Gwendolyn: Did anyont think maybe he WAS dressing up? Maybe he's a Republican and was going as a whiny lib bush hater for halloween.

lol
she makes a good point

...it's funny because it's true..HAHAHA

/Homer

I can see whats coming:

ACLU files lawsuit
Teacher's protest chanting "No Justice No Peace" followed by singing "We Shall Overcome"
School Board member is compared to Hitler
Liberal federal judge agrees with the teacher that her first amendment rights were denied.
School Board member is sent to diversity training

For some reason the "hilarity ensues" headline made me laugh this time. Why?

Definatly the wrong place to make a political statement. Although I do agree with the shirt.

I hate Bush, but this was completely inappropriate.

/Liberalism does not equate to a lack of logic.
//Stupid is as stupid does.

ok ok, everybody out. please proceed to the rear and begin flaming when you have entered the next thread

So_it_goes

That's the hardest I've laughed in weeks. I thank you.

She only got a warning? That's not really hilarity ensuing.

Teachers should keep the political statements out of the classroom, even when they are completely true.

Hang On Voltaire

... agreed!

GurneyHalleck :
"It's too late to keep politics and religion out of the schools. Bush's push to cut education spending is a political act in of itself. It's class warfare. "

See KR's posting. If I only raise your pay 6% (with 4% inflation) instead of raising it (say) 40% - that does NOT constitute a CUT in salary.
Also - the money spent by the "Education Dept." almost never gets seen by the individual student - we'd get more result if we (actually) cut that money in half but sent it directly back to the individual school districts.


"And the voucher program is totally geared to benefit religious education institutions. That's government-sponsored religion."

Ummm - no. Voucher programs are religion NEUTRAL. There's NO requirement that a school be "religious" in any way - only that the parents who control the voucher WANT to send their kid(s) there. This would tend to put the kids' welfare before thgat of an institution (or union) - why is that bad?

[Grin]
Or to put in terms that a Lib is familiar with -
"Why do you hate children?"

THEN why is OK for righties to plaster religion all over the courts?

IS OUR CHILDREN LEARNING?

CAPS, bold, and big, because I'm an ass.

Politics, to some degree, should be involved in school. At least a government class or something. Teacher still was a dumbass.

/Bush is the biggest dumbass.

gabba2

I'm with you. My mother is a high school math teacher, and the majourity of the faculty drive her insane. She said she walks from one classroom into another when going into the teacher's lounge.

Her plan is to round them all up and stick them all in boot camp for six weeks.

Mr_Smartypants

Nutsac_jim

Why did you replace "religious" with accountable.

Clearly, they are mostly religious (and, more than that, Christian).

"Accountable" needs more info:

Accountable to whom?

How does their accountability diminish the fact that they require religious indoctrination?


Because if the parents don't like the new private school to which they send their kids, and the admin wond do anything to meet their concerns, the parents will send them to another school that does address their concern.

This is built-in accountability. Right now, you can biatch, but the answer is usually 'we need more money'.

If you don't want religious indoctrination, then send them to a non religous private school.

Surely you dont think that if they did vouchers, religious schools would be able to take in all the students? This can't be, because there would be soooo many students leaving that only ultra poor kids would remain. There isnt enough capacity to take all these kids.

So either one of two things would happen:
One, not that many actually leave. Y2K crisis of teaching.
Two, other schools pop up, some of these being non religous.
If this is the case, then why complain about religion.

Nothing stops the School of the Flying Spaghetti Monster from accepting students.


All this gov't funding religion is poo. If they stopped taking money from you and then giving it to your school then there wouldn't be ANY argument.

I wish they WOULD do this.. charge them XXX per student, just like a private school. Just like free school lunches, we can socialize it and offer discounts for the people that pop too many kids out or don't make much.

This way, we would all know what it really costs.
It wont happen though. Monopolies like their power. Think about being one of two gas stations in town.. and every time a guy went to the other station, you got a buck! muahahah!

I can't seem to access the article, but I get the gist of it from the headline...

Teachers aren't supposed to discuss their political beliefs in the classroom, but what if this teacher had come to class wearing a Bill Clinton mask and a "I am horny" t-shirt? Would there be the same outcry from the Bushies?

I think a mod deleted my post because it was too boring.

