Llwellyn Posted December 18, 2006 Share Posted December 18, 2006 From the New York Times: Talk in Class Turns to God, Setting Off Public Debate on Rights By TINA KELLEY Published: December 18, 2006 Shortly after school began in September, the [11th grade history teacher, David Paszkiewicz] told his sixth-period students at Kearny High School that evolution and the Big Bang were not scientific, that dinosaurs were aboard Noah’s ark, and that only Christians had a place in heaven, according to audio recordings made by a student whose family is now considering a lawsuit claiming Mr. Paszkiewicz broke the church-state boundary. “If you reject his gift of salvation, then you know where you belong,” Mr. Paszkiewicz was recorded saying of Jesus. “He did everything in his power to make sure that you could go to heaven, so much so that he took your sins on his own body, suffered your pains for you, and he’s saying, ‘Please, accept me, believe.’ If you reject that, you belong in hell.” I'd like to shake the hand of Matthew LaClair who brought attention to Paszkiewicz's virus shedding in the classroom. Teachers aren't supposed to sneeze in the faces of students, or spread their infected semen around the room, so why should they be allowed to implant into young minds the idea of "divine vengeance"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ro-bear Posted December 18, 2006 Share Posted December 18, 2006 I think school systems should take a hard line against abuse of power like that shown by this teacher. If I had my way, it would be a year of unpaid leave for the first offense, termination for the second. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShackledNoMore Posted December 18, 2006 Share Posted December 18, 2006 I think school systems should take a hard line against abuse of power like that shown by this teacher. If I had my way, it would be a year of unpaid leave for the first offense, termination for the second. I'd go further than that for an act of prostelyzation as brazen as presented in the post: that has no place in a public school and should be grounds for termination even if it happens once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thurisaz Posted December 19, 2006 Share Posted December 19, 2006 I think school systems should take a hard line against abuse of power like that shown by this teacher. If I had my way, it would be a year of unpaid leave for the first offense, termination for the second. And Ye Bloode Eagle for the third (should they then wait for victims in front of their former school or something)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenjaminHaag Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 Being slightly bored, and having bid my caffeine buzz farewell, I listened to a recording of the classroom discussion that set off the shitstorm...I found it on one of the links here...http://www.jewsonfirst.org/06d/kearny.html There's so much here to get amused/pissed off about, it's hard to know where to start... First, it's a long, rambling discussion...which is problem #1; is he paid to teach or hang out? But I digress... * At one point he mentions that his own kids are homeschooled...yet he is a public school teacher...(?) * Irony of ironies, he goes on for at least two minutes about how he, as a Good Christian, has to (theoretically) send his kids to public school, where they won't necessarily be taught his values... * Some of his defenders said "he asked everyone if it was OK to take the discussion in a religious direction, if they were comfortable with it..." He's the teacher, he's in charge of the classroom, he has to ask the students? Give me an effing break... Suppose you were a 16-year old in a classroom with a teacher who was clearly in charge, who had the authority to determione your grade, discipline you, whatever...realistically, how much freedom would you actually feel to say "no, I'm an atheist" (or for that matter, someone who believed in a god or gods other than the one Teacher Man had in mind)? * Whatever else one thinks about the guy, he's not stupid...he mentions in the recording that "...the exam <coming up> is on Populism"...if he honestly doesn't know what was legally wrong with him steering the discussion where it went, how is he qualified to teach? * To play devil's advocate (or Fundie advocate)...my impression wasn't that he was actively trying to somehow coerce his students into sharing his beliefs, or overtly abuse his power a la "you'll have a better chance of a good grade if you don't challenge my assertions," but then, so what? What WAS clear to me was that he spent almost half the class time (or whatever part of it the recording represented) talking about Moses, the Bible, yada yada...so maybe he had a momentary break with reality and forgot that he wasn't in his church youth group. And religion aside, I have had more than my share of teachers and professors who were notorious for favoring those who shared their views...of Wordsworth, whatever. This however is different territory.. What makes this story anything but innocuous to me is the attitude I've seen over and over and over again in Christians I've seen and known and in classes I've attended...that they are somehow both justified and required, by God, to "Spread the Word" by any devious means necessary, putting tracts in strategic locations, steering conversations toward religion, inviting people to social events without making the church aspect clear, whatever. So I have a damn hard time cutting this teacher a break... More disturbing is that I have also heard, more often than I care to remember, Christians of various shapes, sizes, and degrees of dementia, assert that they are determined to "take back" America, "take back" whatever college campus they're on...because their god is the one true god, and all those who don't believe that are doomed to Hellfire, so who's to rightfully challenge them? That said, I applaud the student who had the guts to come forward...and who by no means "entrapped" the teacher, as a lot of accusations suggest; he had already gotten into Bible-beating territory, as far as I could discern, long before the kid started asking questions...reasonable, intelligent, well-thought out, courteous questions. Here's hoping that others will follow his lead... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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