Indoctrination Not Education In The Classroom
Welcome Michelle Malkin readers!
**Update**
Indoctrination Not Education In The Classroom, Part 2
Student Sean Allen
Teacher Jay Bennish
Jay Bennish believes that his world geography class should be a bully pulpit for his leftist rants, rather than a forum for debate or a serious attempt to give students some idea of world geography, i.e., actually teaching students a curriculum designed to enlighten them about world relations, basic geography, and culture. Apparently his Marxist anti-imperialist rhetoric did not go over well with all of his students. This tendency toward ideological proselytizing produces results like this, where only 8% of Americans can identify three out of the 5 First Amendment freedoms!
**Updates**
--Students stage walkout, some in favor of the teacher, some for the student. . .more to follow. . .
Police called to maintain peace. . ."Teach don't preach!". . .**Video of walkout**
RMN walkout update. CBS4Denver has video. 9News video.
Photos from 9News.
FOXNews has more video of walkout.
Previous:
Rocky Mountain News has more here and the Denver Post here.
More video from 7News here. And CBS4 here.
Another student offers a glimpse into the unhinged teacher's rants via AM 630 KHOW.
9News has the video. They also posted the audio taped by the Overland student, Sean Allen.
Allen appeared on Mike Rosen's radio show.
Walter Williams weighs in here.
More from Generation Why?
Poster one might find in Bennish's classroom:
Michelle Malkin Unhinged Teacher Caught On Tape
posted by Anonymous at
3:47 AM
31 Comments:
Well done to the kid who exposed this deranged BDS victim!
Now, if we get about a zillion other kids with recorders...
Thank God for the teachers who speak the truth, well done and keep it coming...the impeachment is not that far off...we just love ya all's Rethuglican Family Values...not!
Feel free to email the teacher, Jay Bennish and let him know what you think.
I listened to the audio of TEACHER CAUGHT IN BUSH RANT, with great interest. Also, with sadness.
My name is Michael Class. I live in the Seattle area with my wife and two children. I am a retired "dot-com" executive turned author, photographer, and publisher.
I was appalled at how some teachers presented American history to my children. My son and daughter learned that Thomas Jefferson had slaves—before they learned that he wrote the document articulating our rights and duties as free people. European settlers killed Native Americans with blankets infected with smallpox, they found out. That allegation upstaged the stories of courage, perseverance, and curiosity that defined the pioneers. My children knew that more than a hundred thousand people died when the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan, but they were not made to understand the moral context and the enormous scale of the conflict called World War II in which the atomic bomb story fit.
With a curriculum seemingly designed to instill guilt and shame, I wondered, how will my kids ever discover the lessons of history that inspire greatness and noble aspirations? Will they ever believe that they can make a difference? Will they have any heroes left at all? Then, I wondered: What would the heroes of America’s past say to the children of today?
I wrote, photographed, and published a book designed to set the record straight, to properly prepare our children for the future. My book is called Anthony and the Magic Picture Frame.
If you know where I can reach 10th-grader Sean Allen, I will gladly send him a FREE copy of my book.
My book specifically rebuts the positions taken by teacher Jay Bennish - because I have heard his arguments so many times before. My book tells the truth about capitalism, the War on Terror, and places them in historical perspective.
In the book, my real-life son, twelve-year-old Anthony, time-travels into the great events of the 20th century. Digital photographic “magic” places Anthony in the cockpit of the Spirit of St. Louis with Charles Lindbergh, on the moon with Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, in the laboratories of Thomas Edison and Jonas Salk, and on Normandy beach on D-Day. It looks as though Anthony really did meet Thomas Edison, Jonas Salk, FDR, Lou Gehrig, Charles Lindbergh, and Audie Murphy. And it’s all historically accurate: Even Anthony’s conversations with America’s heroes are based on things they really said.
While writing and photographing the book, I spoke with relatives of famous scientists and inventors, Holocaust survivors, award-winning biographers, and others who could help me ensure that the facts of the book were both accurate and vivid.
But the book goes beyond a simple recitation of historical facts: the book presents the moral lessons of American history. The chapter about Lindbergh’s flight is really about choosing one’s destiny. The story of Lou Gehrig is one of a virtuous life. The chapter about Thomas Edison is really about business. The story of Apollo 11 is about wonder, taking risks, and courage. The story of Dr. Jonas Salk and the cure for polio is really about dedicating one’s life to a higher purpose. When Anthony “meets” his immigrant great-grandfather at Ellis Island in 1907, it’s really a story about what it means to be an American. Anthony’s observation of D-Day and the liberation of the death camps during the Holocaust is a testament to the reality of evil and the need to fight it.
