Monday, November 22, 2010
G.S. Ed. Week post
In the October 27th issue the article "Teacher Speed Rights on Curriculum Rejected" proves that there is a very fine line for teachers that we have to tow. The article talks about a teacher who had students read books that were not o.k.'d with the school officials and parents and she was fired. When she took them to court...to my shock she lost. The courts said "that public employees do not have First Amendment protection for speech "pursuant to" their official duties. We as teachers have to be on our toes with not only how we teach but what...to save myself in the future I will always check with the principal first...and probably parents too. This will be a daunting task since not every parent will agree with all material.
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This article left me feeling somewhat frustrated. Even though I understand that school districts have a responsibility for the curriculum, it still feels like censorship. At the school I taught in last year, we were supposed to have every single movie we wanted to show approved by the principal. Seems ridiculous to have to get an algebra movie approved, not to mention how stuck I felt trying to teach video production classes with the need to show lots and lots of video examples. It was crazy!
ReplyDeleteYou might be interested in reading Richard's post on this same article: http://mataspirerichardd.blogspot.com/2010/11/ed-week-oct-27-ed.html
While we like to believe that teachers should have some measure of academic freedom, they are nevertheless employees of public institutions and have to abide by the dictates of those institutions. Some schools/districts/principals may give more latitude to teachers in their choice of curriculum materials, but some will be more restrictive or more actively involved in choosing or approving these materials. All we can do is to push for those that are important to us, and we may have to choose our battles carefully and selectively. Teaching is a balancing act, as are many other professions. Sometimes we will have to hold our passion in check, which will be hard to do because we believe we are doing what is best for our students.
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