Geography Teacher Suspended. For Showing........... [Archive]

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sun

08-24-2006, 09:15 PM

A Geography Teacher was suspended with pay to day, for showing...?

Guess What???

The U.S Flag along two other foreign flags....
Yep, that is the big news in Colorado these days.....
... Jefferson County, wherever that is...He is a 7th Grade teacher...Says he does that to show the students different places, by showing different flags....
It is difficult to know what to say about this...well, maybe nothing for now..Let others decide what to say..If they wish...

Here is the link to the entire story, Please read the entire story if you want to know what went on, according to the Denver Post...

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_4228017

Mr. Pedro

08-24-2006, 09:44 PM

It's a bloody geography class. You're SUPPOSED to learn about other places.

I guess my question is, who or what is this law supposed to protect?

Dr. OneWay

08-24-2006, 09:49 PM

Czar Gato

08-24-2006, 11:34 PM

That's just sad.

SAMaine

08-25-2006, 12:06 AM

How does the school know that this guy wasn't teaching the Longitude and Latitude of Chinese and Mexican cities? Also the United Nations flag is not a foreign flag as the United States is PART of the United Nations like how Colorado is part of the United States. Apparently, these guys need Geography lessons also. If I was the guy, I would've taken all the flags down including the United States flag, just to make a point. Hopefully, South Park will make fun of this and make Colorado see the error of their ways.

Humble

08-25-2006, 12:18 AM

Well, at least they weren't idiotic enough to fire him. :shrug:

-Humble

RD!

08-25-2006, 01:15 AM

shoujoaifan

08-25-2006, 01:27 AM

Its a horrible, horrible thing, that, while not "The End Of The World". definately deserves the monikor of "The End Of The World" more than a brat cursing on national TV reported in that other thread.

......of course, both really, really suck.

It's amazing how we can look back at earlier decades and centuries, and think "Wow, we've become alot more knowledgeablem, open-minded, tolerant, etc. Those poor, poor, misguided, ignorant people back then. We have eliminated racism, sexism, homophobia, and have become more tolerant of other countries, cultures, religions, traditions, etc...."-

-then we get slapped in the face how ignorant and stupid we really are, and not just how racism, sexism, homophobia, and religious intolerance still exists, but crap like this.

Seriously, this is like literature class, minus the books. They, in a sad, twisted way, basically WANT to shield people from knowledge.

Kids cursing, Pluto being demoted to a dwarf planet due to an arbitrary reason, and now this. There's got to be some good news.

HUUUUUUUUUUUH, well, depending on how you look at it, there's that thread in the Toonami board about Transformers becoming an ecchi series can be considered a good thing if you have a thing for TF's who need lolicon woman-girl-things to kiss them to transform, complete with a Megatron look-alike with a tongue that looks like a penis.

..................................................................okay, a real good thing that's happened recently is the upcoming Transformers movie might turn out decent afterall, with decent character designs for the 'bots released recently.

......anybody else have any news of things going right? We'd love to hear them.

tucsoncoyote

08-25-2006, 03:50 AM

Kids cursing, Pluto being demoted to a dwarf planet due to an arbitrary reason, and now this. There's got to be some good news.

Hmmm well if you want good news, try a tropical depression (TD#5) to Soon to be a tropical storm, and possibly a hurricane heading into the Gulf of Mexico being good news (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=167758&page=4)... Just remember to quote the Singer "Chico" from X-factor: It's Katrina time!

of course I'm sarcastic on that last remark.. but come on! Getting a teacher to step down and take a leave of Abscence with pay no less, because he's trying to teach say, "World governments and Cultures" to the kids? and it's just because of Some flags? Let me go to Jefferson County in Colorado and start Parading the Nepalese Flag around... and say, "Oh Look I'm from Nepal! Do you know I'm the only country that doesn't have a "Rectangular Flag?" see what they say to that (Again with the sarcasm!)

but really.. this really is going south when you have a teacher take leave with pay for trying to teach his class.. thank heaven's my own mother (who was a teacher back in the 1930's and 40's and 50's got out when she did.. and brought her children up right by helping us learn everything we needed to know. (Also I bet 70% of the People in Jefferson County can't even find Iran, or Iraq on a map!- More Sarcasm here!)

