http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/18/nyreg … login&
This is an old article, but worthy of discussion. If you're a teacher in public school and you assert that Noah's ark carried dinosaurs, should you be fired or defended for being able to express your right to free speech?
Is this an issue about free speech or about bad teaching?
This teacher, according to the article, said:
-Dinosaurs were carried in Noah's ark
-Evolution is not scientific
-Only Christians have a place in heaven
Um... YES this guy should have been fired! No question about it. This is a public school, and telling kids that non-Christians are going to hell? That alone is one big bye-bye. And no, I don't think you really have a place in academia if you are trying to push non-academic stuff. If you want to deny science and teach Biblical mythology in a public school... enjoy your firing and apply to a private school instead.
OP, I have to say, your title is very misleading. This teacher did not "discuss the Bible in public school" (which might be appropriate, depending on the situation). This teacher basically preached and told non-Christian kids they were going to hell, and did not teach the curriculum. He did not do his job, and he did not show tolerance to his students. "Free speech" isn't applicable to your employers and at work. Especially when you're being paid to do a certain job, but you act like a jerk instead.
I agree with... well... pretty much everyone else. There isn't much else to add.
Frankly, I don't care if people want to teach the concepts of biblical creationism and all that so long as it is presented as one theory and taught alongside evolutionism. Giving kids the information is fine, forcing your opinion on them is not.
According to the article yes, he should be fired.
Anyone that believes crap like dinosaurs were carried in Noah's Ark, evolution is not scientific, and only Christians have a place in heaven, etc. has no place in the education system. It only proves how poorly educated the teacher is and for a quality educational system to work, you need quality educators. That clown needs to be working drive thru at McDonalds.
No thanks. I want a Big Mac, not a dinoburger.
No he should not be "fired" but send him to a school to get educated.
Personal beliefs have no place in the education system, discussion of religion, evolution, politics and science in general should be.
Teachers, lecturers and trainers who bring their own personal beliefs into the classroom for the purpose of indoctrination should always be dismissed.
That means he is not educated and it is those people who appoint him are those who should be fired.
It is about bad teaching, I am concerned about 'establishment', a teacher promoting a religious belief in a public school classroom. You can discuss and compare beliefs in an academic setting, of course. But topics and approaches best left to Sunday School in your place of worship should not be used here. In your contract with the city or town where you work you agree to be a teacher, not a preacher and avoid using your position to influence impressionable youngsters in an inappropriate way.
Anyone who tells a mixed group of kids "only Christians had a place in heaven" is a jerk. I mean, how would a Christian parent like a teacher from another deist religion saying that to their kids?
Free speech or bad teaching?
Neither one. No one has free speech when they are working for someone else, doing the job they are hired to do in teaching youngsters. And spouting personal beliefs, particularly ridiculous ones like this, isn't teaching. So neither one applies, just lying to the kids.
After reading the article, it's clear that it's about his role as a teacher. He abused his responsibility and position of being a history teacher. He was preaching religion in a public school. He indirectly told the non-Christian students that they were going to hell. Separation of church and state?
I would be very upset if my child came home and told me this is what he learned in history class today. I would have pulled my child from his class.
It doesn't sound like the teacher was fired although he deserved to be if he was preaching in the school for 15 years, as he later admits he was. He also lied. I tried to find out more about the story and found Matthew LaClair's speech. It's quite detailed and worth a read.
Like many of the people in this forum I agree that this man should have been fired. He was trying to shove his own personal opinion on the people around him. What he said had no place in a public school.
Paradigmsearch gets job as teacher. First day at school...
"Alright, all you kiddies. Here's the real deal... We are all a bunch of lab rats. And then you are all going to die. 10 of you by cancer. 10 of you by alzheimer's. 10 of you by strokes and heart attacks. The rest of you will reach your demises in various other interesting ways. Live with it."
Principal shows up in classroom second day...
