Anti-war button causes teacher to quit

i didnt see the entire article, but there was a teacher that was wearing an anti-war button. the school told him that he could not wear the button, so he quit.

i didnt see the rationale cited for the school's actions, but i say, good for the school!

the school can dictate what is apprpriate to wear within the building. the teacher needs to keep his political views to himself, and focus on teaching the kids. (i also have no issue with banning pro-war buttons)

i can see it now...the "freedom of speech" and "freedom of expression" people are going to have a fit.

Bob

There is no "freedom of speech" with your employer. Your employer has every right to control what happens in the work environment. And the teacher has every right to leave.

It has happened how it should.

My wife's a teacher ... her school prohibits teachers from wearing of any kind of campaign or political button during school hours.

I'm sure that guy's school probably had the same sort of rule ... so they were well within their rights to ask him to remove the button.

Quitting his job is kinda cutting off his nose to spite his face, however.

I COMPLETELY agree with Unanimous for a change.

I_rv: look at it this way: everyone wins; the teacher now has time to go vomit for peace or whatever, the kids have one fewer teacher dumping leftist propaganda on them and the school district can maybe get someone that WILL follow the rules.

The only thing that really surprises me is that the school administrators have enforced anything that could be considered a conservative idea.

It's not so much a conservative idea. The teacher would have been trouble fro wearing a pro-troop pin most likely. Most schools (K-12) tend to look down upon teachers doing anything that could influence the kids beliefs. In my high school, the teacher soulcn't even say who they voted for in the elections the day before. This was California by the way.
I agree with this. A teachers job is to teach facts. Now in some classes it is harder than others, math and science are easy, it's pretty much just hard fact. In social studies, and even history a little, it's a little harder to seperate some fact from opinion. But that's part of the teachers responsibility.

Hey Unicorn, please don't come to any of my classes - if you're hoping for teachers who'll teach "just the facts" you'd be unhappy for sure. I make a concerted effort to get as much of my profession's code of ethics into every minute of every class. If not there, then where will those students ever learn what their future profession will require of them? Where else can they get this guidance?

My wife is a teacher at an independent high school, a school in which she's not only permitted to allow her personal beliefs to come out in class, but in which she's encouraged and even mandated to do so. She's encouraged to live her integrity out into her professional life with her students. This works, and it gains a tremendous trust from her students. When she started a Social Justice club at the school 76 students signed up on the first day. From a school of just less than 500. They believe in her and they know that their belief in her is justified - they've seen what she's made of in their classes with her. That's just one minor example of what a school can do, what a teacher willing to live their integrity out into their classroom can do - and what they can inspire.

Don't mistake it, the teenagers of today are certainly more worldly-wise than we ever were, they grow up faster than we did and they face far more complex situations than we did. Despite all of this they are still young people learning to be with one another, mostly learning to learn. And like all of us, they are forming their own understanding of who each of them is, why each of them is here, and what each of them stands for. Consider for a moment how much further down that road to self-awareness teenagers can get in an environment that not only tolerates the discussion but actively promotes it.

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humble best regards to all (particularly to you Unicorn),

A.

p.s. - by the way, I fully support the administration asking that teacher to remove that pin. There is a definite line between living with integrity in your classroom and using a classroom as a political soapbox. Current events can provide a tremendous learning opportunity but should be focused *issues-based* discussions. I really feel there is no room for politics in a classroom.