Another Teacher on Leave for Politically Incorrect Teaching

After the Bennish Flap, this past Thursday, a Colorado bill was introduced that would allow schools to fire teachers who don't present both sides of an issue. I wonder... does that apply to praising the current administration and the war on terrah? Will teachers be required to also present the side of corruption and death? Somehow, I doubt it.

This is the story of a music teacher who has been placed on leave (permanently) because she innocently showed a video (from the school library) to her students to illustrate bass and tenor voices and other opera stylings.

Source

Tresa Waggoner, the Bennett School District music teacher put on paid leave for showing a video clip of the opera Faust, said Thursday that she's looking for a new job.
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The video clip, narrated by opera star Joan Sutherland, featured sock puppets singing in French from the 16th-century morality tale.

Several parents complained that the video, which Waggoner got from the school library, contained references to abortion and Satan worship.

In French?!?!? References in French to Satan and abortion?

And this teacher is openly Christian. She is a Christian singer with Christian CDs. I guess she's not Christian enough.

This seems to be the latest political movement to get 'liberal' teachings out of the schools and replace them with right wing ideals like religion, God, family (the 'right' kind of family) and Christmas Trees.

Teachers who dare are taught a political lesson.

The foolishness these past weeks over classroom comments by Overland High School geography teacher Jay Bennish was never about the children.
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No, folks, the Jay Bennish affair was all about politics. It was all about retribution for the young man's prompting his advanced-placement students to take a long and critical look at the actions of the Bush administration.
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In 2006 America, if you're a teacher and you blast George W. Bush and his policies - and they have you on tape! - fully expect Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly and the governor of Colorado to come for your backside.

Great thread, BH!

The more I see these examples, the more convinced I am that what is happening on the political scene today is the direct consequence of twenty years of dumbing down Americans via their education system. How else can one explain the utter ignorance of Americans concerning something so fundamental as the First Amendment found in the Constitution?

We are seeing America's decline not because of the enemies from without, but because of those from within. We have lost our way.... Forgotten the lessons of the past...

For all of the talk concerning patriotism and love of country, we are voluntarily giving our future away...

Actually I see it in two different ways, one like many said before, when you go against the administration you become a target.

But in the other hand the voicing of the disappointment against the administration is making head lines.

Actually it maybe that is more people around that are very angry about the state of affairs in our country.

Then again people that has supported the administration are also getting angry because it has not live up to their standards.

Uh am I figuring this out or what... It is politically incorrect to offend people of any religion especially freaks like SATANISTS. Just because the newspaper article was written to be deceptive doesn't mean that it is difficult to figure out what happened here.

What Christian would be against the story of Faust?

Yes...

As the article states regarding the tale of Faust, "Early Christian teachers used the story to show the horrors that befall those who give in to the devil's temptations"

I guess the correct thing to have done in this case would have been to have presented the alternative view, showing the benefits of giving in to the devil's temptations?

Just when I think we've come a long way since the banning of Huckleberry Finn and Lady Chatterly's Lover, we get a story like this. Sigh.

Ok a couple of things I *do not* understand.

Firstly this is a school right? If you do not learn things such as satan and abortion in school, where would you learn it? Real life experience?

Secondly, she used a LIBRARY video. Shouldn't the school be responsible then for providing a video to the teacher?

Lastly - in my understanding it was in French. If you are smart enough to know French as well as English in my eyes you are smart enough to understand how satan and abortion fit into the grand scheme of things.

These people go to school, shouldn't the learn about these things before they hit the wide open world where they may find these in abundance?

So much for education.

- Nazgarn

Originally posted by denythestatusquo
What Christian would be against the story of Faust?

It's the mere mention of Satan or abortion (even in French - by puppets) that has parents upset.

In my opinion, the new way of thinking is that people have some kind of right NOT to be offended. So whenever anyone is offended, they figure the right thing to do is take some kind of action. Get something done about it.

Trouble with that is that one man's offense is anothers way of life. People get offended all the time, every day, at all different kinds of things. We need to learn to live with being offended and get over it!

