**Corbett states, as if it were objective fact, that "the peasants couldn't see their own best interests" -- which is really the subjective judgment of someone who apparently can't understand why any rationale person would place their faith above economic gain. This and other Corbett utterances are the products of a mind that sees faith and reason as mutually exclusive and orthodox religiosity as synonymous with stupidity.**

Matt, what sort of education level do you think the peasants in medival Europe had? The church was a powerful political force and the word of church leaders carried great weight with these .. peasants. The peasants were not stupid but they were not educated well and they did kowtow to authority. Most peasant uprising in the middle ages were quickly struck down. What Corbett said is an objective fact. It wasn't perhaps the best choice of words, but the point was -- for those deeply religious peasants -- the truth was what the church said the truth was. And when you realy look to the history of the Catholic Church in the middle ages, there was considerable amount of corruption (how many Popes fathered children again?)

CUSD has its faults but its with administration and school board and not in the classroom. CUSD still offers students a pretty good education so using this example as a call to vouchers is weak; seems to me like you want taxpayers to pick up some of your share of the tuition you pay for private school.

If CUSD lets Corbett go, I would love to have him teach my son's high school in Irvine. He's exactly the sort of teacher who would expand a student's critical thinking skills.

Dan:

Did I say medieval peasants were well educated?

But you don't need a college degree to understand the personal benefit of acquiring more land. I think that would have been very apparent to a peasant of any era.

What Corbett said was the peasants should have place their economic interest -- in this case acquiring land taken from someone else -- over their faith.

That is not an objective fact. That is Corbett's subjective opinion about the peasants choice. Rather than teach history, Corbett chose instead to use the occasion to convince his students that such religiosity constitutes acting against one's own best interest, i.e. religiosity equals stupidity. I'm sure that appears true to someone with purely materialistic view. But those medieval peasants -- who viewed the world in very different terms -- saw it differently.

If CUSD lets Corbett go, I would love to have him teach my son's high school in Irvine. He's exactly the sort of teacher who would expand a student's critical thinking skills.

Uh yeah. Corbett's the one who needs to work on his critical thinking skills.

seems to me like you want taxpayers to pick up some of your share of the tuition you pay for private school.

No, I'm already paying for the public school education of someone else's children, and top of paying tuition for my own children.

I'd just like to use the money to government takes from me for the ostensible purpose of education my children and actually use it for my children's education.

"I'd just like to use the money to government takes from me for the ostensible purpose of education my children and actually use it for my children's education."

What a novel idea huh?

Matt -- you will be paying for public education long after your children make you a grandfather. Try not ot let your Catholic bias get in the way of what the peasonats should have done. They did what the Church told them to.

Matt -- you will be paying for public education long after your children make you a grandfather.

Precisely, Dan. Thank you for making my argument even more reasonable.

So for that comparatively brief period when my kids are actually in school, I'd like to be able to use the money the government takes from me for the education of my children and use it for the education of my children.

Try not ot let your Catholic bias get in the way of what the peasonats should have done.

No, Dan -- it's a bias toward reasoned inquiry into the past.

They did what the Church told them to.

"And that's all there is to it!"

If one were to actually utilize critical thinking skills, one would inquire as to why the peasants sided with their Church against their king. That would lead us into an inquiry into their world view, their value system, etc.

In Corbett's classroom, it's simply "The stupid peasants listened to the Church and acted against what I, with my 21st Century Securalist Glasses securely fastened, deemed to be their best interest."

Give it up, Dan. When it comes to things like history, you are arguing way outside your weight class with Jubal.

Gustavo can't even get some major political facts straight, and yet he's all over Fullerton Councilman Shawn Nelson for making some nitpicky mistake:

"First Nelson error: Misrepresenting the Thee Midniters classic "The Town I Live In" as "The City I Live In," not once, but TWICE."

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/gunkist-memories/shawn-nelson-even-more-of-a-mo/

Wow, Gustavo -- you OC Weekly writers are SO on the ball!