I'm sure if she had exercised her free speech rights by having the shirt say, "I am a national hero," nothing would have happened.

DBuck - If you are sending your child to a government school for their daily programming, chances are overwhelming that your bundle of joy is going to wind up becoming a liberal Democrat. Today, courtesy of The Los Angeles Unified School District, we're going to show you how it's done.

There was a Bush-bashing rally being held in Los Angeles the other day. It was called "The World Can't Wait Drive Out the Bush Regime." Eager for as many people to attend as possible, the school district allowed 800 high school students from 10 schools to walk right out of class to attend. No word if they were given extra credit for their participation.

On top of that, adult staff were supplied to accompany them, and buses were provided for their return. That's right...taxpayer money being spent for the whole thing. Now stop and ask yourself something for a minute...suppose an anti-Hillary Clinton rally were being held. Or a pro-Condoleezza Rice ralley (the next president of our country I might add) Would the same courtesy be extended? Of course not. The students wouldn't even be given the time of day to attend.

But because it was an event protesting the evil George Bush....the liberal, leftist, school administration jumped right on board. Those who send their children off to be indoctrinated in government schools should take note.You need to be very involved with your childs education, not only for the obvious reasons but also for the fact that you need to counter the indoctrination that the left will try to impose (Aware that, of course, not all public/government schools are that way.)

Okay, first off... the comments I've highlighted are editorializing. Unless you have quotes or documentation supporting your claims, then you're simply making some pretty outlandish presumptions.

You do it in other places too, but those were the most egregious cases of spin, and presenting speculation and opinion as fact.

Second, I don't see it as a bad thing... regardless of political affiliation. One of the most valuable rights we have as citizens is the right to speak out against the administration. I think it's a good thing to teach students that they're supposed to have a voice in government.

I wouldn't agree with coercion, as that would kind of defeat the point, but if it's a case of allowing students who chose to to participate, then I can stand behind that wholeheartedly. I would do so regardless of who our president was or how I felt about him.

As for this teacher, I think he was an asshat. I'm no fan of Bush... no fan at all, but as a teacher he should leave his personal politics at home.

As for the rest of your post, you need to stop imagining that Democrats and liberal are the worst thing that could possibly happen to this country. The worst thing that could happen to us is that we forget what we're supposed to be and trade our ideals for bragging rights...

It's not like she used the school to promote corporations like Taco Bell, Pepsico and Coke, or turned it into a recruiting station.

Using the Fontage of Holloween to portray Propaganda of one's anti political belief's upon the Public school system,and children,is an outrage. Must have a degree from DeVri:

If you think that a teacher dressing in a custom can alter someone's political views, then maybe their views werent that strong to begin with. I am well aware that teachers should not be partisans, but your kids' views simply arent going to be changed by a teacher who wears a custom. STOP OVERREACTING.

Another thing I havent heard from anyone is that if you are on the left, chances are that you are going to raise your kid left-wing. If you are on the right, you are going to raise your kid right-wing. So taking away your kids the ability to politically think for themselves when you raise them is okay, but when someone else does it for you its not? Give me a break. Both sides are missing the point, both sides are overrreacting this to further their own political views.

farfigneugan

I think a mod deleted my post because it was too boring.

and yet they let that one go.

It does seem wrong to mix personal politics with public education....

HOWEVER, having said that, one of the best educators I ever had (both in high school and college) was a staunch liberal who had Bush bashing posters plastered all over her room. When I had her in 10th grade for World History, she was the only teacher in the school - and only teacher that I have ever heard do this, period - who actually took a month out of her schedule to teach her students about Islam and the facets of the Quran and the Five Pillars. This was just a year or so after 9/11, and our glorious monkey-in-chief was preparing for Iraq.

Her views were very well known around school, and she would often make polictal statements. When I had her for AP European History in my senior year, there was just a small handful of students - and we all hate Bush. Since we are in the suburbs, we were of course known as the "crazy hippy class."

/I guess my point is that sometimes a political teacher is not necessarily bad...
//perhaps I don't have a point

Public school systems and all the employees in 'em, teachers, administrators, service personnell, are all part of the civil service system. Civil servants usually sign contracts that enjoin them from making any political statements in public and work. Indeed, they can not make any public statement, political or otherwise, without permission from their supervisor. It's an attempt to try to maintain a reputation of impartiality for the civil service. And rightly so, I think.
The teacher here broke the terms of her contract. Some form of discipline is, unfortunately, called for. But whether it's going to be a mere letter in her personnell file or a dismissal is probably up to the politically elected school board.

