Liberal Arts: How Many More “Teachers” Like Jay Bennish?
Some might be quick to distance themselves from this news, while others will surely argue there’s nothing wrong with Jay Bennish and his remarks. But one thing is for certain: David Horowitz is absolutely correct that America needs to take a closer look at what’s going on in its classrooms. It’s political indoctrination under the guise of education, and liberal arts takes on a whole new meaning.
While this story is currently making some headlines, Bennish is not acting alone. There’s plenty of others like him. They just haven’t been exposed. Actually, some have, but not for the MSM to care about it. Enter the blogosphere.
Ben Johnson writes in FrontPageMag:
“A 16-year-old student’s recording of Jay Bennish’s virulent political screed during a 10th grade geography class held February 1 at Overland High School of Aurora, Colorado, demonstrated once again that the Left prefers to begin its indoctrination as early as possible.”
Geography class? Who’s teaching political science?
The student recording landed on Michelle Malkin’s blog yesterday. (As a consequence, who wants to bet that some “freedom-loving” liberal teachers are going to put a ban on recording devices in the classroom?) American Thinks observes, “The MP3 revolution is upon us.”
One snippet of the class, in which Bennish said President Bush’s most recent State of the Union Address “sounds a lot like the things that Adolf Hitler used to say,†has garnered media exposure. In the clip, Bennish claimed Bush told the world in his State of the Union Address:
America should be the country that dominates the world. That we have been blessed, essentially by God, to have the most civilized, most advanced, best system and that it is our duty as Americans to use the military to go out into the world and make the whole world like us. Sounds a lot like the things that Adolf Hitler use to say…it’s our job to conquer the world and make sure they live just like we want them to…there are some eerie similarities to the tones that they use. Very, very “ethnocentric.â€Â
Parents are rightly outraged, but this quotation hardly does justice to the 21-minute, 40-second rant — a rambling, full-throated shout denouncing Bush, Operation Iraqi Freedom, capitalism, the War on Drugs, the CIA, Israel, and the American flag. (Listen or download here. Read Michelle Malkin’s partial transcript here, additional excerpts here.)
Is there really any surprise? After all, most of our readers remember Ward Churchill.
Speaking of, Bennish has hired the same ACLU lawyer that served Churchill so well, keeping him a comfortable tenured job at taxpayers’ expense.
Johnson also notes:
Bennish actually begins the rant by suggesting Iranians would be justified in bombing North Carolina tobacco fields.Then he calls the United States “probably the single most violent nation on planet earth…And we’re a democracy, quote-unquote.â€Â
Yeah, man. Just don’t anybody bomb the crops in Humboldt county.* Just look at the guy. Didn’t see that one coming. He voted for Bill Clinton and he probably does inhale.
Geography or not, it doesn’t take a map to find the Bennish bias.
Read the whole thing.
UPDATE: (3/6)
Michelle Malkin: “Jay Bennish’s TV Debut”
UPDATE:
CHERRY CREEK SCHOOL DISTRICT OFFICIAL STATEMENT
ExposeTheLeft: Student Appears on Hannity & Colmes (VIDEO)
RELATED:
Bennish Banned (Temporarily)
See our archives for much more on liberal academia (Scroll down)
March 3rd, 2006 at 8:31 am
Colorado Teacher on Leave for Bush Comment
About 150 high school students walked out of class to protest a decision to put a teacher on leave w
March 3rd, 2006 at 10:07 am
Crazy Colorado Curriculum
Colorado is being taken over by liberals. There is no doubt about that. This red state put Ken Salazar in the Senate, allowed Dems to take over the State Senate and Congress, has targeted the Catholic Church as an enemy,…
March 3rd, 2006 at 10:35 am
I can’t help but laugh at the news that “150 high school students walked out of class to protest”. Yeah, right. Most kids really don’t care about politics at that age, but this is a bulletproof excuse to SKIP CLASS! Regardless of this guy’s politics, nearly everyone would jump at any chance to not sit through an hour long speech by this guy.