The book is meant to challenge the young reader. Many adults will find the book challenging, too. Anthony COMPARES the people and events of the past with the people and events of his own time. Anthony discusses the nature of good and evil, right and wrong, war and peace, what it means to be an American, honor and discipline, success and achievement, courage and destiny, marriage and family, God and purpose. Anthony’s observations prompt serious discussion of timeless moral questions. Anthony challenges the reader to think critically - to see the modern world in the light of the lessons of the past.
We can't afford to raise a generation of Americans who do not value their country, their heritage, and their place in the world. As Abraham Lincoln said: America is the "last best hope of earth."
Thank you.
Michael S. Class
Author / Photographer / Publisher
Anthony and the Magic Picture Frame: An American History Book for Right-Thinking Parents and Their Children
-----------------------
E-Mail: class@MagicPictureFrame.com
Web site: www.MagicPictureFrame.com
This is an outrage!!
Perhaps we should combine our efforts in covering this story.
Homeschooling the only real choice for a real education. The teacher is not the outrage its the parents who will complain and rage and then send their little impressionalbe kids back on the bus. So who is the real nut? The parents or the teacher. I say both.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...
Thank God for the teachers who speak the truth, well done and keep it coming...the impeachment is not that far off...we just love ya all's Rethuglican Family Values...not
Nice piece of work. And I am not even a Republican. Grow up, pal. The hate that eminates from the Looney Left is marginalizing people who think as you do even more than you are.
Calling childish 3rd grade names proves you have no cogent argument to make.
I have a blog with Blogger at oglebay.blogspot.com. I want to do trackback, but Blogger says they don't support it. However, I saw this site in the trackback section at Michelle Malkin's site. I was hoping the blogger could please write to me at p_oglebay@hotmail.com and help me with this. I will gladly link you to my site if you'd like.
Now he has hired an ACLU lawyer, the same one that represented Ward Churchill
Well, at the least the student protestors didn't have time to make puppets...
I wish some rich person would step up and sponsor a Day of Rebuttal for these kids. Take them to DC and have them listen to pro-US speakers, show them the sights, TEACH them something. and then let them decide.
There is a funny post about over at HoT:
http://hammeroftruth.com/2006/03/02/teacher-suspended-for-insulting-hitler/
Maybe I'm being a bit picky, but I have to agree that the statement about the assassination shows that the guy is not fit to teach. First, the only British prime minister to have been assassinated was Spencer Perceval in 1812 inside the House of Commons by John Bellingham, a Englishman. Nothing matches what the teacher said. Second, the person who was assassinated was Walter Edward Guinness. Guinness was Minister Resident in the Middle East and murdered in Cairo. Yes, Cairo! Cairo has always been and will always be located in Egypt! So guy who teaches World Geography misses both the country and continent of the assassination. Yes, both the country and continent.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of Mr Bennish's speech (and his opinions are historically valid), surely calling for his arrest, telling him to shut up, and publishing his home address and telephone number on a public forum kinda gives credence to some of his points?
You McCarthyites ought to be ashamed of yourselves... its you who are brainwashed.
BTW - As freedom of speech seems to be an abstract notion around here. itll be interesting to see if this comment makes it through the 'moderation' procedure.. ;)
If possible, please remove the teacher's home phone number from the above post.
We are not going to win ideological battles by subjecting our fellow americans (wrong minded or not) to threats of physical violence.
Threats will come from those who have let their emotions overtake their reason.
We need to be civil in our discourse.
Agreed. Automatic comment posting has been turned off.
Here in Chicago students get bused to participate in partisan political activities...although the biggest rally I saw was on behalf of teachers unions.
Teachers who do that should be barred from the professions.
Respect is due.
- 1st Anon.
"BTW - As freedom of speech seems to be an abstract notion around here"
Oh,come of it!! this generation of lefties have proven to be among the most virulenty anti "free speech" in recent history, its their view or no view!
This is not a free speech issue, this is simply about a lefty moonbat getting caught using his position of power to indoctrinate children with his personal opinions instead of doing what he was paid for.
If he only ever made these comments in his own personal time and there was no evidence of bias during his classes, none of us would ever have heard his name.
That fact that anyone is actually trying to defend his right to use the classroom as a moonbat soapbox shows just how immature and naive the current crop of lefties really are.
Talking about freedom of speech in this context is naive. This is a situation where an inherent imbalance of power exists. Teacher vs. students.
It's not even enough for the "teacher" to allow other views to be heard in the classroom and call it even because it can't be even. The imbalance of power between teacher and student prevents it ever from being even.
Unlike college, most students do not have any choice about being in the class. The law requires that they attend school. Parents have a right to expect teachers to present information fairly even while teachers have the right to have their personal lifestyles and politics *outside of the classroom* ignored.
Parents have two choices, to "vote with their feet" and change schools, or to work within a school to change the content.
School districts have the responsibility to offer a product with wide appeal, reflective of the community.
The teacher has freedom of speech, but not guarentee of employment. That would be just silly.
