, then so would the President’s story about he bullied a female classmate would also be a story, shouted that the student was “disrespecting the President” and that doing so was “illegal”.
And what was the school district’s response to this display of belligerent ignorance on the part of its employee? She is suspended with pay.
No doubt she is thrilled. Now she won’t have that pesky job thing getting in the way of her daytime television.
Our next contestant is Jay McDowell, an economics teacher at Howell High School in Howell, Michigan, who decided that it was appropriate to take a page out of Dan Savage’s book, and fight against perceived bullying by…bullying.
“I rasied my hand and I asked him what the difference was between him wearing a purple shirt and explaining that to us, but Danielle couldn’t wear her rebel flag belt buckle,” Daniel told the National Organization for Marriage’s Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance. “He asked me if I was really against the homosexual lifestyle and I told him that the homosexual lifestyle was against my Catholic religion.”
An altercation ensued, and Daniel says he quietly left the classroom after McDowell told him “we lost our right to free speech once we stepped inside his classroom.”
“As I was walking out into the hallway he came running out after me, calling me a racist and a bigot, telling me he’s going to get me suspended for bullying and harassment against gays,” said the teen. “When he started yelling at me, I was just kind of in shock, I didn’t know how to react to it.”
Got that? How dare you have religious views contrary to the flavor of the month of the activistas! You must be a hater and bigot and homophobe, and, and and…
I could be sarcastic about the incredible improvement that the teachers have made in getting the kids so well taught in what they are supposed to learn that we shout them down for not buying into the Obama worship, or setting aside their religious beliefs for the “acceptance” of a lifestyle that the pink swastikas have deemed our highest societal aspiration. I could, but instead, I’d rather give the kids an “attaboy” for not backing down from bullies who want to strip them of their freedom of conscience, and the right to state the obvious without regard to how it fractures or wounds the worldviews of the very small ideologues who prefer reflexive rote conformity to actually teaching, and the thinking that occurs when viewpoints are discussed and actually defended.
If shame was still recognized as such, I would prescribe large doses of it for both, along with unemployment and a record indicating the complete unfitness for the job that they have thus far demonstrated.
Taxes, Stupidity, and Death 
Unfortunately according to this video she may be right as our constitutionally challenged betters have made it so they don’t have to listen to the hoi polloi at least in person.
h/t CM Blake
You got this one right. Without knowing the first teacher’s total track record I’d recommend suspension without pay as opposed to outright firing. Now if there is a pattern of this ignorance, then I’d agree with you that she needs to go.
As for “your first amendment rights end when you enter my classroom”, to some extent that is true. Teachers must maintain some level of authority to control their classrooms and that means students can’t just say whatever enters their heads.
On the other hand, it is grossly unfair for a teacher to present a viewpoint that deserves or invites challenge and then to tell the students they have to keep their mouths shut.
While I also give attaboys to the ballsy kids who challenged these teachers, I must confess my advice to my own child would be to “go along to get along”. There’s plenty of time once they become adults to stand on principle. When you’re a kid, it’s an unfair fight you’d best avoid.
When they start offering opinion as fact, and squelching any voice to the contrary, or are abusing their authority as a means to bully, the respect thing is out, the gloves are off, and its on.
Nothing to add, BIC. Great article, flawless points, brilliant, mocking humor of the inane. The Savage commentary was especially noteworthy. 😆
I made a comment at “R”‘s place of same subject matter, and Rutherford told me this one was worth a definite read.
It was.
It’s a shame we don’t allow caning in this country. I would certainly like to place a few strokes with the holed bamboo shoot across two naked sets of adult butt cheeks. Consider it a form of adult corporal punishment with an incredible lasting memory.
The biggest issue our union is fighting right now is the inclusionary model of teaching. They basically have mainstreamed almost all special education students. The problem is they have gone against their own model and exceeded the number of special education students put into each classroom. My numbers are almost 50 percent special ed. State law allows only 16 in a resource room. However, since I am a general ed classroom, they can exceed this amount. They have done this not to save money but to hire more administrators or bureaucracy. Their solution was to bribe us with days out of the classroom. I couldn’t believe it. So, in this case, can you agree the union has a valid beef that, if we get resolved next contract, will at least be an example where the union is advocating for the good of the kids?
Is the good of the kids incidental to what the rank and file wants for the sake of their sanity?
I mean, it would happen to be in the better interest of the kids to reduce the special ed numbers, but at the same time, that lowers the bar for working conditions from unmanaged chaos to managed chaos.
If we get our way will the kids be better off or not?
Maybe your right. Maybe this is just another evil scheme by self interested teachers, me being one of them. In fact, for the sake of argument, I will concede that to you.
The question still remains. This will be the biggest road block in our contract negotiations because it will require administration to make cuts on their end.
I ask again. Even if this is an exception, will my union improve the school or not?
By the way, I teach highschool. Do you think my sanity is much different then the sanity of a hard working college bound student who ends up in my class room by luck of the draw? This inclusionary model was born out of a leftist philosophy of education. Utopian garbage.
DR, I say this with extreme prejudice but the problem lies in how “special ed” kids are classified. If I am not mistaken you have told me in the past that the vast majority of special ed kids have ADHD or some other deficiency that makes them a behavior challenge.
I am, for obvious reasons, 100% in favor of mainstreaming physically disabled kids who are otherwise teachable … i.e. no mental or behavioral deficiency. Mainstreaming is best for the mental health of the child and early exposure to the disabled by non-disabled kids, lessens their likelihood to find disabled children “other”.
You may disagree.
Rutherford, Im not talking about physical handicaps. Those are no problem. In fact, they normally aren’t classified as special education these days.
Honestly, the model can function if the numbers are capped. Its really that simple.
I love teaching asperger or autistic kids by the way. I do well because I don’t needle them non stop. The ones who are really rough are the deranged or psycopathic. We get those now too.
I ask again. Even if this is an exception, will my union improve the school or not?
If you are sucessful, it will.
Well, as a parent of an Aspie and an ASD kid, I can tell you that the challenge that might come from the Aspie is that he or she might learn the subject matter better than the teacher, or that they will be focusing a bit too much on the work to the exclusion of social aspects.
But…we tried to put Jake in a regular classroom first, and it just didn’t work.
I was the one who had to come to grips with that, not the teachers. It wasn’t because he wasn’t smart, but the autism characteristics just manifest themselves in a way that created both disruptions for the rest of the class, and in at least one instance, endangered HIM. As he has gotten older, and really adapted to the school routine, I have been told that they think they can gradually mainstream him into “regular” classes, and he does for certain activities, like library, right now. I have to tell myself that he actually enjoys riding the short bus, and in so doing, he is in an environment that he enjoys and has fun in, with conditions controlled enought that he can be kept safe. He wouldn’t get why other kids would think that funny, but I do, and some days, that bothers me enough for both of us.
I couldn’t do it if I wasn’t certain that the teacher and her assistants actually cared about him almost as much as I do.
There are some insecure people out there so I don’t doubt it. But what kind of jack ass teacher would have problems with a kid learning the material more then said teacher?
I love when that happens. I’ve had asperger kids that were like my personal reference station. Don’t know the kind of tank used in a battle? Bam! Johnny does!
Some asperger kids, aren’t that smart but becuase of the Rain Man stereotype, believe their own hype. That gets a little annoying.