I have a few pet peeves. Some of these include bad grammar, bad diction, and people driving 50 mph in the fast lane. Considering that I am generally a curmudgeon and misanthrope, it is probably not surprising to find out that the trio of aforementioned peeves is far from a comprehensive listing of what irks me in this world. What pretty much tops my list, however, is the willful ignorance of some people combined with their frantic and fanatical rush to share their ignorance with others. I’m not talking about the run of the mill ignorance that one finds on the internet or television (although those are equally irksome) because I can simply ignore those fonts of misinformation with the simple click of a button nor am I talking about the drunken blowhard sitting next to me at a bar telling me how much he knows about the Army because his sister-in-law’s cousin was in the Coast Guard for two years and how that qualification allows him deep and profound insight as to how the U.S. is handling the war. No, I am talking about bad teachers.
Now, I know that teachers get a bad rap and not all of them are subversive leftists intent on driving our kids to be Stalinist drones that turn in their parents for not recycling, but there are more than a few out there that do fit into that category. And I understand that they don’t get paid much and that you get what you pay for. In some cases, we are getting a real bargain by having excellent teachers at public school rates and in some cases we are getting taken to the cleaners for morons that shouldn’t be allowed to teach obedience school for dogs and getting top dollar due to tenure or some other ridiculous HR policy. The case that made me want to post is an example of the latter. Her name is Tanya Dixon-Neely and she is a teacher in North Carolina.
Watch this, digest it, and then read on…
That’s right, folks, she said you can be arrested for criticizing the president. She also said that people WERE arrested for criticizing Bush. Remarkably she offered no documented proof, mind you, but that didn’t stop her from making up “fact” after “fact” and screaming at the kid. So let’s just list where this is wrong, shall we?
- One sided discussions about politics in a classroom aren’t “discussions”, they are “indoctrination”
- It is not only not illegal to criticize the president, it is an encouraged and protected right under the 1st Amendment of the Constitution
- She is stomping all over this kid’s 1st Amendment Rights
- She is criticizing Romney’s bullying while simultaneously ignoring Obama’s bullying
- She, herself, is acting like a bully by using her position of authority to browbeat this kid
- She claims that no president, past or present, will be criticized in her class and then in the next breath said Bush was a shitty president
- She is either a) ignorant of the Constitution or, b) blatantly lying to the kids in her class to push her political agenda (either one of which is unacceptable)
- She is supposedly a social studies teacher that is teaching “knowledge” contrary to fact and two hundred years of Constitutional law.
Apparently this kind of thing had been going on with sufficient frequency to cause the kid to have his buddy record an episode of it which means it was far too regular of an occurrence for it to be ignored any further. Ms. Dixon-Neely was suspended with pay when the news story broke. I am a fair person and I usually believe in giving a person a second chance when they screw up, but this abuse of authority has been going on for a while now and the woman is either a) inexcusably ignorant of the subject matter in which she is supposed to be an expert or, b) inexcusably asserting her authority and influence over a group of impressionable kids in order to push her unilateral political agenda. Either way, this woman shouldn’t be teaching our children. This woman shouldn’t be teaching anyone’s children. Bearing in mind the fact that they have this on tape and the woman’s behavior is both egregious and irrefutable, Tanya Dixon-Neely shouldn’t have been suspended with pay; she should have fired outright.
Tags: abuse of authority, arrested for criticizing the president, arrested for talking about the president, drone, idot, illegal to criticize the President, Kool-Adi, kool-aid, NC, North Carolina, Obama, politics in the classroom, school teacher, Tanya Dixon-Neely, undue influence
A fine post… with one small nit.
Considering that I am generally a curmudgeon and misanthrope
Better re-read the definitions. I can’t find being annoyed with bad grammar, bad diction mentioned?
We DO agree that willful ignorance sucks.
I did, and I’m right.
mis·an·thrope [mis-uhn-throhp, miz]
noun
a hater of humankind.
cur·mudg·eon [ker-muhj-uhn]
noun
a bad-tempered, difficult, cantankerous person
That’s pretty much me.
Isn’t it a bit redundant to be easily annoyed by anything and everything AND yet single out the one or two pretty petty items as I noted?
Now look up pedantic. [grin]
My husband was asked by a science teacher to come help her kids dissect fish because she had been teaching them about how humans and animals lung capacity expand in higher elevations for survival. So she wanted him to help dissect fish from different elevations to prove the fish in higher elevations had a greater lung capacity. Digest that!
Unfortunately, as we have found out here in Wisconsin, this woman is not necessarily the exception, but quite possibly the rule. Some where along the line, our praise of teachers became a adulation they believed. Many actually believe they have the hardest, most important job in the world and that they are wonderful human beings. The fact is, thanks to teacher’s unions the old adage “those that can’t do, teach” has become true. It is no longer enough to understand the subject and be able to relate it to another human being. One must now be an “educator”. Under union protection, teachers no longer have to be proficient, no longer have to be moral and ethical and are no longer (in most places) underpaid. The Gubernatorial Recall election here is evidence that it’s not “about the children”, but rather about the money and power. Go to a school board meeting and express and opinion contrary to that of the teacher’s union….or just complain about the lousy job the public schools do. You will get quite and education yourself.
Put your kids in private school or home school them.
She was just defending the “Messiah” of her African-American heritage.
Well you’re sort of correct and incorrect. You’re correct in that it isn’t currently illegal to criticize the President of the United States. However, clearly the U.S. Government with the approval of the Supreme Court has crushed the First Amendment several times, the two most noted examples being the Sedition Acts of 1798 and 1918 (the latter being an Amendment to the Espionage Act of 1917). Both acts made it a criminal offense to criticize (among other things) the President of the United States. So, while it may not be illegal to criticize the President at this very moment, clearly the U.S. Government (and not the American people) is in control of the U.S. Constitution (which was actually enacted so this would be the case, replacing the “much-better-for-the-common-person” Articles of Confederation). So long as the American people (the majority) continue to graze like sheep under some sort of illusion that they are in control and that the Constitution is actually for their benefit, we will be nothing more than wage slaves to the grind. And it doesn’t matter what party is in “control” because they’re looking out for their real interests, not yours.