Don't celebrate so fast when you're up against the teachers' unions.
Notice that all this teacher is being hit with is a free vacation, which is what administrative leave is. That may well be the only sanction he ever faces.
If the union manages to save his job as will certainly be their key objective then this whole affair will be a major setback, because it will give a green light what he and thousands of other teachers do every day.
This shows the advantage of having examinatins which are set and marked by external, independent (and preferably non-profit) bodies. Teaching like that would not help the students to pass an exam in geography. If the teacher has a consistently high failure rate, then there is a reason to remove him from his post. He is fully entitled to have left wing views, but not to spend time in class spouting them instead of teaching geography. The same would apply to religious views or right wing views.
It is not just the content of what Mr. Bennish said, but his method of teaching that is the problem. He is disrespecting his students by bombarding them with propaganda which they lack the knowledge to properly judge, and he's doing it in a class where it is completely off subject.
See here for more on the subject.
Walter Williams is convincing me not to go to George Mason University's Economics program.
This former department chairman held any economics professor *under suspicion* for not supporting his simplistic free market views. (See *A dynamite economics department* article) Now he hates Mr. Bennish for discussing US policies' international problems.
I argue with left and right teachers because I want to think.
This teacher was doing his job, he was asking his students to think rather than just memorize mundane facts... twice during the taped session he tells the students to think for themselves; "In no way am I implying, I don't know, you got to figure this stuff out for yourself, but I want you to think about these things..." and "... I'm not in any way implying that you should agree with me. I don't even know if I'm necessarily taking a position. But what I'm trying to get you to do is to think..."
These are not primary school children that Mr. Bennish is teaching, they are young adults. Sean Allen's questions are evidence of this. I believe that this was a legitimate classroom exercise given the age of the students.
For those who say that the teacher should stick to the subject - World Geography - what exactly is world geography? If it is just memorizing the names of countries and being able to locate them on a map then our education system fails to educate. World geography is so much more!
Number one: We don't have a copy of the full lecture, only what one student chose to tape or copy, so we don't really know if there was other stuff to provide the balance everyone seems to believe is needed.
Number two: If the things being espoused had not been fairly unpopular, we would never have heard of it whether it was balanced or not.
Finally: This is just an attack on a teacher who "dares" to offer alternative interpretation to the popular belief.
The single most valuable skill I learned in my high school career, and possible through the entirety of my education, is how to think critically. Hell, it may be the most important thing I have learned in life.
The only way that anyone ever picks up this necessary skill is by being challenged, and from quickly scanning this crazy sounding transcript, it appears that this is exactly what this instructor was doing.
One student appears to have responded in several places. One. One student out of an entire classroom appears to have responded to a very provocative instructor. That's sad.
A lot of what he says is crazy sounding, but most of that seems to be based in facts.
Still, it's a good thing that one student hasn't been completely sedated by our consumer culture, and was able to think clearly enough to actually respond with a little argumentativeness. That beats zero.
Now, if we could just figure out how Michelle Malkin figured out that one unidentified student had been brainwashed.... oh wait, nm- those who disagree with us aren't just people with a different opinion, any more. They are the enemy, and very very stupid. I forgot. sorry
Wow, you can sure tell that this teacher is filled with anger! And it is clear that he is only making a pretense of teaching by using "teaching" phrases to prompt people to give him what he wants to hear.
Students defending his right to free speech need to understand what that right is--and isn't. For example, shouting "fire" in a crowded theatre is NOT a right protected by the first amendment. Nor is inciting a riot, or inciting people to do harm to others.
Likewise, although this man certainly has the right to express his opinions, as a teacher, while he is in the classroom, he is obligated to give objective and balanced information. This rant of his is neither objective nor balanced, nor is it even accurate. For example, he gives *his* (flawed and incomplete) definition of capitalism, then attacks capitalism based on his definition.
A far better teacher would present more balanced information and truly teach his students to learn to think for themselves, even if those students end up with different opinions than he holds.
Get used to it everybody, the more younger teachers are hired, the more Jay Bennish's we will see.
Exactly what book is the proper American History in? If teachers are supposed to teach the 'real' US History, please indicate which one.
The one that says Paul Revere rode to warn the rebels that the British were coming? He didn't.
The one that says Washington chopped down the cherry tree? Or Lincoln walked five miles to return a penny or entered the Civil War to free slaves? Nope. Nope. And Nope.
So essentially what you are demanding is that teachers continue to indoctrinate the oh-so-impressionable youths with the orthodox fallacies that have traditionally been taught.
So this teacher got some facts wrong. That sucks. We should be paying 30 year teachers what we have been paying freshmen congressmen. Perhaps then we could attract the really talented.
But you're not REALLY upset about this teacher's historical innaccuracies. You're pissed about the portions that ARE accurate.
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