Comments on: Teacher Scandal Update (2)

By: EdWonk

EdWonk — Fri, 08 Oct 2004 04:25:36 +0000

Oh yes, you can read about the interview on my site!

By: EdWonk

EdWonk — Fri, 08 Oct 2004 04:23:35 +0000

WORLD WIDE EXCLUSIVE: I Interviewed Ms. Pallai-Diaz via telephone earlier this evening. She discussed with me her plans, and let me know when she will be working next.

By: Eric

Eric — Wed, 06 Oct 2004 21:00:43 +0000

I belIEve the person that has the least spelling probelms.

By: Pete

Pete — Tue, 05 Oct 2004 20:38:27 +0000

You’re running with old news, Jazz — the press release has been out for days, and it doesn’t “prove” anything. It’s still he-said/she-said stuff… automatically beleiving the school board is no better than automatically beleiving the teacher.

By: Jazz

Jazz — Tue, 05 Oct 2004 20:22:49 +0000

Link below is to the latest on this story. Apparently there was a lot more to it than the original tale by the teacher. Joe Gandelman has a ton of new material on it at The Moderate Voice. Joe and I were both supporting the teacher originally. Kind of muddled now.

By: EdWonk

EdWonk — Tue, 05 Oct 2004 03:48:04 +0000

I am a classroom teacher with 13 years service and by no stretch of the imagination a “friend of administration.” As any teacher will tell you, the first rule of administration is CYA and NEVER admit mistakes. Having said that, the waters are indeed very muddied. Ms. Diaz’s mistake was not complying with her Assistant Principal’s directive to remove the picture. Ultimately, her dismissal will be upheld on grounds of insubordination.

By: Brandon

Brandon — Mon, 04 Oct 2004 23:13:05 +0000

Yes, I am ignoring the role of the parent in my discussion. A teacher won't influence a child more than a parent if that parent is raising the child in a responsible manner. In other cases, this may be an issue.

I'm talking about the times when parents consider it OK not to teach their children values and let them find their own values as they grow up. While I absolutely think this is the wrong methodology, I can't ignore that it does happen, and it happens so often as to be a problem.

If anyone has a right to indoctrinate a child, it is his or her parent. Of course, a child will be influenced by whomever pleases to do so. But that's much easier done if the parent doesn't own up to their responsibility to that child.

Even so, the child ultimately has the vote when it comes time, and hopefully the child will be able to discern between the (then) former President George W. Bush and the current Republican candidate.

By: Bill

Bill — Mon, 04 Oct 2004 21:53:22 +0000

It will be interesting to see if the liberal NEA will defend one of its union members now. As a former meber for 30 years, I know the answer. The NEA iis a corrupt union that is far left and will hang out anyone who does not walk the party line.

By: Pete

Pete — Mon, 04 Oct 2004 13:36:26 +0000

You’re ignoring the role of the parent, Brandon… parents ALREADY indoctrinate their children, and I have a feeling that in the vast majority of cases, the parent is going to outweigh the teacher. Besides… does it really matter who a former child votes for if they’re just voting their parent’s or teacher’s party-line?

By: Brandon

Brandon — Mon, 04 Oct 2004 13:07:46 +0000

A middle school teacher arguably could not make any difference to the current Presidential race, or even the next, since the kids just aren't old enough. But kids can be influenced greatly by their teachers. They are taught to listen to their teachers and accept from them that their word is truth. So, in future races, Ms. Pillai-Diaz may have made some contribution to the Republican cause (or more realistically away from the cause of the Democrats).

I think we should be worried about this, but I think we should be more worried that this sort of thing may go on all over the place, especially with even younger students. The younger they are, the more easily influenced they are and the more likely they will accept an adult's viewpoint as fact for the rest of their lives.

I'm not saying that we should get rid of teaching values in schools, on the contrary. There's a big difference in teaching values and teaching politics. It's very possible for a Democrat to fit my values better than a Republican (although the nature of my values makes it unlikely). I'm just worried that all this fuss will lead to more investigations of grade-school teacher politics, and will start up a campaign against teaching students any values whatsoever.