I am positively speechless
Dec. 4th, 2003 10:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ebonlockTeacher sues over limits on history curriculum
A seventh-grade social studies teacher in Presque Isle who said he was barred from teaching about non-Christian civilizations has sued his school district, claiming it violated his First Amendment right of free expression...
Cole alleged that complaints by "a small group of fundamentalist Christian individuals" led to the creation of a curriculum "which never mentions religions other than Christianity and never teaches the history of civilizations other than Christian civilizations.",,
"How can you explain the evolution of democracy in the Western world without talking about ancient Greece? He can't talk about all the influences of the Indian, Japanese or Chinese cultures."
Superintendent Gehrig Johnson said on Tuesday that he had not seen the lawsuit, but he noted that the curriculum has been "developed by teachers across the district and adopted by the SAD 1 School Committee."
"Teachers are expected to follow the curriculum," he added.
I feel like I should have some pithy response but all I can come up with is, "And they say California is wacky?"
A seventh-grade social studies teacher in Presque Isle who said he was barred from teaching about non-Christian civilizations has sued his school district, claiming it violated his First Amendment right of free expression...
Cole alleged that complaints by "a small group of fundamentalist Christian individuals" led to the creation of a curriculum "which never mentions religions other than Christianity and never teaches the history of civilizations other than Christian civilizations.",,
"How can you explain the evolution of democracy in the Western world without talking about ancient Greece? He can't talk about all the influences of the Indian, Japanese or Chinese cultures."
Superintendent Gehrig Johnson said on Tuesday that he had not seen the lawsuit, but he noted that the curriculum has been "developed by teachers across the district and adopted by the SAD 1 School Committee."
"Teachers are expected to follow the curriculum," he added.
I feel like I should have some pithy response but all I can come up with is, "And they say California is wacky?"
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no subject
Date: 2003-12-04 10:51 am (UTC)The first would be that Mr. Cole has been hired to teach a particular curriculum, not to exercise his free speech rights. If he doesn't feel that he can live within the constraints of conduct set by his employer, then his recourse -- regardless of how unreasonable those constraints may seem to you and I -- is to seek employment elsewhere, not sue. I'm sympathetic to the guy's problem, but I think his chosen method of dealing with it marks him as a litigious crybaby rather than a noble crusader for intellectual freedom.
The second would be to point out that this is a problem in the first place because government schools are not accountable to the people footing the bill for them, and their curricula are necessarily vulnerable to politics. If you get government out of education, then things like this aren't so much of an issue: what Asshat Elementary School teaches its students is of no consequence to the rest of the world so long as it remains accountable to the people who matter -- its customers (i.e., the parents paying their childrens' tuitions).
no subject
Date: 2003-12-04 10:52 am (UTC)What happens when these kids start learning about World War II and the Holocaust? Why were all those people killed? Because they didn't worship the same God. What about the Salem Witch Trials? Again, not the same God. Why did the fucking pilgrims leave England? Religious freedom.
Holy FUCK. I was going to be a teacher at one point. That isn't education. That's ... UGH! That's so beyond not right that I don't have words for what it is.
Fundies need some good deep dickin'.
no subject
Date: 2003-12-04 10:59 am (UTC)Brother, you are so right.
Seeing red...
Date: 2003-12-04 10:58 am (UTC)How are these children supposed to learn to cope in a world of multiple religions/cultures without being exposed to them? This goes far beyond saying that Christianity is the only right and true religion...it tries to pretend that other religions just don't exist.
Hope they're having fun burying their heads in the sand...
And I applaud the teacher in question for having the gumption to stand up for what he believes in. Sometimes filing a lawsuit is the only way to draw widespread attention to these cases, especially when the local law makers are the ones who created the bad situation in the first place.
Re: Seeing red...
Date: 2003-12-04 11:09 am (UTC)I would agree with you entirely. And I can't help thinking about the Scopes Monkey Trial (http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scopes/scopes.htm), what kind of an education might many thousands of us have had if John Scopes hadn't had the guts to stand up and fight ignorance, bigotry, and religious fundamentalism? It's just terrifying to think that it's happening in this day and age, but heartening to see someone ready to stand up against the religious zealots' stranglehold on education in his school district.