I've always believed that education should include the discussion of a relatively broad range of ideas and historical models, but lately
this seems to have been set aside in the name of patriotism.
"A HIGH-SCHOOL geography teacher in Colorado has been put on leave after a 16-year-old pupil recorded him comparing George Bush to Hitler.
Sean Allen, 16, who attends a suburban high school outside Denver, has made headlines across the country by recording the teacher lambasting President Bush.
"Sounds a lot like the things that Adolf Hitler used to say," Jay Bennish told his class. "We are the only ones who are right, everyone else is backward and our job is to conquer the world."
Mr Bennish called the US "probably the single most violent nation on Earth", saying that it had committed more than 7,000 "terrorist sabotage acts" against Cuba. But he told pupils that they were free to disagree with him."
While some of the statements made by Bennish might sound a bit simplistic, it's possible that they were taken out of the context of a more reasoned and thoughtful discourse, perhaps even after the class had concluded. And although it may seem that a geography class wasn't exactly the proper place for that particular discussion, Jarrod Diamond's recent books have certainly broaden the scope of topics considered within geographical studies. The point is, that Bennish wasn't imposing any doctrine, just expressing his opinion, although true in my view. What is disturbing in this case, is the student who recorded him, and turned the tape over to the local media. The increasing incidents of classroom spying are another symptom of extremist right wing ideology, meant to reform what they view as an unraveled social fabric, which has diminished their economic and social advantage, and to quell any dissent from their plan. As such, they take inspiration from role models who advocate techniques such as domestic spying, as means of retaining the upper hand in policy making, in order to benefit an elite ruling class. David Horowitz will be thrilled to learn his campaign to reform academia is now filtering down into lower levels of education. Good citizenship apparently begins with early education.