I think both sides of ANY issue should be taught to let kids decide for themselves. This includes the perspective from the right as well as the left.

It is not for you or anyone else to decide right or wrong for others.

Firing a teacher for showing an Opera is stupid, but not politically correct. Political correctness is a disease of the left wing.

This is a case of paranoid overzealousness, a disease of the right.

Originally posted by Skadi_the_Evil_Elf
Political correctness is a disease of the left wing.

I agree it started in the left, but I do believe it has spread far and wide and the right is as sick as the left with it! PC is overruling our right to free speech.

It's not PC to compare Bush to Hitler and that's why Bennish was put on leave.

Greetings Fellow Believers,

I do not have the wisdom to jugde an individual's beliefs. My mind is too small.

However, I must support the judgement of this teacher's supervisors. This is black and white.

If this teacher was suspended from a public school--it should be understandable that this school supports liberal and secular classes. A public school is funded and supported at a state and Federal level that would resist any attempts to impose a religious doctrine on students.

Parents have the choice of enrolling their children in schools supporting religious doctrines. However, most parents allowing their children to attend public schools will eventually face situations where their children are exposed to belief-systems that counter the core-beliefs of the family.

If parents do not want their children to be exposed to public classrooms--don't send them to public schools.

Public classrooms are secular in nature. To these parents concerned about the content expressed in these secular classes I say: GET OVER IT.

Actually, it would be PC to compare Hitler to Bush. I think the term you are looking for is "unpatriotic", whatever that means.

As long as the teacher gave a pro-side about Bush, then he should not be fired. or at least state: it is my personal opinion Bush is like Hitler, and then compare, but still let it be known its his personal opinion.

Teachers should not be trying to impress their beliefs on students, or sway their thinking, but simply to present accurate information and allow students to decide themselves.

Not everyone believes Bush is bad, and those who like him arent necessarily stupid, but simply hold different values or beliefs.

I dont care either way. personally, I find Bush to be a useless waste of human DNA and proteins, but if I was teaching, I would either keep my opinion to myself, or would present both reasons why people like him or dislike him.

Originally posted by Jack of Scythes
Greetings Fellow Believers,

I do not have the wisdom to jugde an individual's beliefs. My mind is too small.

However, I must support the judgement of this teacher's supervisors. This is black and white.

If this teacher was suspended from a public school--it should be understandable that this school supports liberal and secular classes. A public school is funded and supported at a state and Federal level that would resist any attempts to impose a religious doctrine on students.

Parents have the choice of enrolling their children in schools supporting religious doctrines. However, most parents allowing their children to attend public schools will eventually face situations where their children are exposed to belief-systems that counter the core-beliefs of the family.

If parents do not want their children to be exposed to public classrooms--don't send them to public schools.

Public classrooms are secular in nature. To these parents concerned about the content expressed in these secular classes I say: GET OVER IT.

Still think it was a satanist that was against this. How many times is satan mentioned in the bible? How many times can you go to church and not hear about evil or the devil?

This is too easy and with the 'public system' having to make everybody happy it is so easy for them to shoot down anything that they do not like.

Originally posted by Skadi_the_Evil_Elf
Actually, it would be PC to compare Hitler to Bush. I think the term you are looking for is "unpatriotic", whatever that means.

As long as the teacher gave a pro-side about Bush, then he should not be fired. or at least state: it is my personal opinion Bush is like Hitler, and then compare, but still let it be known its his personal opinion.

Teachers should not be trying to impress their beliefs on students, or sway their thinking, but simply to present accurate information and allow students to decide themselves.

Not everyone believes Bush is bad, and those who like him arent necessarily stupid, but simply hold different values or beliefs.

I dont care either way. personally, I find Bush to be a useless waste of human DNA and proteins, but if I was teaching, I would either keep my opinion to myself, or would present both reasons why people like him or dislike him.

