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HS Teacher Giving Politcal Opinions in Class

C

Carbo

Diamond Member
My daughter, a sophomore in HS, comes home yesterday and casually mentions at the dinner table that her teacher went off on a rant on President Bush. According to my daughter, this teacher stated the following "facts":
1) President Bush was a cocaine addict when he was younger;
2) President Bush was accepted into Yale and graduated solely due to his family influence;
3) President Bush intentionally lied to the world about WMD's to push his agenda on attacking Iraq;
4) The war against terrorism is a lie to cover Bush's hidden agenda to take control of Iraq's oil fields.

There was more general rantings and lies by this teacher, but you can see her slant in all this. She then went on to say that Bush was not truly elected and the election was stolen from Al Gore by the Republicans. She apparently closed her lecture of lies by telling her students that anyone voting in November is well advised to vote for John Kerry.
This strikes me as completely wrong for a person in a position of authority to act so irresponsibly. I'm planning on calling this teacher today and voicing my feelings about this. And I'm this close to contacting the school board, too. :frown::|
 
That's inexcusable, and I would first contact the school principal before going to the school board. No teacher ought to state personal opinion as fact.

Sadly, that's the kind of thing which is happening more and more. College teachers use their classes as a platform to push personal agendas all the time and because of tenure, there's nothing that can be done. At least in HS and below, the schools are run locally and there is some accountability.
 
Was it a class about Politics or something like Math? I could see how the teacher could offer their opinion in a class of a political nature and students would assume it was fact.

In any case, if the teacher didn't make it clear, then she screwed up.
 
id definetely contact the school board for the sake of the other children who could potentially be influenced by that garbage
 
Those four statements are lies?

The teacher shouldn't have mentioned it. I've had that happen to me before, in college though. It was unprofessional for her to voice her opinion to attempt to sway the students opinions. You should contact somebody about it.


: ) Amanda
 
Originally posted by: SWirth86
Whoa, who cares?
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Anyone with a brain. That eliminates you, knucklehead.



That's inexcusable, and I would first contact the school principal before going to the school board. No teacher ought to state personal opinion as fact.
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Agreed. That will be done shortly.
Was it a class about Politics or something like Math? I could see how the teacher could offer their opinion in a class of a political nature and students would assume it was fact.
Click to expand...
It actually took place in a Speech and Debate class. However, the class was taking a test at the time unrelated to this, and the teacher was walking about the room uttering her "truths". Not the first time she has pushed her agenda on the class, I'm told.
 
Originally posted by: Carbo
Originally posted by: ohtwell
Those four statements are lies?: ) Amanda
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If it wasn't for the french toast in bed, I'd be angry at you, woman!
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Hahahahaha! I held up my end of the bargain, so you still have to post your recipe for the waffles. 😀


: ) Amanda
 
1) Provable or disprovable.
2) Opinion; class should take it as such
3) dito
4) dito

She then went on to say that Bush was not truly elected and the election was stolen from Al Gore by the Republicans.
Click to expand...
Lie.
She apparently closed her lecture of lies by telling her students that anyone voting in November is well advised to vote for John Kerry.
Click to expand...
Opinion.

All you're noticing is that a teacher with good (meaning he/she thinks they're doing the class a service), but ill-informed intentions (and inappropriate eitherway) is trying to rant off their political opinions to a class. Teachers do it all the time. They know that they have an attentive audience with little chance of rebuttal, so they talk away.
 
Originally posted by: Carbo
Originally posted by: SWirth86
Whoa, who cares?
Click to expand...
Anyone with a brain. That eliminates you, knucklehead.



That's inexcusable, and I would first contact the school principal before going to the school board. No teacher ought to state personal opinion as fact.
Click to expand...
Agreed. That will be done shortly.
Was it a class about Politics or something like Math? I could see how the teacher could offer their opinion in a class of a political nature and students would assume it was fact.
Click to expand...
It actually took place in a Speech and Debate class. However, the class was taking a test at the time unrelated to this, and the teacher was walking about the room uttering her "truths". Not the first time she has pushed her agenda on the class, I'm told.
Click to expand...

