http://progressive.org/...
The jist of the article: teacher makes a slip of the tongue, says:
"When I drive past the courthouse square and the demonstrators are picketing, I honk my horn for peace because their signs say, `Honk for peace.' " She added that she thought "it was important for people to seek out peaceful solutions to problems before going to war and that we train kids to be mediators on the playground so that they can seek out peaceful solutions to their own problems."
and is fired for it. While trying not to sound alarmist, and as a teacher, I'm extremely inclined to believe the teacher's claim. Teachers should not have to refrain from responding to students direct questions about their personal lives on controversial issues (do you go to church? are you a vegetarian?) because all issues discussed are, by definition, controversial.
This is enraging for two reasons, beyond the obvious illegality of the teachers being fired.
First, why is it that we don't see 'conservative' teachers being canned by 'liberal' parents complaining? I won't speculate in general, but when someone has an opinion that differs from mine I don't feel threatened or anxious that they might pass it on to someone else. That's what the First Amendment was created to protect, we LIKE it when people have different opinions and express them. If my ideas are better, and I really believe that, it's my job to put those ideas out there and give people the chance to hear both sides and choose for themselves. Draw your own conclusions about people who can't stand to be contradicted.
Second, and more disturbing, is that peace is now a partisan issue. We can add this to an ever growing list, and at least it's in good company. Human rights, liberty, empathy, compassion, mercy, and now peace, are all issues that are too 'partisan' to simply be correct. Ten years ago, if a high school teacher had said, 'If the government taps your phone without a warrant that's illegal because it contradicts the Fourth Amendment,' no one would have blinked. I mean, duh, the Fourth Amendnment is pretty straight forward. Say it now and you'll have parents on your back before you get home that night.
Which is an interesting demonstration in how people sort out cognitive dissonance. Rather than stick with the older truth (the government needs a warrant) they go with the newer, maybe more emotionally compelling truth (George II needs to do it to prevent us from dying in a bloody conflagration), ignoring that what is currently happening is obviously illegal under the older (by about 200 years) truth.
In this vein, if anyone reading is a parent, please become involved in your school board. Don't go in and press for liberal teachers because then we're taking part in the same mindcontrol the neo-cons are after. Instead, advocate for the First Amendment rights of teachers AND students, open classrooms and curriculum that allows for students to draw their own conclusions. Allowing peace to be editted out of our schools is nothing less than criminal.