Students walk out in protest of teacher suspension

Approximately 150 students from Overland High School in Aurora, Colorado walked out of school in protest after a teacher was placed on administrative leave for making remarks comparing Bush to Hitler.


A student, who regularly tapes lectures as study aids, recorded the remarks and gave them to his dad, who complained to the school.

The guy is a geography teacher. He was out of line putting forth his political views in the classroom, instead of teaching the required curriculum, imo.

The student that taped the lecture was on Hannity and Colmes tonight. He said this was not an isolated incident, and that this teacher routinely spends approx. 20% of class time teaching geography and 80% of the time spouting his personal political views as fact.

This teacher is welcome to his political views but the classroom is not the place for that kind of discussion. Even if it is a political science course, the views of the teacher are a bit extreme.

Goes to show you how much enfluence teachers have on Kids. He probably had them so brain washed with nothiing but his BS.

I hope they ban him from teaching, he does not belong in the school system.

No, it demonstrates that High School students will jumop at the chance to skip school, no matter the reason. Weren't you ever in high school? Hell yeah I would have walked out "in protest" - And then I'd forget about it and enjoy my several hours of free time.

haha I can't believe the education system is being defended!

I think these students know more than some might expect and are actually supporting this guy..despite him showing his views..those are the kind of teachers we need..not that feed regurgitating bull# but make you think for yourself

These are high school students. They have NO RIGHT to leave school in protest. They do have the right to file a complaint, tell thier parents, talk to the teacher and just not pay attention to the man and get an easy "A" (that's what I would have done )

The teacher was wrong and should be punished, should've kept his political views outside of geography, imo. But the kids still do not the right to walk out.

EDIT: mistake, thanks Boat

Anyways, should've kept his mouth shut.



[edit on 2/3/2006 by SportyMB]

No, they walked out because he was sepended from teaching. And of course he should have been, he is a public school teacher, he shouldn't be allow to rant on and on about his personal beliefs in class.

-- Boat

I'm not sure if the teacher was wrong or not, since I don't know the exact situation except what the media is spouting off. I hardly trust the media. There had to be a good reason for that many highschool students to walk out in protest. Some of them probablly just wanted some free time, but do you know how hard it is to get a large group of students to do something like that in the first place, since they are usually divided in their clicks and social classes spurning all others out side of their group? Something else has to have been going on here for students to ban together for a teacher. Heck most students hate or have an indefference towards their teacher.

Why shouldnl't the students have the right to walk out in protest? They are just execrising their God given freedoms, and the freedoms given by the original founders of the constitution. Teachers have the right to strike, why don't the students?

This nonsense that they can file a complaint or tell their parents is a bunch of BS. Highschool students are treated like grade school students when it comes to things like this by the teachers and administrators. The students really don't know what is good for them, and they don't know what they are saying. Yet some of them are old enough or almost old enough to go die for our country.

What are the parents going to do? Their hands are practically tied behind their back. PTA meetings? Yea right, the parents are just paid lip service if that. Help the parent who has a real problem with the teacher. It is like going to war with Rambo, except you arn't Rambo and your about to get your arse wiped all over the place and thrown out of the building.

This might be the only alternative the students had to getting their voice heard. As I said I believe there is much more going on here than a teacher voicing his opnions in the class room.

Voicing his opnions on politics and actually getting students to think for a change is better than telling stories about how to cheat the local department store. I had a teacher like that, but he was never kicked out. What if he was using politics as a way to tie in countries with their governments. The students are old enough for those types of disscussions. I would think it would make georghpy much more interesting and help the kids remember what country is which.

The school district may actually what to kick him out because he is actually getting the kids to think instead of becoming drone like machines that are suppose to do what they are told without question.

Yes the kids are being brainwashed and dumbdowned by the system whether the teacher and/or administrators realize what is happening. All they know is that they have rules and regs to maintain, a set way the teachers are suppose to teach, and how kids are suppose to act and learn. Anything that goes against that system is a threat. This teacher may have been going against the system and has been nailed for it.

I know of another teacher who is being nailed for actually teaching instead of teaching the dumbed down touchy/feely version of history that hardly had anything to do with history he was told to teach.

My mothers friend just recently had her daughter call her from the school bathroom in tears. The substitute teacher they had told them all "You're not eating right." or something to that effect, and made them all watch a video from PETA about how they kill cows and pigs and chickens and process them. The girl wants to be a vet, so was horrified by the video, but this is total BS and has no place in the classroom. Her mother is FURIOUS and I hope they fire the substitute. Teachers shouldn't be pushing an agenda in the classroom. They have every right to believe what they want, but they shouldn't be pushing it at the students like this.

The issue here is not the rights of the students to protest. Remember that school is not a democracy.

The issue is what the teacher was talking about instead of the curriculum. Voicing his personal political opinions is the wrong thing to do. He was not teaching all political views, just his own. And he is a young man, one that the students can easily relate to.

So keep in mind what he real issue is here: the actions of the teacher. And he was wrong in what he did.

