It looks like Frisco, a rapidly growing city located just north of Dallas, is firmly in the hands of the right-wing fundamentalists. At least their school board is. Monday, the board voted not to renew the contract of art teacher, Sydney McGee. She had already been reprimanded and suspended. What was the terrible thing this teacher did to receive all this punishment? She took 89 fifth graders to the Dallas Museum of Art.
Most of us would think it was a good thing to expose these youngsters to some of the world's great art. But not the fundies controlling the Frisco schools. It seems that a parent had complained about the trip. The child of this parent had seen a nude sculpture while at the museum. Oh, the horror!
Now that innocuous field trip has cost the teacher her job, even though she says the principal suggested she make the class trip. Rogge Dunn, the teacher's attorney said, "If they had good reason to fire her, they would have, but they don't. It's mind-boggling."
If this is how they react to great art, it makes me wonder what they are teaching as science. Would a teacher also be terminated for mentioning evolution? But Frisco is not alone. There are many school districts in Texas that would have acted in the same manner. And now that Attorney General Abbott has given even more power to the state education board, it will probably get even worse. Expect new textbooks to reflect more of the views of fundies.
Instead of proudly stepping into the 21st century, Texas seems to be racing back to the 19th. And as long as the right-wing Republicans are in power, that's the way it will be.
Wow. That is almost unbelievable. I lived in The Colony and remember when Frisco was a little backwater town. Despite its growth, I guess it still is.
ReplyDeleteAnd I thought we had a corner on the loon market here in AZ.
ReplyDeleteI'd suggest that the art teacher move here, but here the RW loons are trying to destroy public education entirely.
Moving here would not be a good career move.
Any chance of the teacher catching on with a saner school district?
cpmaz -
ReplyDeleteI don't guess anyone's got a corner on the "loon market". Hope she can get a job in a sane district.
jakintt - Yeah, she taught for 18 years, six at that school. You'd think the "performance problems" would show up a little sooner, wouldn't you?
By the way, at 42 you're still just a spring chicken! Sometimes I can't even remember back that far.
This is why we need to take time out of every school day for prayer and we need to post the Ten Commandments in classrooms.
ReplyDeleteIf the Christian community was more comfortable that the public schools shared our common values, they would be more reserved in their response to field trips that present situations which threaten their values.
Many Christians feel that they are under attack in the public school system, and having some nondenominational Judeo-Christian influence to reinforce our common and shared values would go a long way toward healing that wound.
If the Christian community had more basis to believe that they were not at war with the pro-secular values of the public school system, this type of incident never would have arisen.
KIA,
ReplyDeleteAnd what are we supposed to do with all of the kids who are not christians during the prayer time you support? Make them stand out in the hall? Or should they be forced to pray as well?
You said that christians feel that they are under attack in the public schools, and that having a nondenominational Judeo-christian influence will heal this wound. What about all of the athiests, hindus, muslims, and other non-christians. Wouldn't they be the ones "under attack" if forced to pray with christians or to stand out in the hallways as the christians pray?
Am I supposed to be worried so much about hurting the poor christians feelings while not caring about the feelings of non-christians? Yeah, there are more christians in this country than those of other religions, but even minorities have rights in this country. Hell, the first amendment was meant to protect those minorities! Just because someone is in the majority does not give them the right to force their views on the minority.
Anyone who wants to practice religion can do it on their own time. If I want to learn about God, I can go to church. I go to school to learn math, science, literature, etc.
The christians in this country are NOT being oppressed. I am not sympathetic to their complaints. If parents want to introduce their children to their religion they can (and do) do it in their own home. Children spent a whole lot more time with their parents than they do with their teachers. I attended public schools and never felt that my religion (or lack thereof) was being oppressed.
And you're probably right that this incident would never have happened if "christian values" were forced upon our children. I'm sure that a christian based education system would never subject the children to the horrors of seeing nude sculptures at all. God forbid that they see the likeness of an unclothed body in the form of art!
The Naturist Action Committee is tracking this case (they have a blog post on this topic) and working with the lawfirm representing the teacher. NAC has also been involved in many other personal liberties issues, and likely has a lot of political and philosophical overlap with the readers here.
ReplyDelete