March 3rd, 2006 at 12:44 pm
I agree, parents need to alert for such things. I think increasingly in this society teachers in schools are prosthelyzing instead of teaching and the students have to bear the manifestations of these “adults’” frustrations and ineptitudes
March 3rd, 2006 at 4:09 pm
Here what the students and parents think about Mr. Bennish.
March 3rd, 2006 at 10:51 pm
Oh, Truly, Much Ado About Nothing.
So, a teacher in Colorado makes some political remarks, criticizes the administration and compares Bush to Hitler. And the right wing is all up in arms, foaming at the mouth, calling for Jay Bennish to be, what… executed?
Please, read what Malkin transcribed (thank you, dearie). What is Bennish guilty of? Speaking his mind? Teaching from the heart? Somewhere between 200 and 700 students walked out of class this morning… to protest the way Bennish has been pilaried! And, in an act that the MSM must be doing to please the right, the reporter goes on to say that more students “striked” in support of Sean Allen, the student that surreptitiously recorded the discussion, but doesn’t offer a headcount. Clever way of saying three students (Allen’s siblings, no doubt) showed up saying he did the right thing.
Have you seen Allen’s pictures? He looks like the kid that thought it was really clever to break the rules in a way the pits the students against the parents against the teacher against the principal against the district. Against Hanity and Colmes.
And you know what’s scary (don’t expect to hear this one on the Ruch show…)? The district is scared of the principals, who are scared of the teachers, who are scared of the parents, who are scared of the students. Know who the students are scared of? No one. Well, maybe Colmes.
Meanwhile, has any conservative thought about what if the tables were reversed? Let’s suppose that the teacher lectured on the evils of birth control, homosexuality and evolution. Would Rush be so froth-covered and demanding that the teacher be fired? Doubtful. The teacher would probably end up on the cover of The Weekly Standard. Maybe given a Presidential Medal of Honor. No wait, you only get those when you totally screw it up, so that metaphor doesn’t work here.
And the funny part is that the right seems genuinely upset about the comparison of Bush’s State of the Union speech and Hitler’s lunatic rants. Not that what Bush is saying doesn’t resemble Hitler; its the comparison that bothers them! This, after years of shouting about “feminazis” and “Hitlery Clinton” to name a few. Here’s more:
That’s a good one. A National Forest is evil. And one final comparison:
So, today’s lesson is that if you’re conservative, you can say anything you want, becuase that’s free speech! But if your liberal, you’d better watch what you say or that snot-nosed trouble maker will tell his dad on you, and then all hell will break loose.
If this were the classroom, I’d tell you all to sit down, be quiet and get back to your work.
March 3rd, 2006 at 10:55 pm
Think you could add a preview comment function so that coding errors wouldn’t show up live?
March 3rd, 2006 at 10:57 pm
Yeah, Stop Bush!, we’ll get right on it…
March 4th, 2006 at 11:20 pm
Oh, I-Pod, where is thy sting?
The sting of I-pod is rememb’rance,
And the strength of rememb’rance is the law.
March 5th, 2006 at 8:38 pm
Jay Bennish teacher ratings
We want you back Mr. Bennish.. when you give us a speech in the end you always tell us your opinion and that it is good we have the freedom of speech so what is all of this..?
Sometimes teachers forget their mission is OPEN-UP kids minds NOT to close them down. The arrogance of some teachers is to use thehir teaching post as a bully pulpit for their pro
Jay is a true American patriot exposing and standing up to tyranny wherever it exists in the world. I notice that none of his detractors challange the truth of what he is teaching.
It’s just sad when I, as a student, am more intelligent, logical, informed, and intellectually ingenuous than the teacher. His college must’ve had high standards to graduate him!
March 6th, 2006 at 12:11 pm
Bush speech similar to Hitler’s — The teacher said ethnocentric. (See video)
Bush state of the union january 31 2006
“The only way to protect our people, the only way to secure the peace, the only way to control our destiny is by our leadership — so the United States of America will continue to lead.”