Oh Matt. Good schools in my neighborhood keep my property values up. Prices haven't slid all that much because parents want their kids to go to school.

So with your objection to taxes for public education nonwithstanding, does this mean I can complain about my taxes going twards funding a war together with borrowed cash from the PRC?

And the peasants made up about 90 percent of the medieval European population. Life in Medieval Europe was far more primitive than that of Imperial Rome. Society was dominated by a single, militant, and exclusive religion which discouraged or prevented the development of a secular society. The peasants gave great defference given to authority, both secular and spirtual. Education was almost non-existent for peasants.

Corbett wasn't wrong. I actually did pretty well in history and my son studied the Middle Ages last year so it was a nice refresher for me. Not that any of this will change your mind.

Oh Matt. Good schools in my neighborhood keep my property values up. Prices haven't slid all that much because parents want their kids to go to *good* schools.

sorry; left out a key word

Jubal: Wasn't the Lincoln Club started by GOP activists to prevent the 1962 Nixon/Shell California gubernatorial fiasco from happening again, to ensure that the Republican Party would not commit seppuku against California liberalism? That's how the Lincoln Club's own history has it, and I seem to recall Arnold Beckman making a speech stating that's why he and others created the Lincoln Club. To me, starting the Lincoln Club seemed more a GOP design to ensure party unity than to advocate principles, at least in the beginning.

Yes: Goldwater had his book out and was becoming a conservative cause celebre. But he wasn't yet a national name on the scale of which he would be by 1963. I stand by both of my characterizations.

(While we're on the subject of nitpicking, the Lincoln Club's website states Joe Shell was an Orange County native. None of his recent obituaries stated that--they mention Washington, San Diego, USC, Los Angeles, and Bakersfield, but never OC. Maybe Wanted: Fact Checker can look into it?)

By the way, have some sympathy for the dead. Dvorman was essentially killed by his opponents--I'm not the only person who thinks that. His opponents were troglodytes--unless you're the type that believes membership in the ACLU should ban you from public life.

Here's one thing I haven't heard discuss: do Corbett's students succeed? I once wrote about my high school history teacher--talk about cranks! He smacked us with rulers, threw Kleenex boxes at us, even rapped our heads with a ring from his Marines days--it's a miracle he lasted as long as he did. We didn't always agree with Mr. Cross, but no one complained because we all learned. Talk to his past students (like Tom Daly and Lou Correa), and they all remember their history. Fire Corbett because he doesn't make students learn, not because you might disagree with some of his comments.

The lawsuit is a joke, of course. If that Farnan kid can't receive and process unwanted or unpleasant information any better than he is doing in his AP classes he had better stay out of college where all sorts of rude surprises await.

The whole point of studying history is to expand one's breadth of perspective in human affairs. It's pretty hard to do that when your poor pysche goes into lock-up mode when confronted with an awkward, or embarrassing, or even an offensive idea.

Gustavo:

You're correct on your comment regarding how the Lincoln Club started. But that's not the same as saying the Orange County Republican Party started it, because the Orange County Republican Party DID NOT start the Lincoln Club.

To illustrate: in 1992, myself and a few dozen other youngish Republicans started a group called the Conservative Round Table of Orange County.

We were all Orange County Republicans, but the group was not started by the Orange County Republican Party.

And you can stand by your characterization of Goldwater. It's still wrong.

As for Dvorman, I'm not unsympathetic. But I only found out about it today. I have "Suburban Warriors" and I think I'll kick it to the top of the reading list and learn more about it. But that was a very different time and I wasn't there and I'm not prepared to make some black-and-white judgment about it.

As for Corbett, a couple of things:

First, he was teaching an Advanced Placement European History, meaning his students wanted from the get-go. They signed up to prepare for the AP European History test and get college credits.

So the excuse that Corbett has to be outrageous to keep the kids interested doesn't hold water. the kids are already interested in learning European History, or else they wouldn't have signed up.

