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October 03, 2004
Coarsening of the culture
As the Left has come to dominate cultural institutions (i.e. education and the arts) one of its main goals has been to "confront" any and all traditional cultural norms. Arising from the sixties' mentality of "never trust anyone over 30", to the oft repeated mantra "question authority" some of this mindset is evidenced by the accepted way children address adults, even virtual strangers, by their first name. Dress codes are fought tooth and nail in any school system, with the ACLU invoked at times. Even the common sense approach to "dressing appropriately" for any number of occassions is sorely absent from our culture where what's legal is now the only consideration of what's acceptable.
Which brings me to a story that on first read I figured must be fiction. Shockingly, it is not.
Let me ask, did you go to public school? Do you remember somewhere in your classroom was displayed the American flag? Do you remember also your teacher probably had a bulletin board with an Americana display ... The Constitution, The Declaration of Independence, even some portraits of Presidents. I clearly remember it was usually George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and whoever was the current President.
Pretty standard fare, correct? Would you ever think that such a display, in a public school room would be controversial? That a teacher would be threatened over having such a display in his/her classroom? Well, it's not fiction.
UPDATE WABC in New York picks up the story. See below.
UDATE 2 Drudge is now linking to the WABC story I have below in my first update.
SOUTH BRUNSWICK: A middle school teacher walked out on her job after being asked to remove a picture of the president from her classroom, she said.Though she says he has not resigned, the teacher's situation at Crossroads Middle School South is not yet resolved.
Shiba Pillai-Diaz's walkout involved the local police, left school officials mum and appalled the local Republican Party.
Pillai-Diaz, 33, a volunteer with the Bush campaign and an English teacher, has had a publicity picture of the First Couple hanging in her classroom since the start of the school year, she said.
The photo became an issue last week.
Parents e-mailed an assistant principal accusing Pillai-Diaz of suppressing free speech because the teacher refused to talk to pupils about why the color photo hung in the room.
"Students said, 'You like George Bush? He's killed people,' " Pillai-Diaz said. "As a rule I don't talk about my politics in the classroom."
According to Pillai-Diaz, Assistant Principal Mark Daniels said he had no problem with the photo, which hung next to posters of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. But Daniels told the teacher she should address questions that arose because of the photo.
"He wasn't giving me the power to direct conversation in my classroom," said Pillai-Diaz, who regarded the picture just as an image of the current president.
Thursday, at back-to-school night, the controversy exploded after a parent asked why the picture was up, Pillai-Diaz said.
"The way she asked was a political assault," the teacher said.
Then the parents started their own debate about the picture, and one mother stormed out of the classroom, Pillai-Diaz said.
Friday morning, the teacher, who is in her sixth year of teaching and her first in South Brunswick, was called into the assistant principal's office. Daniels told her to remove the picture, Pillai-Diaz said.
"He said, 'If you care about your job, you'll take the picture down,' " she said.
Pillai-Diaz told the assistant principal to take the picture down himself. Then she sought Principal Jim Warfel, who gave her an upbraiding.
"He said, 'You've caused more disruption, hatred and anger than anyone I've ever known,' " she said.
The teacher said the principal told her to "get out," so she left and headed to the South Brunswick Police Department.
An officer accompanied Pillai-Diaz back to the school because she said she feared for her safety when she went to collect her belongings, police said.
Once Pillai-Diaz felt safe at the school the officer left, police said.
In the school, Pillai-Diaz had a two-hour meeting with Superintendent Gary McCartney and a representative from the teachers' union. Both parties told the teacher she would lose any fight she would try to start about the picture, Pillai-Diaz said.
"They weren't interested in the substance of the issue," she said.
I don't know what to add about such an appalling, disgusting situation when a teacher has a picture of the sitting US President in her classroom and is threatened for it by students, parents, the school administration and even her own union.
Is it any wonder that from music lyrics to published books to websites, BDS and the Left have no problem advocating the murder of GW Bush??
Thanks to Digger at the Command Post for bringing this story to light.
UPDATE WABC adds some salient points to the story.
Rita Bianco, Parent: "Children should know their president and their first lady!"Parents expressing outrage after a teacher is kicked out of her public school for hanging a picture of President Bush next to pictures of other presidents in her classroom.
Shiba Pillai-Diaz, Teacher: "It happened on a small bulletin board near the American flag and also with a poster of the Declaration of Independence." ...
On Thursday, there was a back-to-school night for parents of students. Veteran English teacher Shiba Pillai-Diaz says she was shocked when three parents confronted her. The three, insisting the teacher either add John Kerry's photo to the montage of presidents or remove the Bush photo.<.b> ...[emphasis added]
Excuse me. Kerry is not President so his picture doesn't belong on a bulletin board that has a montage of Presidents. WTF is wrong with these parents' thinking?
Posted by Darleen at October 3, 2004 08:57 PM
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» Teacher Walks Out Over Display Of Presidents Picture [Update 2] from Diggers Realm
Shiba Pillai-Diaz, a middle school teacher in New Brunswick, New Jersey walked out of her class after being instructed by her supervisors to remove a picture of the President of the United States from her classroom or be fired. In... [Read More]
Tracked on October 3, 2004 10:25 PM
Comments
You're welcome for the kind comment.
Posted by: Digger at October 3, 2004 10:25 PM