More Bennish Backlash
So now there is scrambling to try to defend the attempts to silence Jay Bennish, the teacher accused of comparing Bush to Hitler. The mother of Sean Allen, the boy who taped the Bennish lecture, asks "what about Sean's free speech?"
Well, what about it? The teacher accepted anyone's questions and allowed all statements of belief. He even said he'd award extra credit for those who wrote a paper about their beliefs, whether they agreed with his or not.
This is so typical of modern America, let's think with our gut and not our head.
In my opinion, Bennish did not compare Bush to Hitler in his lecture, he compared some of the activities of Bush to some of the activities of Hitler and said there were some worrisome similarities. I certainly agree with that.
Sean said he was willing "to put up with" Bennish, "until it got too radical".
Typical, again. Support the right to free speech until someone says something you don't have an answer to. Then, instead of going off and doing your research, just get mad. That solves nothing, sorry.
The thought that these are my fellow Americans, the people who vote for our nations leaders, scares the shit out of me.
Nunya [7:22 AM]
World Hero
Jay Bennish is a world hero.
I was going to write, "American Hero", but it is necessary to stop thinking nationalistically and start thinking patriotically. We are ALL world citizens in the end.
If you don't recognize him, Jay Bennish is the teacher who dared to compare Bush to Hitler in his sophomore world geography class. He posed several questions to his class, presenting differing sides to the issues, inviting students to question his statements and encouraging them to think for themselves.
After parent Jeff Allen contacted the high school principal, Jay Bennish was suspended with pay pending an investigation into his conduct. The governor of Colorado, Bill Owens said, "This is a high school...You assume that many of these students are fairly naive when it comes to public policy..."
Well these naive students are roughly two years away from registering to vote. Some of them will no doubt be voting for Bush's replacement. I think Governor Owens had better get his schools to work eliminating naiveté. If he thinks that teachers in public schools should withhold controversial information from students then Owens is the naive one here.
Thank you, Jay Bennish. I hope you are back in the classroom soon.
Nunya [7:56 AM]