Teachers in Phoenix - getting involved in politics!

[fatgail]

A friend of mine emailed me in a froth this morning telling me to get down on my knees and thank God I lived in a city and state with a brain. Sometimes I forget that outside the big city there are vocal, bizarre republicans (not all republicans, just the vocal bizarre) that are having their voices heard and…scarily…heeded.

My friends nephew in a Phoenix suburb has recently been having trouble at school and at home, nervous, shaky, kind of distracted, obsessed with something, like something weighing on his mind. He’s in fourth grade. I’m a caveman, what is that, ten years old?

Finally, it was pried out of him what was going on. In a school discussion of the election year and primary process (a valid schooltime discussion), the teacher informed her class that

A) If Hillary Clinton is elected president, she has said that she will turn the U.S. into a dictatorship…JUST LIKE HITLER DID

I gathered my jaw up from the floor and continued reading, because the teacher wasn’t done. She then asked the class why they thought Osama Bin Laden hadn’t been caught yet. After some brainstorming, she gave the answer.

B) It’s because Osama Bin Laden moved to the U.S. got a special tan, changed his name and is running for president as…wait for it…Dennis Kucinich!

HAHA no, of course I mean Barack Obama, because, you know, the names rhyme, it must be true.

So this kid is scared that he’s either going to be living in a NAZI Germany replica or under the thumb of a terrorist monster if the democrats win the election.

Freedom of speech is fantastic. I love living in a country where idiots can spew their garbage…but when you’re teaching my children…FUCKING CHILDREN WHO CAN’T VOTE, just scaring them to death…that’s another story. I wonder how many other kids were scared to death of this story and DIDN’T tell their parents. What other atrocities is this teacher putting forth?

These are delicate, mushy brains you have in your power. Things that people told me when I was ten STILL weigh heavy on my heart. My greatest fears, dislikes, anxiety was all borne in those formative years when I was learning how to process information in my own way. How dare you indoctrinate your captive audience with this bullshit. Dumbass.

[kaylasdad99]

ArizonaTeach, you got some ‘splainin’ to do!

Disclaimer: The above is a joke. I don’t really believe the Doper known as ArizonaTeach is the teacher spoken of in the OP.

[wring]

Not much different IMHO than years ago when preachers were pounding their pulpits letting their congregations know that Bill CLinton was in favor of killing babies!!!.

yes, it’s bad. Take your complaint to the principal, school administration, school board.

[athelas]

Well, I guess the kiddies are voting for Obama then.

[kaylasdad99]

@wring

Not much different IMHO than years ago when preachers were pounding their pulpits letting their congregations know that Bill CLinton was in favor of killing babies!!!.

yes, it’s bad. Take your complaint to the principal, school administration, school board.

Not really fatgail’s complaint to take to TPTB. It’s her friend (or more accurately, her friend’s sister/BIL or brother/SIL), with a child being exposed to this yutz.

I’d really be interested in knowing if the kid’s parents are taking this to the teacher’s superiors.

BTW, welcome to the Dope, fatgail, and congratulations on the membership!

Also BTW, when did Hitler turn the U.S into a dictatorship? Did we get better?

[wring]

@kaylasdad99

Not really fatgail’s complaint to take to TPTB. It’s her friend (or more accurately, her friend’s sister/BIL or brother/SIL), with a child being exposed to this yutz.

I’d really be interested in knowing if the kid’s parents are taking this to the teacher’s superiors.

BTW, welcome to the Dope, fatgail, and congratulations on the membership!

Also BTW, when did Hitler turn the U.S into a dictatorship? Did we get better?

I disagree. Agreed that a parent has better standing, but all community members (assuming they’re in the same community) would have standing to complain about this.

[ArizonaTeach]

@kaylasdad99

ArizonaTeach, you got some ‘splainin’ to do!

Heh, oh you better believe I clicked on this one right away!

Since it’s a friend of a friend story, and “Phoenix suburb” means absolutely nothing, then I’m going to have to call bullshit until I get some specifics! However, it’s not outside of the realm of possiblity. Earlier this year, in my high school, a social studies teacher gave her AP Government students a test to see where they fell politically, with questions like:

On the following chart, rate how important free speech is to you, with 1 being very important and 10 being not important.

If you chose 1: You are a Democrat. You believe that all people have the right to speak what they want without fear of oppression.

If you chose 10: You are a Republican. You believe that the goverment should control what you’re allowed to say, do, and believe in.

So, yeah, teachers can be dumbasses.

[kaylasdad99]

@wring

I disagree. Agreed that a parent has better standing, but all community members (assuming they’re in the same community) would have standing to complain about this.

Granted, but it’s not clear from the OP that fatgail is a member of the Phoenix community. I rather suspected otherwise, but I’ll be happy to have myself further enlightened on the point.

[hekk]

@ArizonaTeach

On the following chart, rate how important free speech is to you, with 1 being very important and 10 being not important.

If you chose 1: You are a Democrat. You believe that all people have the right to speak what they want without fear of oppression.

If you chose 10: You are a Republican. You believe that the goverment should control what you’re allowed to say, do, and believe in.

You know, there is a slight grain of truth to this. Both parties are guilty of #2.

And the teacher in the OP should be fired. What a prick.

[Fear_Itself]

@fatgail

So this kid is scared that he’s either going to be living in a NAZI Germany replica or under the thumb of a terrorist monster if the democrats win the election.

So he took his father’s 9mm to school and blew the teacher’s brains out.

And now you know the rest… of the story.

[fatgail]

I am not a member of the Phoenix community. I am a fine upstanding member of the great STATE OF CHICAGO.

This is my friend’s nephew. I can ask for details on the school and such if you want. It sounded kind of Snopes-y to me, but a cursory walk through the internet didn’t turn up any Obama is a super tan terrorist stories.

[Sarahfeena]

We had a letter to the editor in our local paper during the last election, complaining that a local teacher gave extremely biased handouts to the students to help them in their mock elections. The point of the handout was to help them understand what each party’s platform was, but it was worded kind of like this:

Democrats: Believe in helping the little people
Republicans: Believe in helping big business at the expense of the little people

etc.

I am more than certain that my children will get an education heavily biased towards the left, because of where I live. I’m sure that in “red” areas, kids get the opposite. I think the problem here is one of teachers who are not trained to keep their own biases out of the classroom, and/or whose opinions are so ubiquitious in the community that no one notices the bias. This is great if you do, indeed, agree with the prevailing opinions, but if you don’t, it’s pretty aggravating.