Gag Order


Articles Dante Alighieri Arthur Dent Jesus Jones Thomas Paine Other Authors Contact Us! Letter to the Editor Dante Alighieri Arthur Dent Jesus Jones Thomas Paine	Gag Order Arthur Dent America: land of the free, home of the brave. "Free"…a lovely word. Free to practice whatever religion you choose. Free to think as you wish. Free to speak your mind…unless you happen to be a teacher in a public school, in which case you must express no opinion about anything and give complete equity to all sides of any given issue…or so our principal and some parents would have us believe. Last Tuesday, near the end of her 3rd period class, Ms. Dalton was suddenly pulled out of class, called down to Dr. Kazakoff's office, and asked to explain to both Dr. K and Mrs. Haun why she was personally sponsoring a walk-out on Wednesday. Apparently, a parent had come down to school and burst into Dr. K's office to vociferously complain that Ms. Dalton was offering extra credit for leaving school during Wednesday's planned 9:30 a.m. walk-out. In fact, she was accused of having organized the entire event! (Never mind that this walk-out was conducted at a national level. Dalton planned the whole thing! What a mastermind she is!) What Ms. Dalton had actually offered her class was the opportunity to write an extra-credit paper about performing an act of civil disobedience; however, when one of her students went home and talked to his/her parents, what came across was that Ms. D was offering extra credit for actually walking out of class. Instead of simply calling her on the phone to ask what had happened, Dr. K instead felt that this issue was so serious that it warranted yanking Ms. Dalton out of her classroom, without warning, and during class to address the issue. But that isn't the worst part. During her meeting with Kaz, the facts came out. No, Ms. Dalton wasn't urging kids to walk out. However, when Admin couldn't nail her on that issue, they took her to task for having a peace poster in her room. Ms. Dalton was told that she either had to remove her anti-war poster or put up a pro-war poster. Yes, you read that correctly. A teacher was told that her poster containing a peace sign and the words "War is not the answer" was potentially inflammatory because it only represented one side of the war debate, and she either had to give equal time to the pro-war side or remove the poster. Huh? How on earth can a peace sign be a problem? Would Dr. K be happy if, next to the poster, there was a sign which read "War is the answer"? Furthermore, since when are teachers denied their First Amendment free speech rights, those very rights that we're criticizing Saddam Hussein for denying to his people? Anyone else see some hypocrisy here? In a memo sent to all faculty (and posted in an easily-viewed location on the first floor), Dr. K cautions teachers that they should not voice their own opinions about the war on Iraq, lest someone be offended. "We, as school employees, cannot be seen as professing one point of view only and we cannot be seen as encouraging our student body into one form of political action or another without stating both sides of an issue," he writes, further noting that we have parents in the community who are just waiting to "hammer" teachers for voicing their opinions. The irony of it all is that it's illegal to "gag" teachers when it concerns matters "of public importance" according to both the United States Supreme Court and Jefferson Union High School District's own teachers' contract, no matter what the parents say. In its decision in Pickering v. Board of Education of Township High School District, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that "[A] teacher's exercise of his right to speak on issues of public importance may not furnish the basis for his dismissal from public employment." If an impending war isn't a matter of public importance, nothing is. Even our district's contract protects a teacher's free speech rights within the classroom, stating in Article XXIV pertaining to Academic Freedom, "Teachers shall have the right to express their personal opinions on all matters relevant to the course content provided, however, that when they do so they shall indicate that they are speaking personally and not on behalf of the employer." An administrator may caution, parents may complain, but the bottom line is that a teacher's free speech rights do not end at the schoolhouse gate any more than a student's free speech rights do. Frankly, I want to know what my teachers think about something as serious as an impending war. I may not subscribe to their views, and that should be expected. I should be allowed to dissent, and I haven't encountered any teachers who have shut me down for doing so. What galls me is that these professionals, these people who have been entrusted with our education, are being told that their opinions are invalid or should be withheld. What galls me is that these teachers, competent enough to be trusted with educating us on all sorts of issues, are now supposed to hold their tongues and not tell us what they think about the looming conflict…even when we ask. What galls me is that some parents are so threatened by a teacher's opinion that they seek to silence the teacher instead of taking the opportunity to have a meaningful discussion with their teenager. We're on the brink of war. We're about to attack and possibly occupy another country, ostensibly to protect ourselves from "weapons of mass destruction" (the world's most over-used phrase) and to protect the people from their own leader, a leader they cannot get rid of because they have no freedoms. We're about to go to war, at least in part to bring those freedoms to another country…but we must start by safe-guarding those freedoms here at home. Remove the gag order, Dr. K. It's illegal, anyway. Email: ArthurDentTN@yahoo.com	Archive Back Issues Why? Cartoons Poetry Random Rants Disclaimers Losers and Kudos of the Week Letters to the Editor Editor's Notes Picture of the Week
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Arthur Dent

America: land of the free, home of the brave. "Free"…a lovely word. Free to practice whatever religion you choose. Free to think as you wish. Free to speak your mind…unless you happen to be a teacher in a public school, in which case you must express no opinion about anything and give complete equity to all sides of any given issue…or so our principal and some parents would have us believe.