Whoa whoa whoa, the teacher did not rant on about his own personal beliefs, he made a statement and said, something along the lines of i dont expect you to agree with this i want to even argue against it. He was trying to stimulate an intelectual debate in a class to make kids think. That sure sounds like the sort of teacher we should have in every class room. I dont agree that GW is on a par wit hitler but he is close to a mad man. If any of you watch the news you will have heard what the guy said as a student taped it then ran off to the local press/radio. The kis said he was trying to stop kids being brainwashed or something along those lines, yet it seems he has failed coz he has already been been brainwashed into defending the bush administration no matter what.

IMO suspending this teacher sucks.

While you a right, the teacher should have kept his mouth shut, i heard the kid being interviewed and immediately sensed that he was a sht stirring, not well liked student. A trouble maker.

I betcha anything this kid is trouble and that he isnt well liked by other students. I got this by watching him.

I also think there was jealousy, because when asked if he was a good teacher, the kid said he got along very well with some students....

I just think the kid is creepy. Who knows.....Betcha the parents are creepy, betcha the teacher is creepy.....

I propose that all those in america that think the teacher is correct in both substance and attitude be given 40 acres and an suv to move to colorado.

I saw the tape of them 'leaving in protest' to support the teacher.
Most of them didn't have a clue as to why they were leaving
the school. Most were just jumping around, whooping it up, and
I even saw one kid flash a gang sign at the camera as he and his
friends 'gave attitude' at the camera.

If it were a well informed bunch of teens who knew what the
issues were, and understood the fact that the teacher broke
school law and that was why he was being suspended then
not only would they not be out protesting, they'd be
supporting the school.

As it is ... they were just whooping it up and glad to be able
to semi-legally skip a few classes.

This is a subject to be talked about in a college level Humanities or Poli-Sci class. This is not for a high-school level geography course. I heard the tape on the news last night, and this guy was preaching, not aking questions. It is a weak person who attempts to push their agenda on a 15 or 16 year old in a classroom setting.

Now, if this was an afterschool Democratic club or such, then this would be perfectly fine. You would have like minded people who could discuss the political system that exists. There are children who could be influenced incorrectly, confused or scared. If my son came home and told me his teacher compared any US gov't member past or present to Hitler I would be pretty pissed off. Give him a week of with pay to think about it.

They should suspend each one of the kids that walked. All they are doing is causing problems during school hours, and most high school kids do not need any more distraction. Protest after school all you want.

Flyersfan, when i was a kid, bombscare day was a treat to most of us. You better beleive it.

You are correct. These students didnt walk away in protest, hell, they were just glad to go home.

The TV news didn't show the kid defending George Bush.
What I saw was him defending his right not to have to put
up with a bunch of personal political venom that he alleged
comes from the teacher consistantly. Also, he is defending his
right NOT to have to listen to junk that is outside what the
school board, town and state have approved.



IMO suspending the teacher is exactly what the law calls for.

What if the teacher went off on a tangent about how those who
believe in evolution are damned because the bible says it isn't
true. What if the teacher constantly threw bible quotes in the
kids faces ... claimed extreme things about how their respective
religions weren't 'the right ones' ?? What if he used 'social studies'
as a guise for this extremism?

That would be outside what was approved for study.
That would also call for suspending him, wouldn't it?
You wouldn't want YOUR children subjected to that, right?
It would be against the law, and against what was approved for study.

The teachers political remarks are no different from the above
scenerio.

The state and town approve certain things for teaching. Teachers
have no right to impose their own views onto students. No right
what so ever. It is against the law.

There seems to be more going on here then meets the eye.

Allow me to do a tap dance if you will, rat-tat-tat-tat-ta-da!

Ok, we need to develop a background on this story first.

Why did the teacher mention Bush and Hitler in a comparitive statement?
Did someone ask?

Why does a kid bring a tape recorder in for a mostly visual subject?
What good does knowing the name of countries if you can't locate them with your eyes on a map? (He was trapping the teacher who would focus more on an agenda, than geography?)

Contrary to popular belief geography and polotics go hand in hand, with-out polotics many emergent countries, and countries lost to history would never be on the map. A country furthers it's political agenda to become a "player" regionally, then continentally, then globally.

Often there is conflict between 2 or more political parties in one state or country which forces a dividing line geographically. North & South (American Civil War), India/Pakistan/Bangladesh, these countires were unified under the Indian Flag until just after World War 2, but politics and a little regional war seperated them geographically.

Back to the Questions,

Did this kid feel he was doing a service to himself, The President, or the quality of education he was receiving? Really what motivated him to tape this?

While I agree a teacher should stick to their respective subjects, teachers are people too, they ad-lib, they answer questions as mentors to growing young minds. If a very well spoken child asks a very serious question, do we tell the truth as we know it, or do we compare, contrast and try to find the answer that best fit the bare facts.

Why is the sky blue? Age 3

Why do some people dislike George Bush? Age 14


-ADHDsux4me

Ahhh the 60's. I remember them well. Tons of bomb scares.

You are so right. We always got out of doing everything and
were secretly happy that some (probably) some highschooler
called it in so we could all get out of whatever test we had that day.

Equating George Bush to Hitler is NOT stimulating kids
to think about geography. That was the class he was
supposed to be teaching .. not College Political Science
with a skew to the radical left.

Geography ... you know ... earth forms, tetonic plates,
contenents, towns, cities, rivers, oceans, map reading ....