"Honestly, I Wanted To Laugh At Her"

Earlier in the week, I posted a link to an article where a teacher screamed at a student because he criticized Obama.  Today, the student was interviewed by a local paper and Fox News, but has been moved to a different school by his parents.  The teacher in question is on paid (yes, paid) suspension.  Here's a round up of articles and commentary on the matter:

• Salisbury Post: Video of classroom political discussion goes viral.
• Fox News: Student defends criticism of Obama after being berated by teacher
• Hot Air: NC student on pro-Obama teacher who berated him: “She doesn’t want to hear anything but what she believes in”.  Includes Fox News video of his interview.
• Ace Of Spades:  Student Who Talked Back To Teacher: Honestly, I Wanted To Laugh At Her.

First, the teacher told the student ".....let me tell you something, you will not disrespect the president of the United States in this classroom."  Later, she said, “Do you realize that people were arrested for saying things bad about Bush? Do you realize you are not supposed to slander the president?”  To which the student (correctly) counters that would violate his Constitutional rights, under the First Amendment.

I think the best assessment of this comes from Ace:

There are multiple ways in which this teacher is unfit for the classroom. She believes the classroom exists to further her partisan agenda. She uses her authority to bludgeon students into compliance with her beliefs and agenda.

But on a basic level, she's incompetent. She is a stupid woman. There is no getting around this: A social studies teacher really ought to know that in America, people are not "arrested" for "disrespecting" the president.

She doesn't know that. She is rather passionate in her stupid belief that the opposite is true.

I doubt very much that a teacher -- a social studies teacher, for God's sakes! It's not as if this is outside her usual classroom curriculum -- who does not know that your right to political expression is guaranteed by the First Amendment knows much else.

This is like a math teacher not knowing that if 3 x 5 = 15.

If the math teacher doesn't know that extraordinarily basic thing -- something that kids who haven't even been formally taught multiplication sort of know, by counting on fingers -- then what the hell does she know?

Later, he makes this prediction:

Oh, by the way: Know that the next step, coming to your school, is a ban on recording devices or cell phones with a recording feature.

They don't want people to know how awful and incompetent many of them are, and they'll make up any pretext for keeping this a secret.

So expect your local schools to begin banning recording devices, arguing it's "disruptive" to orderliness and "promotes a climate of suspicion and guardedness rather than openness and honesty."

Meaning: The Teachers Union teachers could not keep their jobs if the public got a look inside the classroom.

Fight this when it comes to your town-- because it is coming.

 And I think he's right.  Sunlight is the best disinfect there is.  Especially for corruption.