I also feel it's sad to see schools become nothing more then a teaching of "Feel Good Mathematics (where 2+2 feels like 4, rather then is 4.. it's this kind of stuff that shows that we might have put a man on the moon some 37 years ago.. and now Kid's can barely know how to make change without a calculator.. pathetic.)

It's funny cause I keep seeing the same silly patterns.. just two weeks ago.. on the news, I found out on the news 70% of the people in the US can name all 7 dwarves (of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves fame) and yet less then 2% of Americans can name at least 2 of the 9 Supreme court justices...

I seriously think G.Gordon Liddy was right when he coined the phrase "S****les" cause I hate to say this but our children are indeed being taught a bad lesson here by not being able to learn about world cultures.. Germany did that back in the 1930's.. and you see where that got them...

in short our children , our kids as it were, are being turned into sheep, and goats.. ripe for the slaughter when it comes to math, science, literature, and even history, and world culture.. this is why Schooling has become a travesty.. (oh and if folks think teachers are underpaid? Think again.. John Stossel of the TV show 20/20, actual proved frrom the US Department of Labor that Teachers are actually getting paid an average salary of 55,000 dollars a year making better pay then most police officers, doctors, and even some lawyers and architects, not to mention.. plumbers...(and yet the teachers scream for more cash, while not given precedent to the students they teach. Also when teachers were confronted by Mr. Stossel and shown the figures and the facts.. they thought it was bunk.. and this is the faculty that teaches our kids?... again.. pathetic.)

So in closing I actually applaud this guy.. he did the right thing.. he's trying to teach kids the right way.. and is getting punished for it.. and that's the main reason why "Good Teachers" quit and leave the job to the "Inferior and Ignorant" Teachers who teach our kids, Irrelevant facts, and feel good math, and even teach our kids that the Word Was is spelled "WUZ" not a good thing when the basics are ignored and the trivial is in place and for this teacher I give him an A.. for the teachers who are the rest? I give them an F...as in Failing to teach our kids the required materials. after all I'm never going to be a teacher perse, but I'll pass my wisdom on from time to time.

Nuff Said...

:coyote:

Areku

08-25-2006, 10:41 AM

And today we will be learing about America....and tomorrow we will be learning about America....and thats all that we are gonna learn in this class :sad:

Elven Moon

08-25-2006, 12:47 PM

That is one of the STUPIDEST laws I've ever heard of. What, do they think kids will suddenly think, "Hey, there's a French flag! I think I'll move to that country/America sucks." I honestly don't see why displaying flags that aren't American is so terrible.

That's all I'll say.

solarflere

08-25-2006, 09:46 PM

Hopefully, South Park will make fun of this and make Colorado see the error of their ways.Yep, that will set them straight. Good old South Park, Saving one state's ignorance at a time.:shrug:

Seriously though, that law, among other laws that are old and outdated should be taken down and ignored. There a plenty of laws that do not apply to today's culture in different states. That law is one of them.

MdlTrack

08-25-2006, 10:27 PM

I almost want to say that there's another side to this story. The rule the teacher supposedly broke was totally arbitrary and shouldn't have been enforced. This whole thing is simply too ludicrous to be believeable.

On the other hand, based on my experiences with school rules, I wouldn't be too surprised if this was the whole truth...:sad:

JTHomeslice

08-27-2006, 07:18 PM

Is this how low the school system has sunk to? This is really stupid.

James

08-27-2006, 07:27 PM

Oh, so... uh. The guy broke a state law and was repeatedly asked and given a fair chance to correct the situation but refused? AND HE WASN'T REWARDED FOR HIS DISOBEDIANCE? WHAT IS THIS COUNTRY COMING TO!? TO HELL WITH THE SCHOOL. THIS MAN DESERVES CANDY FOR BREAKING THE LAW!

