Another Brand of Teacher
Teachers are humans and humans believe things. Teachers teach and what they believe sometimes comes out in how they teach. So when does it turn from teaching to preaching?Well, John Freshwater, formerly of Mount Vernon Middle School in Columbua, Ohio, has apparently found that differentiation. The Mount Vernon Board of Education has voted unanimously to fire Mr. Freshwater, the 8th grade science teacher at the middle school.
Freshwater's trouble with the Board of Education started, it seems, when they asked him to remove a Bible that he kept on his desk. His argument that he keeps the Bible for his own use and asking him to remove it from his desk violates his First Amendment rights. He also has the Ten Commandments up in his room, which he's been asked to remove. Again, he says a violation of his rights.
Now, the Bible being on the desk shouldn't be a big deal. It shouldn't be a big deal that it's on his desk, but if parents are complaining, it shouldn't be a big deal to just put it in a drawer. The Ten Commandments? It's a science class. How does Freshwater use the Ten Commandments to teach science? Without justification, they should come down...but Freshwater's preaching gets more egregious.
He believes in Intelligent Design. Fair enough. But part of science is evolution and the big bang, which he does not teach. Even if you don't agree with it, if the school district says it needs to be taught, you teach it. I don't agree with all of the changes that have occurred in English expression, and when I get to those bits of altered Grammar, I teach it both ways. I teach that a singular noun that ends in "s" like the last name "Hills"...to make it possessive, you use an apostrophe and an "s"..."That is Dina Hills's bookbag." but that these days it is being accepted to just use an apostrophe..."That is Dina Hills' bookbag." I teach both, tell my preference, and let them decide. Freshwater should do the same. "I believe in Intelligent Design. Others believe in Big Bang. You decide."
But it gets even worse. Apparently he used an electromagnetic device as a part of a unit on electric current. He used the device to...well, descriptions vary...either simply mark students' arms with a red cross, or burn students, brand them, with a cross. He's well liked by many students, but at least one student has come forward saying the brand hurt so bad he was unable to sleep.Many in the community support Freshwater but whould they if he was Muslim? If it was a Koran on his desk? A star and crescent mark on the arms? The Torah and Star of David?
Freshwater apparently removed his Ten Commandments and religious posters, but stood firm on his personal Bible on his desk. Fair enough. But if he's branding students? If he's not teaching the standards? Unacceptable. Especially the branding of students. Whether they volunteered or not, physically scarring a student is not acceptable.
Other places to read about Freshwater...
Pro-Freshwater blog - http://agoodchoice.blogspot.com/2008/06/burning-brandishing-burying-john.html
Depleted Cranium: The Bad Science blog - http://depletedcranium.com/?p=567#more-567
Those are the sides...that's my commentary...You decide...
posted by Bodog @ 4:42 PM
1 Comments:
We've gotten to a point - hell, we've been there forever, really, but you know what I mean - where it's becoming necessary to be utterly explicit about the rules and expectations in the classroom. I think that's a shame, really; we can't (or won't) trust teachers to do their jobs in ways that are ethical and correct, because we can't get together and decide what those two things mean. This guy is one of the reasons that we have such problems with this - in many cases, we CAN'T trust people to do their jobs ethically and well.
I would have no problem with the bible. The commandments ought to go, as should ANY physical contact with a student, ESPECIALLY one that results in scarring, for crying out loud (and I'd be just as outraged if the scar were an unidentifiable shape - a scar is a scar).
I do the SAME THING you do when it comes to changes in grammar. "Here's how *I* learned it, and here's how it's evolved in that short span of time between then and now" and let the students decide which practice to follow (unless it's starting sentences with coordinating conjunctions. There's a force field around my room that prohibits that practice, regardless of HOW many respected publications, regardless of how old they are, have employed it).
The guy deserves to lose his job because he wasn't doing it properly. It makes not a whit of difference what his motivations were for his lack of acceptable performance - Christian, Muslim, Follower of Joe - if you're not getting the job done, you get removed in favor of someone who will.
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