It's one thing to have teacher like Corbett when you're in college. For starters, you've already taken US and European history, so you already have some background in the subjects with which to compare what your college professor is saying.

That's not the case in high school, and I don't think people like Corbett should be teaching high school history.

And not because Corbett is a liberal. I had history teachers in high school and college who were very good -- and political liberals. If I were a principal hiring a history teacher, I'd have no compunction about hiring a political liberal, as long as they were good at teaching history.

But if I had a history teacher spouting off with what are really just stupid statements passed off to students as informed judgments, I'd tell him or her to shape up and teach history, or ship out.

Life in Medieval Europe was far more primitive than that of Imperial Rome. Society was dominated by a single, militant, and exclusive religion which discouraged or prevented the development of a secular society. The peasants gave great defference given to authority, both secular and spirtual. Education was almost non-existent for peasants.

Yes, Dan. That is the standard, conventional characterization of the Middle Ages. Too bad it is also -- as gross over-generalizations are -- wrong.

That view holds that the 1,000 years between the final destruction of the Roman Empire and the Enlightenment was a dark, benighted time when civilization not only did not advance, but regressed. And it's one that reputable scholars reject.

AP students are supposed to be intelligent. They ought to be able to put an ill-chosen, tasteless remark in perspective.

Matt -- Might I suggested this excellent book: http://www.amazon.com/Year-1000-First-Millennium-Englishmans/dp/0316558400

I read it in 2000; it holds up my end of the story. But if I'm so wrong about my European history, perhaps you could offer some of the reputable sources you claim.

RP:

I think you're missing the point.

An AP European History class isn't some Socratic bull session. The students are there to prepare for a very difficult test, and the teacher shouldn't be wasting their time talking about Viagra, birth control, Sweden's crime rate, whether the Boy Scouts should use public buildings, or claiming conservatives want to keep women barefoot and pregnant.

Call me crazy, but he should be preparing them to succeed on the Advanced Placement test in European History

Dan:

Let's start with this book: "How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization." It deals with the popular but false subsection of the 1,000 years of darkness genre that the Catholic Church retarded the advance of science and learning.

http://www.amazon.com/Catholic-Church-Built-Western-Civilization/dp/0895260387/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208483039&sr=1-1

Matt -- might want to compare your author, Thomas Woods, the noted conservative author and convert to Catholicism, with mine, Robert Lacey and Danny Danziger, both of whom has written multiple books on European History in the Middle Ages. I've read Woods before and found his writing tedious. I'm not so sure your argument holds up so well here. But its not like I'm going to change your mind, not you change mine.

"I think you're missing the point."

And I think you're making a molehill out of an anthill.

You're entitled to you opinion...but you're still missing the point.

"This and other Corbett utterances are the products of a mind that sees faith and reason as mutually exclusive and orthodox religiosity as synonymous with stupidity."

You're reading minds Matt; something you manage to accuse others who often disagree with you of doing. Nowhere does Corbett equate faith with stupidity. You are also making assumptions that students enrolled in advanced placement European History actually want to be there. I remember plenty of classes I didn't care for but had to take. So unless you interviewed every kid in class, you can't make this claim.

In addition, the vast majority of current students, and previous Corbett students came out in support of the teacher and not the young man suing (he had a small group of supporters); some of Corbett's graduates actually took time off from work to add their voices in support of the teacher.

This post is a long drawn out argument for vouchers. Don't fire Corbett, don't sue. Slap on the wrist, maybe. Everyone makes mistakes. I do. You do too. Do we deserve to be fired for them? You tell me.

RP is right; you're making a mountain out of a molehill.

You're reading minds Matt;

No, I'm discerning a clear pattern of thinking from Corbett's comments. But thanks for playing.

Nowhere does Corbett equate faith with stupidity.

I'd suggest reading Corbett's comments in the article, and in the complaint. If you can't see that he equates religiosity with stupidity...well, then I can't help you.

You are also making assumptions that students enrolled in advanced placement European History actually want to be there.