I got the impression the point is the questionable letter of the law rather than the issue of whether someone should be punished for defying the law in general.

Nope. Try again!

Also more realisticly they probably didn't like this teacher because he was a dick and probably an overall bad teacher who maybe made lewd remarks to the 7th graders so they booted him for some trivial stuff because he probably had tenure or however that works and needed a real reason to remove him.

This seems a bit excessive SJ.

However, while a little extreme, I agree that as with virtually all journalism there should be - IMO - a healthy bit of skeptism. Especially when stories report on the "unimaginable" situations. News likes to create news. It very often contrives itself, making a mountain from a molehill. So yes, one shouldn't just take this report as being the real truth, but an angle on a truth. Maybe it is as simple as it suggests, maybe there is something more straightforward and less.. newsworthy that is at play here.

But that point aside, I think your suggestion is a little imflamatory... unless you have some evidence beyond your rather cynical imagination.

tucsoncoyote

08-27-2006, 07:51 PM

However, while a little extreme, I agree that as with virtually all journalism there should be - IMO - a healthy bit of skeptism. Especially when stories report on the "unimaginable" situations. News likes to create news. It very often contrives itself, making a mountain from a molehill. So yes, one shouldn't just take this report as being the real truth, but an angle on a truth. Maybe it is as simple as it suggests, maybe there is something more straightforward and less.. newsworthy that is at play here.

I tend to agree with you here James, After all I find this a little bit extreme and 'over the top' for the School board to force a teacher to take a leave of Abscence with pay no less, for doing his job teaching the children about different cultures out there. After all, Like you stated, News tends to blow things totally out of proportion and in fact they tend to make a Volcano out of an anthill IMO, but still unless there is some other proof that this guy did something wrong, I would say this issue is really out of proportion here more then anything else.

:coyote:

Kaoru

08-28-2006, 12:47 AM

America wants to install patriotism in it's future soldiers and they don't want to risk students being exposed to knowledge of existence of other flags. :shrug:

Gatomon41

08-29-2006, 11:53 AM

America wants to install patriotism in it's future soldiers and they don't want to risk students being exposed to knowledge of existence of other flags. :shrug:

Guess agian, the State (eqvailent to a terr. or province) has the power to make any form of State Law. The Federal Government has nothing to do with what State Governments make their own laws. That's how it works here.

A really ridiculus law in my opinion, and the incident could had been avoided without fanfare if the authorties had not overeacted.

Batman91

08-31-2006, 01:59 AM

That imo is terrible,its America,we should have our freedoms.

sun

08-31-2006, 07:12 AM

Guess agian, the State (eqvailent to a terr. or province) has the power to make any form of State Law. The Federal Government has nothing to do with what State Governments make their own laws. That's how it works here.

A really ridiculus law in my opinion, and the incident could had been avoided without fanfare if the authorties had not overeacted.
Gatomon41 is completely correct. Teachers need latitude to teach to the modern student information that they will learn and remember.. That means information which is still within the guidelines, but keeps the student's attention, so others can learn, yet retains discipline and decorum..The authorities did over react, and may have distroyed this teacher's career.
..I can recall a lesson I taught about aids, that worked so well, that every single person in that room, was glued to what was being said..(and it was a student who was talking, not me) While it was on the outskirts, of guidelines, (some administrators may have approved, some may not have) I am sure that, that one lesson was the single most effective lesson on that subject, that I ever taught that dealt with prevention of, and spread of aids.
It worked so well, that I suspect that few of the students, if any, ever forgot it..
...Of course, there are teachers who are no good. In every profession there are those that are incompetent..But for those of us that tried and try as hard as we can, these kind of rediculous rules, and enforcement of them by people who know nothing about teaching, is a hindrence to student learning in a way that few know or understand.. These rules instill fear of reprisals, and prevent the creativity that teachers need to get their messge through in an interesting, yet disciplined way. If it were easy to do, there would be more outstanding teachers..There are some, but not enough..It took years for me to learn effective ways to teach the subject, and not lose the attention of the students, and keep order so that all could learn..