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Jay McDowell, a high school teacher in Michigan, was recently suspended (without pay) for dismissing a disruptive, anti-gay bigot from his class. The student was upset that he and other students were not allowed to display the confederate flag in class but that students were allowed to wear the color purple in support of the anti-gay bullying movement. During the argument, the disruptive student also spouted of about his anti-gay beliefs.
The reprimand informed McDowell that neither wearing the confederate flag nor spreading an anti-gay message in class constitutes a substantial disruption to the educational process and that therefore by suppressing both he had violated the student's rights.
McDowell responded to the reprimand first by pointing out that the school has a policy of not allowing confederate flags to be displayed in any car on school property, and then by saying "I believe any symbol or speech that can cause a student to sit in fear in the classroom whether or not there is an outward show of that fear is by its very nature a disruption to the educational process."
Here's one of his gay students defending him at a school board meeting as well as discussing how anti-gay bullying led him to attempt suicide at age 9:
So, do you agree with the teacher or the school board? Should students be allowed to wear what many people regard as hate symbols and be given a pulpit to express their bigoted beliefs (whether they be anti-gay, anti-Muslim, anti-Christian, ant-black, anti-white, etc), or does such freedom create a disruptive atmosphere of fear and bullying inappropriate for a school?
Last edited by hammertime33; 11-15-2010 at 11:40 AM..
Reason: changed "hate symbols" to "what many people regard as hate symbols"
"Should students be allowed to wear hate symbols and be given a pulpit to express their bigoted beliefs (whether they be anti-gay, anti-Muslim, anti-Christian, ant-black, anti-white, etc), or does such freedom create a disruptive atmosphere of fear and bullying inappropriate for a school?"
you have not left this open for any type of decent discussion with those remarks. just because you do not agree with somebody does not make them bigoted.
I'm sorry my characterization somehow renders you incapable of decent discussion. If it makes you feel better, I'll change my language from "hate symbols" to "what many people regard as hate symbols". As to "bigoted beliefs", being anti-gay (against the acceptance of gays) is bigoted. When your beliefs include treating the members of a group (say gays) with intolerance (not allowing the equal rights like marriage, military service, adoption, protection in housing law, etc), for whatever reason, it is bigotry. That's the definition of bigotry.
The question isn't are the beliefs bigoted. The question is, is such bigotry justified (I'm bigoted against lots of things - felons and pedophiles to name 2. I find my bigotry justified).
I got dismissed one day and sent to the office, because I could not get rid of the hiccups.
Well, the big deal, in my eyes, is that for sending this disruptive student to the principal's office, the teacher was reprimanded and suspended from his job without pay because the school board believes that allowing students to wear confederate flags and spread a message of anti-gay intolerance is appropriate in a public school classroom.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BentBow
It was annoying the teacher, but not the rest of the class.
No one got tossed, for that.
And such behavior clearly does "annoy" (to put it very lightly) some members of the class. Watch the clip where one of his 14 year old gay students defends this teacher in front of the school board by saying that allowing such anti-gay rhetoric in the classroom causes students like him to be fearful when at school, leads to their being bullied, and even contributes to gay kids' suicide attempts.
I'm sorry my characterization somehow renders you incapable of decent discussion. If it makes you feel better, I'll change my language from "hate symbols" to "what many people regard as hate symbols". As to "bigoted beliefs", being anti-gay (against the acceptance of gays) is bigoted. When your beliefs include treating the members of a group (say gays) with intolerance (not allowing the equal rights like marriage, military service, adoption, protection in housing law, etc), for whatever reason, it is bigotry. That's the definition of bigotry.
The question isn't are the beliefs bigoted. The question is, is such bigotry justified (I'm bigoted against lots of things - felons and pedophiles to name 2. I find my bigotry justified).
Sorry, reject your premise to what YOU consider hate symbols and bigotry.
Ban all symbols OR allow all. There really is no other choice. Picking and choosing which symbols/speech are good and which are bad, is not up to you or the teacher.
Teacher was out of line to trounce on the free speech right of the student.
It's irrational to be in fear of a confederate flag. It's a historic symbol, and certainly doesn't suggest anti-gay sentiments. To many people, it represents a Southern heritage, something those from the south take pride in.
The teacher may have been the bigot. He may be bigoted against those who are proud to claim historic ties to the southern culture. He's certainly a bigot if he assumes anyone should be ashamed to even associate themselves with traditional southern culture, and views southern culture as necessarily a shameful thing.
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