Teacher under investigation for alleged liberalism

The school superintendent whose district includes Mount Anthony Union High School has labeled “inappropriate” and “irresponsible” an English teacher’s use of liberal statements in a vocabulary quiz.

“I wish Bush would be (coherent, eschewed) for once during a speech, but there are theories that his everyday diction charms the below-average mind, hence insuring him Republican votes,” said one question on a quiz written by English and social studies teacher Bret Chenkin.

[…]

Chenkin, 36 and a teacher for seven years, said the quizzes are being taken out of context.

“The kids know it’s hyperbolic, so-to-speak,” he said. “They know it’s tongue in cheek. They know where I stand.”

It strikes me that liberalism, per se, isn’t the problem, but rather inappropriate partisanship in a classroom setting. Even if the jab at the President’s diction can be said to be an attempt at a joke (and Goodness knows that Bush has issues in that area), the question is hostile in its tone to any student who adheres to the Republican party, or whose family votes in that direction.

And given that a High School classroom is not a place of equals, I find this kind of attitude to be wholly disingenuous:

He said he isn’t shy about sharing his liberal views with students, but invites vigorous debate in the classroom.

“Never once have I said, ‘OK, you’re wrong,’” he said. “Instead, it’s, ‘OK, let’s open this up. Let’s see where this can go.’”

Given that the vocab question cited above posits a correlation between the “below-average mind” and “Republican votes” one has a hard time envisioning this teacher holding forth with fair-mindedness in the classroom when politics are under discussion.

Of course, then we get to the issue of whether contemporary politics is the appropriate domain of a vocabulary quiz when the politics in question are a direct reflection of the teacher’s own partisan views.

Ultimately one would like to think that a teacher would have more sense than this.

I have aways disliked teachers, especially in High School, but also in College, who think that their views are so correct that they have the right to constantly share them with the class, regardless of the subject being studied.

Further, the notion that a teacher/professor can come into the classroom, expound their own views in dogmatic fashion, and then pretend like they are going to have an open debate on the subject is simply foolish. Once an authority figure has made it clear that “Bush is in an idiot,” or that “anyone who opposes the war is unpatriotic,” or whatever doctrinaire view they are espousing, the idea that the appropriate atmosphere for discussion has been established is out the window.

There are ways to have a real discussion about a subject in a classroom, and that ain’t it.