wrbones
03-15-03, 01:41 PM
A response to those who defend the actions of some few teachers in our education system.
The incidents concerning the way some few teachers in Maine have been found to be verbally and emotionally abusing the children of military personnel are said by some to be less of a problem than has been stated in the media. Meanwhile the governor of that state has begun a legal investigation into the incidents. Other incidents in institutions of public learning across the country have also come to light in the days and weeks since, most notably in California where one professor has been charged with infringing upon the freedom of speech rights of her students, assigning a project wherein the students must write an anti-war letter, whether they agree with that political position or not, which is to be sent in the student’s name to the President of the United States and other public officials. If they did not send such a letter, their grades were to be negatively impacted.
Assigning a daily lesson to examine the other side of any discussion is arguably a good thing. Having such a lesson become a public statement of political beliefs which is not held by the student is akin to the worst in political tyranny. This type of intellectual tyranny, which has historically led to oppression in all forms, is the anti-thesis of those freedoms which all Americans hold dear. Whatever good light is placed on these types of incidents, they have, never the less, occurred. Any such incident, whether perpetrated by teachers and instructors with either liberal or conservative values in an educational setting paid for by the taxes of the general public is one too many in a nation which prides itself on it’s individual freedoms and liberties. In other nations, this is called re-education and is perpetrated upon those who do not submit to the state’s political position and religious beliefs. Such incidents are wide spread and endemic in the institutions of learning in this nation. Their occurrence is, indeed, undeniable. All you must do to verify such occurrences is to spend some time with any college student and you will hear of such similar assignments in their own class work.
That said, let a student or parent understand that if they go to a school that espouses religion as the basis of it’s teaching, you will learn more about religion than at another institution. If the school operates on a basis of social or cultural values that are not generally held by the public at large, you will necessarily learn more of that social or cultural belief system. A school that accepts the funds provided by the government through a systems of taxes imposed on it’s population should, perhaps, be more aware of the possibility that not all of it’s students will hold the same beliefs that are espoused by the individuals who are assigned to teach the courses it offers. At the same time, students and parents should realize the possibility that the majority of those who are paying taxes to support such public institutions will, of necessity, believe in the foundations of the government which is supporting those institutions. If the government is a faith based government, the public institutions will reflect that. If the government is more culturally based, it’s public institutions will reflect that, and so on. Those who disagree with such public foundations should perhaps exercise their freedom to locate a privately funded institution for their needs, or else submit to the foundationally based state funded institution’s system of learning. In a free, democratic republic, forcing your individual views upon the clear majority of stake holders in that society is socially anachronistic and a societal travesty that leads only to social unrest and quite possibly to the collapse of the society which funds it's public education system.
The incidents concerning the way some few teachers in Maine have been found to be verbally and emotionally abusing the children of military personnel are said by some to be less of a problem than has been stated in the media. Meanwhile the governor of that state has begun a legal investigation into the incidents. Other incidents in institutions of public learning across the country have also come to light in the days and weeks since, most notably in California where one professor has been charged with infringing upon the freedom of speech rights of her students, assigning a project wherein the students must write an anti-war letter, whether they agree with that political position or not, which is to be sent in the student’s name to the President of the United States and other public officials. If they did not send such a letter, their grades were to be negatively impacted.
Assigning a daily lesson to examine the other side of any discussion is arguably a good thing. Having such a lesson become a public statement of political beliefs which is not held by the student is akin to the worst in political tyranny. This type of intellectual tyranny, which has historically led to oppression in all forms, is the anti-thesis of those freedoms which all Americans hold dear. Whatever good light is placed on these types of incidents, they have, never the less, occurred. Any such incident, whether perpetrated by teachers and instructors with either liberal or conservative values in an educational setting paid for by the taxes of the general public is one too many in a nation which prides itself on it’s individual freedoms and liberties. In other nations, this is called re-education and is perpetrated upon those who do not submit to the state’s political position and religious beliefs. Such incidents are wide spread and endemic in the institutions of learning in this nation. Their occurrence is, indeed, undeniable. All you must do to verify such occurrences is to spend some time with any college student and you will hear of such similar assignments in their own class work.
That said, let a student or parent understand that if they go to a school that espouses religion as the basis of it’s teaching, you will learn more about religion than at another institution. If the school operates on a basis of social or cultural values that are not generally held by the public at large, you will necessarily learn more of that social or cultural belief system. A school that accepts the funds provided by the government through a systems of taxes imposed on it’s population should, perhaps, be more aware of the possibility that not all of it’s students will hold the same beliefs that are espoused by the individuals who are assigned to teach the courses it offers. At the same time, students and parents should realize the possibility that the majority of those who are paying taxes to support such public institutions will, of necessity, believe in the foundations of the government which is supporting those institutions. If the government is a faith based government, the public institutions will reflect that. If the government is more culturally based, it’s public institutions will reflect that, and so on. Those who disagree with such public foundations should perhaps exercise their freedom to locate a privately funded institution for their needs, or else submit to the foundationally based state funded institution’s system of learning. In a free, democratic republic, forcing your individual views upon the clear majority of stake holders in that society is socially anachronistic and a societal travesty that leads only to social unrest and quite possibly to the collapse of the society which funds it's public education system.