Quote:
Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze
It's very likely Muckraker has learned that common sense has nothing to do with the litigious nature of U.S. education in an age in which the enemies of controversial or political subject matter can get books pulled from the curriculum, and both children and parents can have teachers fired or dismissed in an effort to avoid receiving lower grades and test scores. I personally know a teacher who was sued for "making a sexual move" while teaching. The man thrust his pelvis while making a point and raising one finger in the air.
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Agreed. The US education system is in a desperate situation. They're already paying the price, and will continue to do so I think.
I was lucky enough to be educated by people whom some would call religious bigots but who were actually mostly very bright and had an unbending dedication to the development of critical thought. They had their agenda, but they never threatened brimstone and hellfire, however they would happily argue their case all night long on logical or theological grounds. They would delight in persuading someone, but they never threatened them and they never, ever censored any philosophy, belief or argument no matter how forcefully expressed, and sometimes that expression got fairly direct. (It probably helped that if I had suggested to my parents that they call a lawyer or complain to the headmaster they would have laughed at me.)
I don't subscribe to their beliefs any longer, haven't since teenage years, but I still respect them and their teaching attitudes greatly. One of their legacies, to me anyway, has been a strong dislike of any form of censorship and political correctness of any stripe, right or left. If I could benefit from that kind of tuition from the age of 11 upwards then it really annoys me to come across people stifling young minds because they're "thinking of the children". If you're going to think of the children then give them some respect, teach them, stretch them and leave your own repressions out of it. Both the children and the teacher will be better off for it.