AP classes aren't mandatory. It's not like algebra or English.

I remember plenty of classes I didn't care for but had to take.

Me too. But they weren't electives like AP classes.

In addition, the vast majority of current students, and previous Corbett students came out in support of the teacher and not the young man suing (he had a small group of supporters);

I'll have to take your word for it -- I'm sure you interviewed all of Corbett's former students so that you can make that claim.

There's a reason we don't let minors vote or enter into contracts. Teenagers and good judgment don't always go together, so I think it's a bad idea to leave the hiring and firing decisions up to them.

Everyone makes mistakes.

Yes, they do. But this isn't "a" mistake. It's a pattern.

Alright with me if he's given a second chance if he shapes up and decides to actually teach history.

But it's academic. The man has tenure, making it virtually impossible to fire him unless he touches a student. Even then, maybe not. Incompetence isn't a firing offense in the public school system. Ain't government grand!

RP is right; you're making a mountain out of a molehill.

Let me get this straight: Gustavo and Daffodil write a long article comparing Corbett's plight to Joel Dvorman.

That leads me to wrote a post about it.

But I'm the one making a mountain out of a molehill?

"You're entitled to you opinion...but you're still missing the point"

Gee, thanks. But I'm not missing the point. That complaint describes a single incident last October (okay, it was a harrangue)that lasted a few minutes - less than the time it took to read the transcript. And you want him to lose his job.

As Gustavo pointed out above, the real issue is whether this guy's students are passing the AP test. If they are he must be teaching history.

That complaint describes a single incident last October

And by sheer coincidence, the one day Corbett was haranguing the class is the one day the Farnan kid happened to have a recorder handy! Isn't that amazing luck!

And I disagree the passage rate -- which none of us knows -- isn't the sole criteria. Unless you think it impossible to find another instructor who could teach AP European without the irrelevant political harangues?

"I'll have to take your word for it -- I'm sure you interviewed all of Corbett's former students so that you can make that claim."

I didn't have to; the Register ran a pretty long and comprehensive article on the demonstration with lots of quotes from other students. Here it is:

200 protesters turn up to support Capo teacher sued over religious comments
UPDATE: Internet broadcaster Pastor Wiley Drake joins prayer vigil supporting student who filed suit.
By SCOTT MARTINDALE
The Orange County Register

MISSION VIEJO – To an almost continuous stream of blaring car horns and cheering, more than 200 Capistrano Valley High School students and alumni rallied outside their school Wednesday morning to show support for embattled history teacher James Corbett, who is being sued by one of his students for making remarks about Christianity and traditional Christian viewpoints in class.

Under an early morning drizzle, the protestors lined both sides of Via Escolar outside the Mission Viejo high school, holding up handmade posters with messages that read “Honk 4 Corbett,” “Keep Corbett” and “Alums for Corbett.”

Corbett, a history teacher at Capistrano Valley High for the past 19 years, is the target of a lawsuit filed last week by sophomore Chad Farnan, who has alleged Corbett made anti-religion remarks in his Advanced Placement European history class this semester.

“I support Corbett because he’s a teacher who supported free speech and allowed us to discuss in an intelligent way,” said protestor Matt Yee, 17, a junior who took AP European history with Corbett last year.

At issue in the lawsuit is whether Corbett violated the First Amendment's establishment clause, which prohibits government from promoting hostility toward religion. Court papers cite statements tape-recorded by Farnan such as "From conservative Christians in this country to Muslim fundamentalists in Afghanistan … it's stunning how vitally interested they are in controlling women" and "When you put on your Jesus glasses, you can't see the truth."

Corbett has declined repeated requests for comment.

Down the street from the school, at Via Escolar and Marguerite Parkway, about 10 supporters of Farnan held up signs that read "Freedom from hate" and "Stop Dr. Corbett’s Intolerance."

"I love what Chad’s doing," said Farnan’s friend, Cale Crawford, 16, a home-schooled high school junior. "The teacher is breaking the First Amendment, and Chad is standing up for what he believes in."