So it is one of those teacher that can't STFU even during a test. Man I hate people who love to hear them selves talk that much.
 
My question to you is this:
If it was a conservative-slanted rant, would you express the same outrage? Are you concerned because these are lies, or just because the are LIBERAL lies?
 
Frankly I personally believe most of those things, but it isn't really the teachers place to basically force her views on others like that. Usually the teacher has the wisdom to basically act as a source of information and not actually offer up their own viewpoint.
 
Originally posted by: Jzero
My question to you is this:
If it was a conservative-slanted rant, would you express the same outrage? Are you concerned because these are lies, or just because the are LIBERAL lies?
Click to expand...

it doesn't matter, in either case the comments should have been prefaced with the statement "Now this is only my OPINION but...."
 
Originally posted by: Jzero
My question to you is this:
If it was a conservative-slanted rant, would you express the same outrage? Are you concerned because these are lies, or just because the are LIBERAL lies?
Click to expand...

I think he, like so many others, is pissed off at the teachers that run their politics instead of teach. Teachers are becoming more and more political and test scores keep dropping. Maybe if the teachers taught class instead of lead propaganda sessions then maybe the test scores will increase. Maybe its just a wacky idea but i just think students learn when taught and propaganda isnt teaching but then again maybe im missing the point of education.
 
Originally posted by: Jzero
My question to you is this:
If it was a conservative-slanted rant, would you express the same outrage? Are you concerned because these are lies, or just because the are LIBERAL lies?
Click to expand...

good point. i wonder the same. i share some of the views as the teacher (as to the election and iraq)...but dunno about yale and the rest.
 
Originally posted by: BigJelly
Originally posted by: Jzero
My question to you is this:
If it was a conservative-slanted rant, would you express the same outrage? Are you concerned because these are lies, or just because the are LIBERAL lies?
Click to expand...

I think he, like so many others, is pissed off at the teachers that run their politics instead of teach. Teachers are becoming more and more political and test scores keep dropping. Maybe if the teachers taught class instead of lead propaganda sessions then maybe the test scores will increase. Maybe its just a wacky idea but i just think students learn when taught and propaganda isnt teaching but then again maybe im missing the point of education.
Click to expand...
Maybe to a degree but test scores are dropping because kids are dumb, teachers are lazy/stupid, etc. 🙂 I don't think the majority of teachers spend a good portion of their class leading propaganda sessions.
 
Originally posted by: Jzero
Maybe to a degree but test scores are dropping because kids are dumb,
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whoa did i miss where human DNA changed so much that every year our offspring is getting dumber?
teachers are lazy/stupid, etc.
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no argument there. NOTE i mean in general the highschool i went to had great devoted teachers but on average current teachers are stupid, lazy, and could care less.
I don't think the majority of teachers spend a good portion of their class leading propaganda sessions.
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You'd be suprised. And as the nazis learned start propaganda slow and in small incriments and eventually you will be able to saturate everything with it.
 
While I am far more sympathetic to this teacher's political opinions than you, she had zero right to force them on her young, captive and impressionable audience, and you have every right to be angry and to pursue sanctions against her.

One thing I would do if I were you is to find a way to get absolute corroboration from at least two other members of this class as to what the teacher said before you go in to complain. Make your case airtight, and the authorities will be less able to ignore it.

Indoctrination, from any side, has no place in our public school system.
 
Originally posted by: gistech1978
if those are lies, i would hate to see your version the truth.
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This thread isn't about those items being right or wrong, dipshit. It's about crappy teaching.
 
I'm not 100% certain about this it's been 6 years since highschool, but I seem to remember our government teacher saying that it was against school board policy (or was it againts the law?) for the teacher to discuss politics in class outside of what was required in the course curriculum. She said it basically boiled down to the students should never know which political party the teacher support or something like that.

That was her response to a direct question about which party she supported during a discussion about the parties.
 
I would actually say 2 and 3 are true. However, it is not right for the teacher to tell her students these things as they certainly cannot be proven.
 
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