"Teach, don't preach!"

Maybe there's hope yet for the school system today! From Colorado:

A 16-year-old boy at Overland High School doesn't want to hear what he calls his teacher's left-wing political rants.

Sean Allen frequently recorded his teachers to back up his notes. Allen recorded Jay Bennish, his 10th grade World Geography teacher, making comments about President Bush's State of the Union Address.

Allen's father claims the comments made in the recording are biased and inappropriate for a geography class. (Uh, yeah...I would think "Bush sucks" isn't exactly a fundamental part of geography! - Ed.)

"I'm not saying Bush and Hitler are exactly the same, obviously they're not. OK? But there are some eerie similarities to the tones that they use," says Bennish in his critique of U.S. economic and foreign policy.

Towards the end of the class, Bennish goes on to say, "I'm not in anyway implying that you should agree with me, I don't even know if I'm necessarily taking a position. But what I'm trying to get you to do is to think about these issues more in depth and not to just take things from the surface."

The Cherry Creek School District is conducting a thorough investigation of the complaint from the Overland High School parent and student concerning comments.

The school district says at first glance it does appear the teacher acted inappropriately at the very least.

A spokesperson for the Cherry Creek School District said they have placed Bennish on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. This is not a disciplinary action; the school district wants to remove him while they sort through the rest of the investigation.

"What he calls his teacher's left-wing political rants"? Jason at Generation Why? has a good rundown of some of the tripe that came from the teacher, as well as audio (if you can stomach it). You tell me if that teacher's drivel is just "so-called" and "allegedly" left-wing rants or not! The article above doesn't mention some of the vile filth that came from the teacher, instead positioning the story to appear symapthetic to the teacher. After all, if people knew everything that the leftist twit was telling his pupils, there would be little sympathy for the teacher.

But this can't be happening! The left swears that schools just teach, and they don't indoctrinate! But if they do indoctrinate, I'm sure it's either (a) due to a lack of federal funds, (b) No Child Left Behind Act, or (c) simply George Bush's fault.

Fortunately, the situation is being remedied:

The Overland High educator is on administrative leave. Cherry Creek's superintendent said a balanced viewpoint will be given to students.

An Overland High School teacher who criticized President Bush, capitalism and U.S. foreign policy during his geography class was placed on administrative leave Wednesday afternoon after a student who recorded the session went public with the tape.

Teachers like Bennish are somewhat like Mary Kay Letourneau, Deb LeFave, and teachers who have been in the news for molesting their students: while Letourneau and her ilk are perverting the bodies of children, Bennish and his ilk are perverting their minds. Suffice it to say, we should expect much, much more from our teachers!