Paradigmsearch admires his spiffy new mop as he cleans the hallways.
.
.
.
.
Just kidding...
oh no, they wouldn't even hire you as janitor! and that is pretty good work if you can get it!
Oh, it seems like many are happily ignoring the fact that the teachers role is specifically to influence his students, through which they learn.
So if therefore the teacher is christian, then of course this is the conviction of which he would convey to his students. This bound to occur, overtly or covertly.
The same is true if the teacher is an Atheist, Muslim or Buddhist.
Do I need to also say, the chemist, the biologist or the pilot....or what soever men will call themselves, including but not limited to a rapist, thief or murderer.
Are you also quickly forgetting that many atheist are atheist because of and despite of christian influences.
The christian exhibited a higher standard of righteousness than those who condemn him, because after all he was merely being what he knows himself to be....that is a christian.
No, that is not the teachers role. He is hired to educate his students on the subject/s of which he is assigned to teach.
Whatever he is, his role is to perform his job as a teacher, not a preacher.
by TessSchlesinger 9 years ago
I think it all depends on what you allow in a general sense and what you don't. Technically, I don't think Christian proselytizers should receive any favor or disfavor over other protesters and the like.Which leads to the conclusion. For free speech enthusiasts, yes. Christians should be able to do...
by Sophia Angelique 12 years ago
if someone talks to someone about sex, and it's unwanted, it's considered harassment. The other day, i was sitting in Starbucks and this man (for the second or third time) demanded to converse on the basis that I was in a public place and if I was in a public place then I was obliged to speak to...
by Logic101 11 years ago
How do you know your "god" is real?To be honest, Christianity is just as unrealistic as Hinduism &Islam and all those other religions.So what makes Christianity that much different? It preaches hatred just like Islam. If it didn't, then we wouldn't have gay-bashing, killing others...
by secularist10 13 years ago
Boxes of Lady Gaga's new album were intercepted at the airport by Lebanese authorities. They are currently deciding whether to censor the albums for "offensive" content to Christians, or ban it altogether.http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylon … non-l.htmlShaky Lebanon's 17...
by dragonrider32 14 years ago
1. There is no way on earth that all the kids in public schools now could be placed in private schools/homes. There are no where near enough places for them. If you don't provide for all of them...what are you setting the American future up for? Disaster.2. Private schools have waiting lists. If a...
by thaivalentine 13 years ago
The average American teacher works 9 months a year, gets holidays off, receives a base salary, pension, full benefits and a job for life as a result of tenure. What you get, someone with a Masters Degree who on average teaches a class of students ranging from 30 to 50 students who span the...
Copyright © 2025 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. HubPages® is a registered trademark of The Arena Platform, Inc. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website.
Copyright © 2025 Maven Media Brands, LLC and respective owners.
As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.
For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy
Show DetailsNecessary | |
---|---|
HubPages Device ID | This is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons. |
Login | This is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service. |
Google Recaptcha | This is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy) |
Akismet | This is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Google Analytics | This is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Traffic Pixel | This is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized. |
Amazon Web Services | This is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy) |
Cloudflare | This is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Hosted Libraries | Javascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy) |
Features | |
---|---|
Google Custom Search | This is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Maps | Some articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Charts | This is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy) |
Google AdSense Host API | This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Google YouTube | Some articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Vimeo | Some articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Paypal | This is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Login | You can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Maven | This supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy) |
Marketing | |
---|---|
Google AdSense | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Google DoubleClick | Google provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Index Exchange | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Sovrn | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Ads | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Unified Ad Marketplace | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
AppNexus | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Openx | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Rubicon Project | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
TripleLift | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Say Media | We partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy) |
Remarketing Pixels | We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites. |
Conversion Tracking Pixels | We may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service. |
Statistics | |
---|---|
Author Google Analytics | This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy) |
Comscore | ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Tracking Pixel | Some articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy) |
Clicksco | This is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy) |