Pretty & I send BENRY to a Catholic school, but it's for reasons other than the supposed leftie indoctrination the public schools offer. In fact, as a product of the very school district in which we currently reside, I'm convinced that my boys would do wonderfully in this system and will eventually attend high school where I did. (As long as the district stops herding kids into Special Ed programs to secure additional funding, but that's a subject for another post.)
I find it interesting that the primary segments of productive society in which one finds bona fide moonbats are Education and Law (and in a particular personal instance, Educational Law). I honestly don't know why it is, but it is very rare that I run across a Production Manager, a Sales Rep, a dock worker or heaven forbid a small business owner who has adopted the strident "corporate imperialist Bushitler Haliburton Rove cabal" mindset. They could, of course, keep their beliefs to themselves, but I visit hundreds of people a year on sales calls and have yet to hear Air America on a single radio.
But I digress. What motivated me to post today was learning that my 7th grade Social Studies teacher, Roger Cuthbertson, was recently arrested while protesting at a fundraiser featuring Dick Cheney. The event was held at a lakeside estate - the protesters were on a pontoon in the bay, shouting anti-Cheney slogans. Mr. Cuthbertson then boarded a smaller boat with his hippie friend and (according to the Star-Tribune):
"...tried to paddle the raft to shore so they could speak with Cheney. A sheriff's boat intercepted the men, but not before Cuthbertson jumped into the bay and tried to swim toward the reception."
Hilarious. Sneak a peek at this photo of Mr. Cuthbertson (he's the bearded guy in the blue jacket), cropped from another Strib article about a weekly peacenik party held outside a prominent local defense contractor. I remember him as a disheveled, long-haired dude who wore plaid shirts and his Levi's well below his hips long before "jailing" was in. In his class, I recall listening to Garrison Keilor, performing a mock trial and watching him furiously scrawl a detailed chalkboard sketch of how the atomic bomb worked. Nothing unreasonable.Who knows? He may have thrown hysterical tantrums about Pershing missiles in Europe and "Evil Empire" speeches... I just don't remember them. But if he did, his rhetoric certainly didn't affect me as he'd hope it would.
My point (if I have one): Schools should certainly do their best to evenly portray all sides of any issue, but maybe we should all lighten up a bit. Kids will eventually find their own ways in the world, regardless the crap any strangers try to fill their heads with.
10 comments:
Several things:
1. I hope the educational law jab is not directed at me. If so, you're way off on my politics. And I've never listened to Air America in my life.
2. I have, however, on several occasions, instructed teachers in no uncertain terms to keep their politics OUT OF THE CLASSROOM. It's one of my pet peeves. In fact, I hate the presence of politics in all workplaces, but especially in classrooms where minds are impressionable.
That said, bring on your special ed post because I will be ALL OVER that one.
YOU'RE in EDUCTIONAL LAW?
I had no idea. Really!
Yeah, and while I may sleep with a moonbat, my batcave is much closer to the center.
But remind me to tell you about the Minnetonka teacher whose termination arbitration case I just ran across while trying to fire a teacher. Did you ever take Business Ed? For your sake, I hope not.
What business would I have with Ed, MM?
And seriously, I commend you for point 2 in your first comment. I have no doubt that you run a tight ship over there in the south metro. If you didn't I'd certainly hear it from a certain mutual acquaintance.
MM is right . . . compared to this moonbat, she's practically Rush Limbaugh. Maybe my family has rubbed off on her. Either that, or working on the management side for the entirety of her 11-year legal career has ruined her. Sad, so sad.
Yes!! The right-wing conspiracy is working. Muwahahahaha!
And ckoz, you missed Cuthbertson during an election year. That was fun. Not.
MM, Touchstone may have taken Business Ed. I'm not sure. But if it was during our time, I bet Mom knows what you're talking about.
CK, you left out journalism as another field that seems to attract lefties - you know, the save the world types. If you recall yourself, you used to be attracted to the dark side...did that have something to do with your majoring in journalism?
I remember a lot of teachers pushing their lefty views when I was in school. I had a teacher in High School - 11th grade - state to our current affairs class that it would be better for us all if we unilateraly disarmed so that we could show the soviets that we were serious about arms control. Now even 11th graders had enough life experience to know that was stupid.
Eric - MM takes solo pleasure trips to the Dominican Republic? You may want to have a talk with her. (To ask if you can join in.)
Mamadala, I googled "Roger Cuthbertson" and came up with all kinds of juicy tidbits. Outside of the usual Cindy Sheehan/Ward Churchill sympathy ploys, I learned that he sings in a folk group called Stringbeans (he calls himself "Garbanzo" and his sidekick is "Chickpea"). What is up with folk musicians and their politics?
SS - I was never a "journalist" in the pure sense of the word -- I wanted to write ad copy. That didn't make me a watermelon; my misguided love for the outdoors did.
ck, we are leaning towards sending our kids to the public schools. I am going to have to start early to work against the indoctrination.
Left-leaning teachers are endemic to the classroom and it goes back to my own school days in the middle of the last century. It used to drive my parents crazy to hear the indoctrination we were getting.
If parents aren't alert I think teachers can and do have a strong influence on beliefs. I was grateful to have parents who debated with me endlessly against the teachings of certain Orono teachers, mostly in social studies.
My personal belief is that teaching tends to attract people who are risk-averse and not usually entrepeneurial. The strong union further influences them toward the left.
I can't recall the Mtka teacher in business ed. MM--send me the details.
Roger C--Ah, yes, in a class by himself. He probably has done a lot less harm than Ward Churchill though. He's too much a caricature of an aging hippie.
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