The lawsuit has attracted national media attention and created a bitter divide in the Capistrano Valley High community about whether Corbett should be censored.

Many of Corbett's current and former students have rushed to his defense, saying he not only has the right to comment on traditional Christian viewpoints on topics such as birth control, teenage sex and homosexuality, but that his talks force students to think critically about their own views.

“Dr. Corbett can be outrageous, but when he says outrageous things, it’s to get students involved, to get them thinking,” said alum Rachel Evans, 25, an information data clerk who took off the morning from work to attend the rally. “He encourages students to look at history with an open mind. You can’t look at history and not be critical.”

Corbett's critics say he monopolizes much of his class time promoting liberal viewpoints and leaves little room for students to interject.

“It’s not right that a teacher should tell kids what to believe in,” said Chad’s sister, Vanessa Farnan, 20, a sophomore at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, who held up a sign that read “Teach Don’t Preach.” “He’s a government official. To bash religion is wrong.”

Added her friend, Katie Packard, 19, a sophomore at Biola University in La Mirada: “I’m surprised it’s taken so long for this to happen.”

The Capistrano Unified School District has not yet responded to the lawsuit. Farnan says the lawsuit would be dropped if Corbett were removed from his teaching job.

Students said the issue had become a hot topic on campus, with some teachers facilitating discussions about the lawsuit during class time. A handful of teachers also turned out at Wednesday morning’s rally.

“I’m here to show support for a fellow colleague,” said science teacher Erik Johnson as he stood among the cheering students and alumni. “It’s nice to hear all the support. There’s a real sense of community here.”

Also Wednesday morning, Pastor Wiley Drake of the First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park visited the school, leading a small prayer vigil for Farnan and doing an Internet radio broadcast for RepublicRadio.com on the controversy.

"We object to Mr. Corbett,” said the Rev. Rod McDougal, who came up from San Diego for the prayer vigil. “We don't want him strung up; we want him fired."

School administrators said the rally was peaceful and students went to class on time.

“I’ve never seen anything like this, but I’m not surprised by the turnout,” said Leslie Schuda, Capistrano Valley High’s assistant principal of discipline for the past eight years. “It means we’re doing our job in education.”

"And I disagree the passage rate -- which none of us knows -- isn't the sole criteria."

Well, it's a pretty important criterion to gauge whether or not teaching is going on. Earlier on this thread you said:

"Call me crazy, but he should be preparing them to succeed on the Advanced Placement test in European History"

You're not crazy, you're right!

Yes it is an important criteria. I said it's not the sole criteria. Different things.

I'm confident CUSD could replace Corbett with a teacher who could match or exceed Corbett's passage rate -- but without the political proselytizing.

the real issue is whether this guy's students are passing the AP test.

Right. And Corbett's students have an exceptionally high pass rate.

Satisfied yet? Or are you so blinded by conservative and religious fervor that you don't want to be confused with facts?

Right. And Corbett's students have an exceptionally high pass rate.

Can anyone understand English here?

See my previous comment

Or are you so blinded by conservative and religious fervor that you don't want to be confused with facts?

No, and I'd refer you to my earlier comment regarding this subject so I don't have to keep repeating myself for those who are too blinded by their insistence in turning this into some kind of academic freedom issue.

Their "their insistence in turning this into some kind of academic freedom issue"? My gosh, Jubal, why would anyone refuse to see things through any framing besides that which you'd ordained? Aren't people kooky and stubborn? I swan!

Apologies, Rebecca. I shall submit to the viewpoints expressed by and the other libs in this thread as the only allowable ones.

What was I thinking to posit a viewpoint that might differ from you and other right-and-open-minded who love free thinking as long as it agrees with their thinking?

No one but you was trying to state his was the only allowable framing, Matt. Hi, by the way. I've missed you guys!

No one but you was trying to state his was the only allowable framing, Matt.

