Reply
Thu 24 Aug, 2006 10:37 am
Quote:Teacher Burns 2 American Flags In Class To Motivate Students
POSTED: 11:55 pm EDT August 21, 2006
School officials in Louisville reassigned a teacher after he burned two American flags in his class to apparently motivate his students for an assignment, according to a report.
A Jefferson County Public Schools official said Dan Holden, a seventh-grade social studies teacher at Stuart Middle School, burned a small flag in each of his two classes.
Officials said he told administrators he was trying to motivate his students for a weekend writing assignment on the freedom of speech.
The school district didn't find out about it until a reporter asked questions the next day, the report said.
Officials said they have received only one complaint, none from parents.
However, officials said there are two important issues involved. One is the safety of students in regard to having an open flame in the classroom. The other is the propriety of burning a flag.
"The issue is the possible endangerment of children by having an open flame in the classroom," School District representative Lauren Roberts said. "That is definitely a safety issue. And then also the issue of the actual burning of a flag and the symbolism of that is highly offensive to many people. And could there have been a better way to have demonstrated those concepts to those students without going to that extreme?"
The district has contacted fire officials and said Holden could face criminal charges.
Holden has been a teacher in Jefferson County schools since 1979 and has been at Stuart Middle School since 2001. He has no disciplinary record.
Is this sort of thing an acceptable teaching practise or not? Should the teacher be reprimanded?
The only problem I see is the safety issue. That is a valid complaint. An open flame has no place in a classroom setting unless it is strictly monitored as part of, say, a chemistry experiment in a lab. Even then, I believe most schools require prior notification to the appropriate authorities. A Bunsen burner flame would be an exception only insofar that appropriate safety precautions are assumed to have already been taken when the laboratory was set up.
As for the rest of the tripe, may I point out that Louisville is in the state of Kentucky. 'Nuff said.
This is not surprising at all as it happened under an educational system, which a barbaric regime like the one of Bush, is responsible for.
Looks like the students are indeed getting a first-hand lesson in freedom of speech! Not quite the intended one, but a lesson nonetheless.
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace