First, let's start here (from Jonathan Turley):
Freshwater was the subject of complaints for 11 years, but it appears that the school district refused to take action. Now, consultants have concluded that: “There is a significant amount of evidence that Mr. Freshwater’s teachings regarding subjects related to evolution were not consistent with the curriculum of the Mount Vernon City Schools and state standards,” the consultants reported.Eleven fucking years? Why did no one challenge this? If this was my child I would have raised hell, or at the very least yanked her out of the school.
The report confirmed that Freshwater burned crosses onto students' arms, using an electrostatic device, in December.
Freshwater told investigators the marks were X's, not crosses. But all of the students interviewed in the investigation reported being branded with crosses. The investigation report includes a photo of one student's arm with a long vertical line and a short horizontal line running through it.
Just look at the picture in the first link. I would go apeshit if my daughter came home with that on her arm from a teacher. Honestly, I'd rather her have come home with a tattoo of a cross if that was what SHE decided to do. Of course, it would make me want to retch, but at least it would be her stupid decision alone, not coercion by someone in authority.
Secondly, I like to think I'll raise my teenage daughter to be smart enough to run in the other direction of a weird adult that tried to do something along these lines to her body. But if she or her friends did ever feel pressured to go along with a teacher creepily physically impressing his beliefs upon her, let's just say he'd get a taste of his own medicine somewhere along the way. Real science would shock him into reality.
A teacher who worked in Freshwater's classroom last year also reported to investigators that Freshwater told his class that homosexuality is a sin.
Third, this statement alone should be offensive enough to get an instructor at least suspended or worse, yet this school did nothing. And there's much, much more. Which leads me to...
Oh, you mean they're ALL a bunch of ultra religious assholes who brainwash and control young teenagers? I doubt that very much. And uhh, who gives a fuck what you think? Unless you went to door to door and asked every single parent if his particular behaviour is OK with them, you're not only flat-out wrong, you're incredibly delusional and dangerous. Seems to be the two of you are trying your damnedest to make sure most of them do think like you idiots, though. Fuckin' Daubenmire.Freshwater's friend Dave Daubenmire defended him. "With the exception of the cross-burning episode. … I believe John Freshwater is teaching the values of the parents in the Mount Vernon school district," he said.
Daubenmire is a former London High School football coach whose district was sued in
1999 by the American Civil Liberties Union because he led his players in prayer at games, practices and meetings.
"Do you think there are other teachers in the public classroom that are trying to drive their opinions in the classroom?" Daubenmire asked. "I don't care who you are. You cannot separate your value system from your teaching."
So you're just one of those folks who thinks they speak for the world, or the "good" people, anyway. No, stupid, maybe you can't separate your "value system" from your teaching, which is a half-assed argument, at best, UNLESS you're teaching math or science, which are both completely based in FACTS (theory is backed by fact or it remains a hypothesis), not convictions. One can easily detach their specific faith, which is what is required as a public, tax-funded instructor. And if you can't, there are plenty of faith-based schools you can go "teach" at.
The debate about Freshwater's actions became public in April after he refused to remove a Bible from his desk, as the district had ordered.The report says he was insubordinate for failing to remove the Bible and other religious materials from his classroom but also found other issues about his teaching and behavior.
You can't put shit up on my public school walls or the desk me and my friends paid for (along with you and your wingnut friends), but you can wear a papal hat or a fucking bible around your neck for all I care, so long as you don't open it and spew your bullshit at a bunch of impressionable kids forced to sit in your shitty class. You can have rosaries and crucifixes, or Quran's, Vishnu, Buddha, and/or pentagrams, for that matter, anywhere on your person, as long as you don't use it a teaching tool to cram down the student's throat. Whether you like it or not, being nonjudgmental, accepting, and open-mined is part of the job description when it comes to passing along necessary information (facts), and yes, sometimes wisdom to young, sometimes confused kids. This crap scares the shit out of me as we contemplate whether or not to send our daughter to public school or not. All I know is whatever we decide, this shit would never be tolerated by me or anyone in my extended family, even here in KY. It sure will be nice moving back toward the center and common trust in public officials, especially those that may have my child's undivided attention several hours out of the day.
If you're still interested in my disgust, from the Investigation:
At the end of the experiment the kids are excited and ask if they can touch it.
Yeah, that's what they all say.
The parents who filed the complaint said their primary concern was what had been done to their child’s arm and why? They were also concerned about it being a cross. The marks on their child’s arm caused pain the night of the incident, December 6, 2007, however they said that part of the pain could have been due to the spot being further irritated by the equipment he wore later that evening. They stated the burn remained on their child’s arm for three or four weeks.
They approached the school regarding their concern on Friday, December 7, 2007. The parents indicated they wanted anonymity, did not want the authorities contacted and did not want Mr. Freshwater to lose his job, but wanted to learn what happened with the electrostatic device and wanted the activity stopped.
Are you fucking kidding me? Now I know where your kid didn't get his balls.
The investigators contacted the President of Electro-Technic Products Inc. who stated that the device should not be used on individuals and e-mailed written instructions that state, “Never touch or come in contact with the high voltage output of this device, nor with any device it is energizing.”
...Unless you're in some basement with chain adorned black walls, a place similar to where this guy probably learned how to use it in the first place. Good thing there was no liquids in the area, haven't they seen The Believers (I know that doesn't make a whole hell of a lot of sense, and neither did the movie, I just decided to reference it because that shocking just scene popped in my head, damn the consequences)?
Contrary to Mr. Freshwater’s statement he simply made an “X” not a “cross,” all of the students described the marking as a “cross” and the pictures provided depict a “cross”.Again, look at the pictures of the burns (pg 9), this guy is full of shit. And if those burns lasted several weeks it must have hurt like a bitch. I could really go on and on about how stupidly obvious this case should be, but you can read it yourself. Maybe I am worked up because I never dealt with any shit like this in any way from my teachers, even here in KY (other than my fifth grade teacher scaring the hell out of me if George Bush the First lost). I don't know, but this kind of stuff really offends me. I hope I my kid would raise hell if she sensed a person of authority trying to manipulate her more gullible and trusting peers. Someone has to try to keep some of those lemmings from walking off the cliff. What really pisses me off is he'll probably get off and live to manipulated stupid kids another day.
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