We have another video raising questions over the rules relating to free speech for students in high school. This video (below) was taken in North Rowan High School in North Carolina where a teacher screams at a student that he can be arrested for disrespecting President Obama. The teacher went ballistic after a student responded to the account of Mitt Romney bullying a student as a teen by noting that President Obama admitted that he had bullied a student in his youth. [Update: the teacher has been suspended pending investigation].
In my view, the class seemed unruly and the students were combative with the teacher. However, the teacher seemed equally unruly and more importantly misstated the law on comments about the president. Notably, the student was right on both the law and the facts on bullying.
After the student notes that Obama admitted to bullying a girl, the teacher screams “Do you realize that people were arrested for saying things bad about Bush?” She tells the student and the class that “you are not supposed to slander the president.” The student correctly states that you can only be arrested for threatening the president, but the teacher will hear none of it. She insists that it is ok to call Romney a bully but not Obama because the former is running for president while the latter is president. Accordingly, under the teacher’s rather mutated view of civics and constitutional law, “there is no comparison.”
The teacher sounds increasingly unhinged and screams that the men are not “equal” and adds “Let me tell you something … you will not disrespect the president of the United States in this classroom.”
What concerns me is how such misinformation is conveyed to students who shape their views of basic liberties in our public schools. I feel it is appropriate for teachers in high school to lead discussions about politics, which can obviously get partisan and unruly. I also believe that it is important for the teachers to enforce civility rules. However, alleging that the President or Romney was a bully is not uncivil. It is a contemporary issue in the presidential election. It happens to be an excellent issue to raise in class to show that bullying can cause not just immediate but later problems for students. It also allows for a discussion how relevant such bullying is to the question of character to lead the nation. The key is to control the discussion while getting the law and facts right.
Source: Salisbury as first seen on Reddit.
This woman is completely incompetent and should be fired immediately. She is a typical NEA public school teacher, and she gets everything wrong in this – everything.
This teacher will be in front of students for years to come, as they are almost impossible to fire. In New York, of 132,000 teachers only 32 were fired between 2006 and 2011.
No doubt that teacher unions will press to ban audio and video recordings in class… unless it is controlled by teachers themselves.
Paul,
“The family members of Romney’s supposed victim don’t remember the supposed “vicious assault.” If your kid/brother was viciously assaulted at school don’t you think you’d know about it and remember it? ”
The family members don’t remember it because their son/brother didn’t share it. He was shamed, so much so that he wouldn’t talk about it. Those who remember it are those who followed Romney’s lead and participated in the anti- gay bullying. Those who have spoken about it feel shame for what they did. Romney does not.
This ‘teacher’ is an embarrassment to ‘genuine’ teachers. She needs to be given her walking papers!
Wow. Five minutes of listening to this and I may be changing my positon on school vouchers.
Parent involvement in their children’s education is extremely important. That’s why I think that neighborhood elementary schools, combined with required art and music, are so important. They help build community in which parents get to know one another and the teachers. The school can have a couple of concerts/art displays, and other activities each year. There’s greater encouragement for the parents to take part when it’s easier for their child to participate. Parent participation is a good habit that should be encouraged and nurtured in the elementary grades and could last through middle school and maybe high school.
BarkinDog,
Right you are. About home schooling: take parents who were taught by poor teachers and put them in charge of teaching their kids?
The teacher in the video has no control over the class and is short on the facts. She really is in need of additional education and maybe should find another profession. It’s also possible that she is implementing an administrative directive that is inappropriate or that she has misunderstood.
Teachers everywhere should be aware that students now have the power to record, photograph and video.
As a test administrator, I required all cell phones to be turned off and left “at the desk” for pick up after the test. Anyone caught with a cell phone during the test was written up as a possible cheater and their cell phone confiscated. These young rascals can text and take pictures with out looking at their phones.
Home schooling is not the answer. But bring some education and learning to the teachers before you let them teach. Cut the so called education degrees out. Make them major in English, History, Math, Economics. Cut the BS programs out like PE and other majors in college. Make them learn civics, the U.S. Constitution. Give them tests at the school to which they apply for the job. Dont rely on their degree from S.W, MIzzoura bumfuk.
importanttopics,
Yes, the taxpayers should continue to fund its public schools. No teacher should have to dip into her/his own money for supplies. No teacher should have to teach more than 20 students at a time; 15 would be even better. Smaller elementary schools in the neighborhoods. Every teacher should have a basic understanding of civics and science before entering the classroom on day one and news of the day every day. Teaching should be one of the better paying jobs. We need better administrators too. Far too frequently bad administrators discourage good teachers who end up quitting. The physical plant should be well maintained. Teachers should be encouraged to stimulate independent and creative thinking, not rote regurgitation. Art and music should be a required part of every elementary curriculum and available thru high school. College should be available at no charge to all who can do the work.