That's not true, Rebecca, but perhaps I should re-state my thoughts all over again because everyone is responding to the points they think I'm making rather than he points I'm actually making.

Missed you, too.

Any good history teacher will spark an interest for ongoing classroom participation and in this case, Mr. Corbett did such a great job that he actually branched out to spark the public's participation in discussing a matter of interest. Isn't that what living in a free society should ENCOURAGE, not DISCOURAGE?

If the CUSD fires Mr. Corbett, the message that will be sent to ALL children will be:

1. free speech, press, opinion and freedom of religion no longer exists in Orange County, California;

2. if a parent of a school age student is rich and politically connected, you are in luck because at any time, that parent can get a teacher who sparks interest in the classroom, a teacher who can actually spark public debate outside of the classroom, fired from his career of choice because the rich and politically connected have the resources to trie the man in the public forum;

If James Corbett gets fired from the Capistrano Unified School District for sparking debate in his classroom, Orange County, California, will be the target of debate and disgust. How many other teachers have been destroyed in this County because the RICH, POWERFUL AND POLITICALLY CONNECTED set out to destroy a teacher's career and reputation? I can personally name and support with documentation quite a few by memory. If you want the list, please send an email to bodkind@Hotmail.com and I will fill you in on the painful truths.

Hopefully, more students in Orange County, California, will have the opportunity to experience teachers like Mr. Corbett who encourage children to think for themselves, to think out of the box, to look at history and how it repeats itself and to respect and refuse to ABUSE guaranteed freedoms in the United States, freedoms of speech, press, opinion, religion and due process.

What's wrong with keeping women barefoot and pregnant?

Warmly yours,
Pete Fundy
Senior Editorial Writer
OCLegend.Com

Give me a break! No teacher should be allowed to make these types of remarks (taken out of context or not) in HIGH SCHOOL. I went to Capistrano Valley High School in the late 80's. Does anyone remember Mr. Pfleuger? He walked the abusive line for years. He had complaint after complaint about him until someone FINALLY gave the green light to FIRE him in the 90's.

This is HIGH SCHOOL. There is no room for these statements at this age level. It is not thought provoking to these students. It is upsetting.

No offense to these amazing AP students. Yes, they are brilliantly smart academically, but how many of us had well formed adult opinions at age 17? The emotional maturity is not there yet.

This dialogue should be saved for UNIVERSITY, not high school.

That's my two cents... sorry if I've offended anyone! (And yes, I was in AP courses at Capo and went on to complete a graduate degree.)

At last...someone who gets it.

From my understanding, this is a personnel matter and for that reason, I am sure all of the details and facts have not been revealed publicly. To destroy a person's career without having all of the facts seems a bit discriminatory and what some would call a modern day HATE CRIME.

To Jubal... if you had posted the name of a sex abuse victim on a website in another part of the country, most likely, you would have been fired on the spot and would be forced to work your way toward a new career. Especially if the family of the sex abuse victim rallied the politically connected and wealthy bloggers to cast stones publicly. I hope those rushing to throw stones and destroy Corbett's career find themselves in the same situation one day. Afterall, until you have walked in another's shoes, decent human beings proceed with caution.

Jubal... I am someone who finally gets it!

Take a deep breath and calm down.

If Corbett decides to stick to teaching history and cease the unprofessional, unrelated and deliberately offensive remarks, then he can teach as long as he wants as far as I'm concerned.

But judging from coverage of the controversy, Corbett is unrepentant.

No one is asking him not to do his job, Debby.

Jubal, I can appreciate your fervor, but here's the truth. James Corbett is the rare teacher who does indeed teach all sides of the story. He credits religion for its successes, and criticizes it for its failures. It is necessary to do so if you aspire to have any kind of successful attempt at understanding history at a college level, something to which I'm sure you'll agree. This is important, because James Corbett makes no bones about what the class is: a college-level course offered to the best and brightest high-schoolers. The argument that he teaches "critical thinking" may sound like a manufactured cop-out, but I assure you it is not. I know this because I was a student of his.

