Want to take bets on the outcome of this? Suspended with pay is not the end of the world. This teacher could easily get a job elsewhere since teachers are in demand and this "black-mark" on her record would be of no consequence in most of the US. Given the times we live in and the nature of Dallas this is sadly less surprising than it should be. It is ridiculous and should be an embarrassment to this school board. This school board should have all the members recalled who voted for suspension of this woman.
It is also not directly related to my post which was that of teaching history which is an inherently more controversial topic. I never claimed odd occurrences like this should be expected or not expected. What I wrote was that is if you teach history that is counter to the feel-good consensus you should expect right-wing types to complain. That if you want to teach history you need to know that you are swimming against the current unless you keep your students ignorant of history. I don't recall writing that art teachers should be expected to defend themselves against simply acts like taking students to an art museum. Maybe you could repost that part of my original post for me?
No, you shouldn't get out of the kitchen. You should fight like hell for the right to be there teaching the way you want. I never advocated surrender, just the opposite, I advocated taking the fight to them and to be prepared to do just that. If you're not prepared to fight then don't teach controversial topics because to be an effective teacher requires it. I'm sorry that this is the case and we don't live in a society that is enlightened enough to make such a fight unnecessary but my being sorry about this fact has no effect on it.
If the history teachers are not going to take a stand, be brave, and take risks, then who is? I guess for you it's better to claim these teachers should just take the safe and easy route, teach their students nothing that might jeopardize the teachers job, and simply say, "oh well, the risks of actually doing something were just to great for me personally so fuck it". Since this is what is happening for the most part you must be very happy with the current state of history education in the U.S.
I have taught a handful of art classes when others could not and the college practically begged me to (very few, I prefer teaching history) and would never have expected the treatment this woman received but I have expected it for teaching history. I only mentioned my history classes in regards to expecting to defend ones actions because I only think that teachers of controversial topics need to expect this type treatment. I didn't mention art teachers (or English teachers, math teachers, and some others) because I don't feel teachers of such subjects should expect similar treatment. Weird how I only wrote what I actually meant and weirder still that someone thinks that because I believe history teachers (teachers of controversial topics) should steel themselves against the inevitable right-wing attack that I must somehow think ALL teachers should either expect similar treatment or else they are "weenies". I guess I wasn't clear enough in spite of the fact that no topic other than history was ever mentioned and I even specifically left out art as a potential teaching subject.
I have no fucking idea what Mickey Spillane has to do with this but I've never read one of his books. Maybe you could tie the two together for me?
John Thornton