Hitler murdered millions of Jews and 'undesirables', plus he dumped the world into a world war that killed tens of millions of combatents and civilians. Bush did what, exactly? Making off the wall statements like 'Bush is another Hitler' is like comparing the war in Iraq to the war in Vietnam. It shows a complete lack of understanding of geopolitics and an overt political bias.

Kids take everything in; which is one the reasons why you don't swear around your kids, right? You can't have teachers (the guardians, during the day, of our children) going around filling kid's heads with their own political and religious biases.

Originally posted by Lanton
Kids take everything in; which is one the reasons why you don't swear around your kids, right? You can't have teachers (the guardians, during the day, of our children) going around filling kid's heads with their own political and religious biases.

No, we can not have that, but only when is the right kind of political and religious biases the one that parents wants to heard depending who and what they believe and agree with.

Anything else that they don't agree with their own personal views is either evil, liberal or bias.

Shame on the teaches.

Bush to Hitler

Both elected in a democratic process, except Hitler was voted in by the majority of the people.

Hitler killed jews, Bush kills Arabs.

Hitler wanted to unite all German speaking people, as a guise to kill, Bush wants to spread democracy, as a guise to invade and kill people in countries with oil.

Hitler was a political genius, Bush isn't.

Hitler wasn't a coke addict or an alcoholic, Bush is.

Hitler had allies, like Italy, and quasi ally Japan, Bush has none cause he pissed them all off.

You're right, they are nothing alike, that guy got fired for being a moron comparing Hitler to Bush, what an insult to Hitler.

But this Opera, I would want the teacher fired for showing the kids an opera, those suck. Although, if the teacher had the kids get their parents sign permission slips to see the opera then she was punished for political reasons. Although my history teacher said anyone offended by war to leave his class when he showed old movies like Full Metal Jacket and Platoon. We didn't have to get anything signed like we did in english class when the teacher was going to show some movie that sucked so much I don't remember it's name.

Does anybody know who complained and why? It is a bit difficult to figure out the merits of what happened without that. I still think that the public system is designed now to appeal more to the interests of minority views than that of the majority now.

Both elected in a democratic process, except Hitler was voted in by the majority of the people.

Bush has won two consecutive elections...and the way the Demoractic system in the US works, you've got to have the majority of the voting populous ticking your name on the ballot box.

Hitler killed jews, Bush kills Arabs.

You're trivialising the holocaust.

Hitler wasn't a coke addict or an alcoholic, Bush is.

What's your proof that Bush's currently doing coke?

Hitler had allies, like Italy, and quasi ally Japan, Bush has none cause he pissed them all off.

So why did the majority of Europe's governments quietly support invading Iraq?

Originally posted by denythestatusquo
Does anybody know who complained and why?

People that had an axe to grind with the teacher. It appears to be a small group of Christians (6 or 7) with influence on the school board.

"The issue with Tresa Waggoner wasn't the opera, but that she had run the holiday pageant without Christmas songs," said Grossiant.

Waggoner said she taught the elementary school students a variety of songs for the winter concert, but didn't include the traditional Christian songs.

Cory Babi, the wife of school board member Mike Babi, called four days before the program and said there would be problems if there were no Christmas songs, said Waggoner.

"I told her we couldn't sing them because public schools didn't want to offend people of other religions, including Jewish people, Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses," she said.

After Waggoner showed less than 12 minutes of the Faust videotape, Cory Babi said her daughter asked about abortion and suicide. Babi declined comment Thursday.

Small town politics.


Quote from the link Benevolent Heretic provided.

Bush has won two consecutive elections...and the way the Demoractic system in the US works, you've got to have the majority of the voting populous ticking your name on the ballot box.

No he didn't, he lost 2000 by half a million votes. But the way the electoral college works, and Supreme Court works, Bush won first election.

Originally posted by DevinS
Bush has won two consecutive elections...and the way the Demoractic system in the US works, you've got to have the majority of the voting populous ticking your name on the ballot box.

No he didn't, he lost 2000 by half a million votes. But the way the electoral college works, and Supreme Court works, Bush won first election.

That's the way the electoral college vote system works.