There is a place for politics in school, it's as a discussion topic in Civics class. They still have Civics in schools these days, don't they?

Where's the Hero tag for this kid?

Xehirut: Where's the Hero tag for this kid?

I believe that the teacher dressed as Dan Rather wearing the T-Shirt that says, "The press will LIE to you for your own good," has it.

So I guess I'm the only one who thinks this is funny and the person making the complaint should have been given nothing but lip service...

Sure looks that way.

As much as I think that this sort of behavior has no place in public schools, do you think that the parent would have complained if she were wearing pro-Bush costume?

DBuck Damn you. You should properly attribute your source.

Nealz Nuze

/He copied and pasted from Boortz's web site.

/Fan of Boortz on many issues.

KleineFrau: parent would have complained if she were wearing pro-Bush costume?

Somebody else would have.

Comment time for this thread is probably about over but I just remembered one of the best uses of a halloween costume ever. Growing up in a Baptist church we of course had to celebrate Fall Festivals - and this was in the '80's.. We were told to come dressed as a "Bible Character" if we wanted. This one extremely cool girl came dressed as Satan and you should have seen those uptight a$$holes do the squirm and shake.. Here's to you Sherry Pickford.

Katherine Ross?



/"Beeeennn!!!!!"

It's funny because it's true. Everything Bush has done has been pure evil.

2005-11-04 02:31:50 PM WindBreaker
I think wearing a flight suit and a chimpanzee mask would have gotten more or less the same point across, and provided plausible deniability on the teacher's part:

"I'm dressed as 'Ham,' one of the chimps in the Mercury program, who rode Little Joe rockets into the history books. Don't you people know anything about the history of manned spaceflight? This costume has nothing to do with the current Commander-in-Chimp, I mean Chief!"

Best laugh in the thread! But implying a chimp was involved in "manned spaceflight" could get the Creationists riled up.

uh, really lame outfit

At least I accessorized my Clinton outfit with silk pj's, cigars, and a couple dozen Stoli screwdrivers....

According to the Tinker vs. Des Moines court case of 1967...

"It is unthinkable that students or teachers should be asked to leave their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolyard gates."

Clearly, the very policy preventing the costume was unconstitutional.

Farking Corksucker

I'm sorry that is news to you. Maybe you are the one, the person that isn't for any type of censorship. I doubt it, but maybe you are.


He'd be the second, I hate all censorship. Yes, even the silly things you listed.

Censorship is evil.

everyone who thinks private schools are better

Public and private are pretty much equal across the board. You've got good public schools, and bad private schools, it pretty much depends on where you are and the sorts of kids you have (yes they are key to the equation, parents are as well). No conclusive studies have been able to prove one over the other. I'm not saying the public system is perfect, but I'd rather fix it than blow taxpayer money on a voucher system that will make the problems worse, and eventually cripple the system beyond repair (less money = more problems, whether you want to believe it or not).

Standardized tests aren't the answer either since again the kids learning methods vary and having a standardized test system won't show how well the teachers are doing in that regard.

To comment on the article: Elementary kids probably wouldn't understand it, so no harm no foul as fair as I care. I'd say the same even if it were derogatory towards libs, dems, repubs, neocons, [insert political ideology here].

Timmmy0211

"He said district policy allows for employees to exercise their free speech rights, but not on school grounds during work hours."

Since when are you allowed to take away any rights? That's what makes it a right in the first place!!!!

OK, but if you go into your job and make a spectacle of yourself your boss has the right to fire you too.

BillCosby

It was farking HALLOWEEN! Some people dress up on Halloween. Get over it.

You missed Mondays threads apparently, you arent allowed to go to school in costumes anymore.

KleineFrau

As much as I think that this sort of behavior has no place in public schools, do you think that the parent would have complained if she were wearing pro-Bush costume?

Possibly not, but another parent would have.

bush is a worthless human being.The only thing he's good for is mucking out barns and cleaning toilets.

I'd make her take of the costume and run around in her underwear for the rest of the day.

/Not too obscure is it?