Never mind, the money is all gone to the banksters and we have another country on which to make war. [sigh]
Just to be fair, can we hear an example from some other minority or a bare majority teacher?
As for racism in me: I went home to visit my brother in Raleigh, walked up to the North Hills Mall to get a
hamburger, snubbed McD for a local place under the escalator, glaring lighting, a couple of standup tables, and mostly black customers. So what, did not even give it a thought. Ordered. Got my order and saw then the looks given me. Well, no one looked aggressive and explaining I was half Swedish and only visiting would not be appropriate.
My niece on hearing me relate it to the family. She said: “Oh, I always get a burger at Smitty’s.”
(Still without race connection in my mind, only wishing to hear how nice it was for me to find a genuine “local” place to eat.)
Didn’t understand until later, that things had changed from when I put through the first “mixed” one act original play festival with Shaw and a couple of other black colleges participating. That was in 1958. We had no racial tension at all, on our side, if we call it that.
Where did things go wrong?
Three hundred fifty years and we still need folks to look down on.
This teacher lost this class a long time ago. They are using their abilities, and are way ahead of her in all the discusssion. She comes with statements and no reasoning or supporting evidence. It just is so. Whap!
She is in a word incompetent.
And unfortuanately for her people, she should not been employed, an example of the negative effects of affirmative action for minorities. She brings disrepute on them.
I’m for affirmative action, at least as a door opener. But here is one who should not have got the nod. And anyone can hear which minority I am not naming, out of respect for the other members. I am a non-racist (does that have to be said?) who is a former NC resident.
The kids are not perfect, but at least they can reason.
The most blatant misuse of teacher power I’ve witnessed.
The larger issue is this: should American taxpayers be forced to fund schools whose educators teach and promote misinformation such as this? I suggest that they shouldn’t.
E. Simms…. you’re right, the two “events” are not comparable because one happened and other is a fabrication of Obama’s corrupt Chicago political machine (yeah, I know it’s redundant but whatever).
The family members of Romney’s supposed victim don’t remember the supposed “vicious assault.” If your kid/brother was viciously assaulted at school don’t you think you’d know about it and remember it?
You’re drinking the Obama campaign cool-aids without stopping first to smell it. Trust me, that’s not a tootsie roll floating in it. Don’t drink it again.
This teacher reminds me of a woman who defended OJ in an interview during his trial. Adamant that he was not guilty becasue “he’s too fine lookin a man to have done what they said he did”. In this case, Obama is too fine to be called out on what he did even if it doesn’t compare to Romney. It’s scary what we have teaching kids today. It’s a shame that public school teachers get a bad rap because of a few like this one.
The teacher was wrong and should be disciplined. I agree with Prof. Turley that the discussion is an important one for students and teachers, but civility needs to maintained.
I agree that the teacher was completely unhinged and should probably have her teaching credentials reevaluated. However, the two bullying incidents are not the least bit comparable.
Obama was a twelve-year-old who pushed a girl one time and expressed remorse for his actions. Romney was an eighteen-year-old adult who led a vicious physical assault on another student, then claimed he didn’t remember doing it.
I recall a history teacher in HS who was a liberal Democrat and I was a conservative Republican since I was young and raised on the lies about FDR, and US history. That made for vigorous debate in class. One time I opinied that FDR sold the US out at Yalta. Mr Gale simply refused to go into any further argument, and instead told me that I had to do a report to the class on the Yalta Conference.
So I actually had to go out and find out the facts. Which resulted in my embarrassment at trying to remove a size twelve shoe from my mouth. In my later researches I also found even more interesting that it was the UK and the US tagging along which started the Cold War. At worst it could be said of the Soviets that they contributed to it by their suspicions and refusal to negotiate before things got out of hand.
An example of how politics have become irrational for our nation as a whole.
This teacher is a bully.
Let’s get off the high horse and face it, bullying is in our national character, and that character filters down to the individual citizens who are not on guard:
(MOMCOM Engenders …). The Zimmermann v Martin posts on this blog, and other blogs, show that the position one takes in the case is, in general, the view one has of imperialism.