She needs to go away.

I can see putting that on the blackboard and encouraging a discussion around it. I can't see putting it on the blackboard and encouraging the bullying of any student who objected to it.

As a nurse, I had to park my own political bias outside the front door. I don't think it should be any different for teachers.

It wasn't her quote, it was something a student said, according to the article.

The school is being sued because the bullying was bad enough that the student who objected to the sentiment is not going back.

Really stupid thing to do. Even if it had been about Republicans, it would have been stupid.

And yes, teachers need to leave their political bias at home and keep it out of their classrooms.

because it's a Fucking Fairy Tale !!!!

The Fairy tradition to point out Xtian idiocy. Fairytails are wonderful and wise : )

and nobody asks for 10% of your income to read you fairy tales.

not a big surprised

I was hoping that this was a logic course and the teacher was attempting to explain the logical fallacies within the statement.
Using bigoted language and expressions from the bullies and racists among the children, as learning tools and objects of derision, is what a good teacher does.
But then there's always this teacher's approach.
I wonder which social and political narrative she feels the most invested in.

Agree.

Everything about what she did is so very wrong.

This moron needs to sit her stupid ass at home behind locked doors where she can do NO MORE HARM.

"The teacher regrets the incident, and has no intention of doing this again," said Bennett.

"Mary Gilbert says her daughter, Chelsea was ridiculed when she tried to stick up for other students in the class. She says Chelsea is choosing to be home schooled rather than go back."

"The name calling and the bullying at school, and to be honest, I feel she was bullied by a teacher," says Gilbert."

"The Superintendent says there was a lapse of judgement."

and who was bullied for what?

Taking that into consideration and other possibilities, there is still this: Aside from the politics, discussing heaven is discussing religion in the classroom. The teacher should have known better.

There was only one which had anything about politics: "Why Nixon should be elected president"

The assignment was to write in the style of Patrick Henry's liberty of death speech.

I, of course, wrote on why Hubert H. Humphrey should be elected president. I demolished Nixon and Wallace.

Later my teacher told me that she almost voted for Humphrey based upon my argument. I didn't believe her, but it made me feel good. As I recall, I got the only A.

Questioning a statement made by a student is not ridicule. Asking student to logically defend a statement is not ridicule. Asking a student to be responsible for a statement, especially when it involves the wrath of God, is not abusive.

It is quite clear that the statement is inflammatory. If a teacher cannot demonstrate that concept by using a student's own words, then how is anyone ever to learn how to temper their speech in such a way that they can communicate efficiently?

What is missing from this article is what the conflict is, other than a teacher writing down a student's statement made in debate. And then the student feeling like she was being ridiculed. No where in this article do I see ANY actions or words from the teacher to indicate any ridicule, or call for ridicule. There may have been. We just can't tell what the hell is going on.

Asking what is wrong with a statement is not necessarily saying the statement is wrong.

The teacher put a student's comment on the board during a discussion. There are many logical fallacies with the statement, so I could see a psych teacher dealing with that, with pathos being used to manipulate, with all kinds of curriculum-appropriate things.

The mom is now homeschooling her daughter?! Because of one day in one class in just one year of high school? Seriously?! Yeah, I'm sure the teachers have bets on how soon she'll be back. The mom says that parents don't send their kids to school to learn about other people's opinions? Um, that's exactly what kids get in a liberal arts education.

Methinks this was a class discussion that got mildly out of hand, and now the mom's screaming and crying to beat the band because her little snowflake's feelings got hurt. Sorry to be blunt, but honestly, read the article: it sounds like the daughter was defending the statement and got shouted down.

I think the daughter wasn't agreeing with the statement.
But the article is not clearly written so it's not easy to figure out what took place.

I could see it going either way, sure, but there's another clue: where the statement is on the board. Most teachers put any thought-provoking statement up at the top so there's room to put more underneath. It helps students to see the logical progression of the debate, and that takes room on a board. If it were a quick write sort of thing--something the teacher wanted the kids to write about, pro or con--or something the teacher wasn't trying to get opinions on, it would have been in the middle of the board with no room for additions.

Either way, class discussions can sometimes get a bit out of hand even with the most professional of teachers. So, she's getting homeschooled now? That tells me that this isn't the first issue the mom's had with the school, and her bizarre statement about opinions tells me all I need to know. Hint: most people in Kentucky who rail about teachers' opinions and yank their kids out of the school to homeschool them aren't Dems.

Good post!

It doesn't surprise me that someone made a big hoopla out of it. So much for critical thinking skills.

I read several different articles and none of them had enough information.

This one had a video.

[link:http://hinterlandgazette.com/tag/kentucky-high-school-teacher-kendra-baker|

You want to get students engaged and involved, give them something that gets them debating.

It's a technique some PD folk advocate, with various ways to vote, discuss, summarize, extend.

Principals like it. They push for it.

Until the second a parent complains because their little turnip got it wrong or was offended. Then it's something that can never be allowed and isn't tolerated.

Quick to anger, quick to judgment, slow to mercy and understanding. That was the kid's mother. Probably (R).

Mirrored by DU. Probably (D).

Or one of her friends.

The teacher was probably showing how it was wrong. Other students agreed it was a stupid quote, then the fundies went berserko.

Between the persecution complex of the mother and the weird decision to turn to home-schooling, this has fundy temper tantrum written all over it.

as the entire thing is probably fictitious.

But either way that is a stupid quote. Teachers need to leave their politics at home.