My Christian sensibilities were not offended in his class. Indeed, I believe they were strengthened. Because of him I like to think I was saved the fate of so many of my classmates, bright students filled with potential who were subjected to the middling, uninspired teachings of other, less-exceptional instructors and thereby doomed to not only fail in learning history, but to repeat it.

God bless James Corbett.

CVHS grad 1991. U.S. History teacher for 12 years. Debby, is John Peloza on your list of unfairly treated teachers. Both Pfleuger and Corbett were harsh critics of Mr. Peloza and named in his case against CUSD. They put him out to pasture in P.E.. Corbett felt that Peloza should be held to professional standards, but he shouldn't now? I say Corbett should be removed from the History dep't and placed in the P.E. dep't. Don't fire him, just make him do Purgatory like Peloza. And in P.E. he can teach Health, which will highlight his expertise in birth control and barefoot and pregnant women.

Mister,

I hate to say this, but you are EXACTLY why Mr. Corbett should not be teaching HIGH SCHOOL students. His is not a college-level history class. Sorry.

College professors do not attack an opposing opinion by being blatantly disrespectful of the opposing view. In fact, I cannot recall ONE (not ONE) professor that made the kinds of statements Corbett and Pfleuger made to "get their point across" or teach "critical thinking" to their students.

I'm glad you found him to be a useful teacher. I wonder if you will feel the same way in a few years.

H.S. school (and elementary) teachers who abuse their fiduciary (position of trust with their student-client) to abuse children with personal political opinions are nothing less than child molesters. The students are children (and vulnerable). They regard the teacher with the same trust that they regard the parent and so to abuse that trust and exploit the child is child abuse (with intent to abuse and knowledge of the misrepresentation of a trust, i.e., criminal fraud) is a most egregious crime.

Most (if not all) of these opinionated teachers are too weak scholastically to respond to a "call for papers" and to present their opinion in an academic forum where they will be challenged (and bested) by their betters. Many of them have obtained watered down graduate degrees from diploma mills which patronize teachers only (nobody else would want their degrees) so the teacher can turn in the M.A. and get higher pay.

We all have known academically limited ed-majors who could not pass lower division philosophy, flunked lower division math, and chose to major in Chalk 101. Their union tacks on a "5th year" of wasted time to stifle competition from the academically able.

They thus hire on to a leftist culture in the local school system and become untouchables (protected by the union and by tenure) and can prey upon the children with whom they have been trusted to teach.

It is the most egregious of ethical violations because the client (student) is so helpless and vulnerable. It proves that the system need extensive overhaul beginning with ending teachers unions and putting them on true independent contractor status one year at a time at the pleasure of the school administration together with the parents.

H.S. school (and elementary) teachers who abuse their fiduciary (position of trust with their student-client) to abuse children with personal political opinions are nothing less than child molesters. The students are children (and vulnerable). They regard the teacher with the same trust that they regard the parent and so to abuse that trust and exploit the child is child abuse (with intent to abuse and knowledge of the misrepresentation of a trust, i.e., criminal fraud) is a most egregious crime.

Most (if not all) of these opinionated teachers are too weak scholastically to respond to a "call for papers" and to present their opinion in an academic forum where they will be challenged (and bested) by their betters. Many of them have obtained watered down graduate degrees from diploma mills which patronize teachers only (nobody else would want their degrees) so the teacher can turn in the M.A. and get higher pay.

We all have known academically limited ed-majors who could not pass lower division philosophy, flunked lower division math, and chose to major in Chalk 101. Their union tacks on a "5th year" of wasted time to stifle competition from the academically able.

They thus hire on to a leftist culture in the local school system and become untouchables (protected by the union and by tenure) and can prey upon the children with whom they have been trusted to teach.

It is the most egregious of ethical violations because the client (student) is so helpless and vulnerable. It proves that the system need extensive overhaul beginning with ending teachers unions and putting them on true independent contractor status one year at a time at the pleasure of the school administration together with the parents.