Last Tuesday, near the end of her 3rd period class, Ms. Dalton was suddenly pulled out of class, called down to Dr. Kazakoff's office, and asked to explain to both Dr. K and Mrs. Haun why she was personally sponsoring a walk-out on Wednesday. Apparently, a parent had come down to school and burst into Dr. K's office to vociferously complain that Ms. Dalton was offering extra credit for leaving school during Wednesday's planned 9:30 a.m. walk-out. In fact, she was accused of having organized the entire event! (Never mind that this walk-out was conducted at a national level. Dalton planned the whole thing! What a mastermind she is!) What Ms. Dalton had actually offered her class was the opportunity to write an extra-credit paper about performing an act of civil disobedience; however, when one of her students went home and talked to his/her parents, what came across was that Ms. D was offering extra credit for actually walking out of class. Instead of simply calling her on the phone to ask what had happened, Dr. K instead felt that this issue was so serious that it warranted yanking Ms. Dalton out of her classroom, without warning, and during class to address the issue. But that isn't the worst part.

During her meeting with Kaz, the facts came out. No, Ms. Dalton wasn't urging kids to walk out. However, when Admin couldn't nail her on that issue, they took her to task for having a peace poster in her room. Ms. Dalton was told that she either had to remove her anti-war poster or put up a pro-war poster.

Yes, you read that correctly. A teacher was told that her poster containing a peace sign and the words "War is not the answer" was potentially inflammatory because it only represented one side of the war debate, and she either had to give equal time to the pro-war side or remove the poster. Huh?

How on earth can a peace sign be a problem? Would Dr. K be happy if, next to the poster, there was a sign which read "War is the answer"? Furthermore, since when are teachers denied their First Amendment free speech rights, those very rights that we're criticizing Saddam Hussein for denying to his people? Anyone else see some hypocrisy here?

In a memo sent to all faculty (and posted in an easily-viewed location on the first floor), Dr. K cautions teachers that they should not voice their own opinions about the war on Iraq, lest someone be offended. "We, as school employees, cannot be seen as professing one point of view only and we cannot be seen as encouraging our student body into one form of political action or another without stating both sides of an issue," he writes, further noting that we have parents in the community who are just waiting to "hammer" teachers for voicing their opinions.

The irony of it all is that it's illegal to "gag" teachers when it concerns matters "of public importance" according to both the United States Supreme Court and Jefferson Union High School District's own teachers' contract, no matter what the parents say. In its decision in Pickering v. Board of Education of Township High School District, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that "[A] teacher's exercise of his right to speak on issues of public importance may not furnish the basis for his dismissal from public employment." If an impending war isn't a matter of public importance, nothing is. Even our district's contract protects a teacher's free speech rights within the classroom, stating in Article XXIV pertaining to Academic Freedom, "Teachers shall have the right to express their personal opinions on all matters relevant to the course content provided, however, that when they do so they shall indicate that they are speaking personally and not on behalf of the employer." An administrator may caution, parents may complain, but the bottom line is that a teacher's free speech rights do not end at the schoolhouse gate any more than a student's free speech rights do. Frankly, I want to know what my teachers think about something as serious as an impending war. I may not subscribe to their views, and that should be expected. I should be allowed to dissent, and I haven't encountered any teachers who have shut me down for doing so. What galls me is that these professionals, these people who have been entrusted with our education, are being told that their opinions are invalid or should be withheld. What galls me is that these teachers, competent enough to be trusted with educating us on all sorts of issues, are now supposed to hold their tongues and not tell us what they think about the looming conflict…even when we ask. What galls me is that some parents are so threatened by a teacher's opinion that they seek to silence the teacher instead of taking the opportunity to have a meaningful discussion with their teenager.

We're on the brink of war. We're about to attack and possibly occupy another country, ostensibly to protect ourselves from "weapons of mass destruction" (the world's most over-used phrase) and to protect the people from their own leader, a leader they cannot get rid of because they have no freedoms. We're about to go to war, at least in part to bring those freedoms to another country…but we must start by safe-guarding those freedoms here at home. Remove the gag order, Dr. K. It's illegal, anyway.

Email: ArthurDentTN@yahoo.com