Debate, and discuss, just dont Bore me.

There is a high school teacher in Colorado that is in a lot of hot water.  Why?  Is he espousing some left wing lunacy?  Some would argue that.  But in truth his rhetoric is not left wing or right wing, just anti-American.  Jay Bennish, a GEOGRAPHY teacher at Overland High School has decided that all subjects are political, even when there is no politics in them.  And so instead of teaching his assigned course, he has decided to jump into a diatribe about how EVIL America is. 

Forget the fact that most of his statements are just plain wrong.  Forget the fact that he takes the Michael Moore tack of the 6 degrees of separation and stretches them.  In many cases, he is just plain wrong. (the CIA and FBI - or did he merely correct himself by changing the agency).  The World Trade Centers were never a military target.  It was strictly civilian.  And his rant about Cuba is fanciful at best, an outright lie at worst.

And for denying his students their education for his political agenda, he has been suspended.  Not fired, Suspended.  And that has gotten his panties in a bunch.

Well, I am sorry that he feels persecuted.  I am sorry that he feels his First Amendment rights were infringed.  This is not about first amendment rights.  This is about competency of a teacher.  Something sadly lacking in many schools in America.  Neither man, nor the United States of America created geography.  And indeed, man has not affected a lot of change to it either.  No mountain ranges have been created or destroyed by man.  The seas are still there as are the lakes and rivers (although we can affect the course of some rivers, that hardly qualifies as political).

So his argument is weak, as is his hate filled rhetoric.  Perhaps if he was doing his job, and spouting his nonsense on talk radio, he would not be in trouble.  He just forgot what his job was all about.

It is too bad for his students.  Not that he cannot spout his stupidity to them, but that they are being cheated out of their education.  An education the deserve, but he is denying them.


Comments
on Mar 03, 2006
For a list of the Businesses in the Twin Towers, check out the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/articles/tower1.html
on Mar 03, 2006
I just posted a simular article doc, sorry
on Mar 03, 2006

I just posted a simular article doc, sorry

Sorry MM, I missed yours.  We must have posted at the same time.

on Mar 03, 2006
#3 by Dr. Guy
Friday, March 03, 2006


Sorry MM, I missed yours. We must have posted at the same time.


nope you were first, I just did not read it till I posted mine.
on Mar 03, 2006
You make a great point here. This oxygen thief is robbing the students of the Geography lessons he is being paid to teach.

His rants make him a thief of education and every dollar he accepts as a teacher. He has no interest in teaching kids about landscape and cultures, he only cares about vomiting hate all over his classroom.

He should not only be fired, but the taxpayers of the area should recoup the money he has stolen from them for as long as he has been employed, but not doing his job. He is no better than any other thief.
on Mar 03, 2006

nope you were first, I just did not read it till I posted mine.

Not a problem.  Yours has the old Elie fire that we love so much!  And as Parated said recently, there is always enough of the topic for more than one blog on it!

on Mar 03, 2006

He should not only be fired, but the taxpayers of the area should recoup the money he has stolen from them for as long as he has been employed, but not doing his job. He is no better than any other thief.

One of the things that got me (I listened to an interview the student had) was that the class was supposed to be an AP Geography class, and the student (Sean Allen) eventually transferred out to a regular class and then had to catch up!

on Mar 07, 2006
One of the things that got me (I listened to an interview the student had) was that the class was supposed to be an AP Geography class, and the student (Sean Allen) eventually transferred out to a regular class and then had to catch up!


That is both disgusting and evidence that this "teacher" isn't doing his job. He has no business in a classroom if he isn't going to teach the subject for which he was hired.

Again, he is just a common thief at best, and should be up on charges for theft and denying students their education.
on Mar 07, 2006
He was suspended WITH pay, too, wasn't he? I would be outraged were I to be given free vacations like that...

If this were a passing comment in reference to something they were studying, I wouldn't have that much of a problem with it. The situation here is the students had to deal with his whining day in and day out, and the teacher refused to tolerate any dissent or opposing opinion. At least that is what the student who taped him said.
on Mar 07, 2006
He was suspended WITH pay, too, wasn't he?

Ooh! Ooh! I'd like to be suspended with pay. Just find me in the Bahamas.
on Mar 07, 2006
Shoot, from the subject line alone, I thought for sure this would be an article that would put the senile ol' book peddlin' wanna be best sellin' over-promoted former military man in his place.

So much for wishful thinkin'
on Mar 07, 2006
Okay, here is my take on Bennish's Today Show appearance this morning...

Matt Lauer tries to make apologies for the leftist teacher that was caught indoctrinating his students during a Today Show interview. Lauer lied and said, “The student’s family didn’t go to the school board... they basically shopped it around to conservative media outlets and when they finally released it to one it created an uproar.” Matt Lauer then went on to imply that jay Bennish was duped and tricked into making his outrages anti-American statements. “...and on the tape you can hear Sean Allen asking you questions that seem to be egging you on... do you feel you were set up?” Jay Bennish also tried to make the argument that a 20 minute audio tape was taken out of context. When Asked by Lauer if he understood what the controversy was about Bennish claimed that the outrage was due to the way it was presented, not the actual insanity he spewed to his students.

I’ll start with Matt Lauer’s comment in which he charged Sean Allen of basically being an agent of the right Wing. Matt Lauer and other Liberals usually can’t help themselves when it comes to trying to demonize Republicans, so they make statements in which they unwittingly prove how warped their ideological beliefs are. Think about this statement for a minute: “They basically shopped it [the audio of Bennish’s rant] around to conservative media outlets and when they finally released it to one, it created an uproar.” At face value one sees a cheap attempt to excuse Bennish’s behavior while taking a cheap shot at conservative media. But if you step back, assuming Lauer believes his own statement, and ask yourself, “Why is it that Sean Allen would be forced to shop this tape around to only conservative radio”? Think about that…Did Matt Lauer, in a Freudian-like slip, admit that the liberal media really doesn’t mind Jay Bennish indoctrinating his students with leftist propaganda? Is he saying that the only people in America who care about preventing the indoctrination of young students are Conservatives? Matt Lauer unwittingly implied that liberals, like him, see no reason for there to be a controversy about this issue. And you know what, I totally agree with his unknowing admission that people on the left, in their hearts, agree with many of the things Bennish said and in fact do not mind one iota that this teacher used his class to manipulate his student’s beliefs.

The next issue I have with this interview is how Lauer tried to ascribe ulterior motives to the 10th student that Bennish was trying to indoctrinate. I don’t know why he tried to downplay the outrages comments made by this teacher but I suppose it was because he felt that perhaps, if he wasn’t “egged on”, everyone would have seen how Bennish really isn’t anti-American and he was just caught up in the moment. The entire interview was basically a way for Jay Bennish and the Today Show to make excuses for the conduct of the suspended high school teacher.
on Mar 08, 2006
Congratulations, Doc!