When I was in eighth grade, I had a seriously hardcore history teacher. I had binders upon binders with notes about actual Vietnam War battles, the Cold War, JFK's assassination, etc. I'm sure there were points at which I could guess where my teacher stood politically, but I can't really definitively say, because he never personalized or politicized any of it.
The same, it seems, cannot be said for a Virginia middle school teacher Michael Denman, who is under fire from parents after making his students do "opposition research" ... on only Republican presidential candidates. According to conservative website The Daily Caller, the eighth-graders were told to research the backgrounds and positions of Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and Ron Paul ... which, okay, so far, not so strange. But after that, it got a bit bizarre.
Denman reportedly asked the students to find any "weaknesses" in the GOP candidates' track records ... then prepare a strategy paper to exploit those weaknesses and send their suggestions to the Obama campaign. Hmm ... no matter what side of the aisle your beliefs fall on, you gotta admit, this assignment sounds questionable, if not completely crazy. Could I see it being legit in a political science course, say, at my super-liberal alma mater, Emerson College? Yes, quite possibly! But definitely not Denman's class.
A representative from the school district said the kids didn't end up sending in their homework to Obama 2012, but it sounds like they couldn't deny how one-sided the assignment had been. Denman isn't being disciplined, as of right now, but he has said that he would give his students the opportunity to do "opposition research" for candidates of either party in the future. Uh ... yeah. That sounds about right.
Because really, indoctrinating kids with political beliefs in a public school setting is just plain wrong. A teacher's goal should always be to equip kids with unbiased information and skills, so that they can draw their own conclusions on matters like a presidential election. If anyone's going to steer a kid to one side of the aisle or the other, it's the parents.
What do you think about this teacher's assignment?
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Comments 20
I agree this did cross the line and I am an Obama supporter. If you are going to fact check and look for weaknesses in campaigns, you should do it for both sides of the aisle.
From the account in this article, the assignment definitely sounds one-sided and inappropriate for a classroom. That being said, the author (along with any enraged community members, parents, etc...) don't have a direct link the teacher's mind and thought-process here. As a teacher, I (and my fellow faculty members) get complaints all the time about things I supposedly did or said in the classroom that have been taken wildly out of context. It is possible that this assignment is inappropriate, but it is also possible that the teacher was trying to teach a legitimate lesson. For example, perhaps his students were saying negative things about GOP candidates that were false or misunderstood and this assignment was intended to allow them to keep their point of view but in a more educated fashion. Or perhaps the majority of his students have extremely anti-Obama views that he felt were hidering their ability to understand look objectively at candidates... so he had them conduct this research to show that we have an imperfect political system not just one imperfect person. There are many possibilities... and I believe it's best to hear someone out completely before jumping to conclusions.
MoHoPrincess, you couldn't be more wrong. First off it's not up to the teacher to decide "if" his students are too "anti-Obama". Even if that was the case (which I doubt it was) why would he then want his students to send the assignment to Obama? Teacher Unions are so pro democrat and pro Obama, that I'm sure this was his attempted to sway his students political opinions. I always knew that Unions were big bad bullies but I didn't realize how much until I saw my brothers paycheck (he's in a roofer union) and saw where money comes out of his paycheck every week to go toward the Democrat Political Fund. I asked him wants happens if you're not a democrat or don't want to give and he said it didn't matter. If you're in the Union, you pay! Seems so wrong to me.
The only questionable thing I see is asking them to send the info to Obama's campaign. Is there any evidence that he actually did that, like a printed assignment sheet? It could be a case of a student embellishing the story a little because they either disliked the teacher or the assignment.
This teacher was wrong. It would be wrong if it was a conservative teacher who did it.
No. No. No. I have no problem with a teacher saying, "These are the people who are running for the Republican Ticket. Go and find 3 things strong points and three weaknesses on each candidate. Next week, we will focus on Obama, because he is the only Dem candidate."
But to focus on only one party, and only on weakness, and THEN to say that those weaknesses would be sent to help the incumbent? NO. Wrong. Absolutely wrong. For either side of the aisle.
When you are a teacher, you become Switzerland. Completely neutral in political issues.