America may be a great country - but we are not the only country, in order to lead people must follow. Most countries wouldn’t follow this president anywhere let alone into the future. It is total arrogance to be shouting hurray for our country when we are in an ugly disputed protested war; and that is globally, not just here in the US. Maybe you all missed the 100,000 protesters in india for the presidents visit. maybe you missed every protest in every country. These are the people that he wants america to lead. How would you lead those that HATE you? How far would they truly follow? SO Bush states that we can’t become a country of isolationists … REALLY either we must join the global community or we must lead it. He chose the word lead- but who will follow? you, me, venezuela, Afghanistan, pakistan, india, iran, iraq, france, canada, mexico, china, korea ?? Maybe the global community doesn’t need those countries anyway. But what will happen to those who refuse to follow.
Before anyone labels me an “america hater” know this: I don’t hate america, I hate you. I hate your president. I pity your children and pray that they will all be influenced one day by a teacher, minister, friend, or spouse. Someone needs to tell them that saying that we will lead is altogether different than actually feeding the hungry, protecting the weak and reducing the need for oil. Talk is cheap - action talks and bullshit walks. Bush will be remembered for all his bullshit.
Eve
March 6th, 2006 at 8:55 pm
Moonbat Teacher to Speak Out
This moonbat humanist has had nearly a week to prepare his excuses for his pathetic, fear-based rant. It should be entertaining nonetheless.
March 7th, 2006 at 6:36 pm
Jay Bennish cannot even stand on his own words and just by listening to his tape. He overstepped the boundries of a teacher, as he has put his on personal views on the line. Jay is a total idiot and should be fired for his remarks.
March 9th, 2006 at 7:23 am
[...] RELATED: Liberal Arts: How Many More “Teachers†Like Jay Bennish? [...]
March 9th, 2006 at 12:35 pm
As an Australian teacher in the middle years for 30 years I am writing as an outside observer to the current debate about the teaching style of Jay Bennish.
Surveys have shown that many adolescents believe that high school is boring and has no meaningful connection to their lives outside of school. Jay Bennish has forced his students to think and make a stand on an issue. The subject matter is debated in the press daily and he has only challenged students to think outside the box. By tackling current controversial issues he has asked students to question attitudes, values and beliefs that are too often accepted as the status quo.
Matthew Lipman, an advocate for promoting student thinking, states, “…children hunger for meaning, and get turned off by education when it ceases to be meaningful to them.â€Â
I believe the students of Jay Bennish have been offered a chance to listen and think about challenging and changing viewpoints within a safe environment. The students at Overland High School who went on strike feel strongly about the rights of their teacher and any democratic thinker can only applaud their stance. I feel that teachers like Jay Bennish effectively engage students by questioning reasons, posing alternative views, promote meaningful classroom dialogue, stimulate curiosity and strengthen student capacity to appraise and respond to values. Some schools encourage students to be uncritical consumers of information. Some parents impose their own ideas and values without question. I would rather develop students who can think for themselves. I feel that Jay Bennish was trying to make his students think- no matter how political the subject matter. The same issues are being debated by thinking adults around the globe. Don’t our children deserve teachers who make them think? Or do we stifle discussion and get rid of the teacher?
I would prefer a teacher who engages students in current political debate…..
March 9th, 2006 at 6:14 pm
If conservatives want kids to learn from other conservatives perhaps a few of them should go into teaching. Oops, I forgot, no profit to be made there.
March 10th, 2006 at 8:45 pm
Jay Bennish - “American Patriot” Reinstated
Jay Bennish has been reinstated in his job as geography teacher at his school in Colorado. According to the news he has promised to give all sides of an issue in future classes. I wrote a post about Bennish last week that stirred up a discussion …..
March 11th, 2006 at 1:36 pm
Jay Bennish: Flower Child or Neo-Nazi?
Once upon a time there was a little boy who grew up to be sooooooo smart he could teach geography to 15 year olds. His mama and daddy were very, very proud of their baby boy. He was pretty and smart and had a nice hair-do.
March 14th, 2006 at 7:45 pm
[...] For more information on this story, check out the following: Michelle Malkin , Cox and Forkum (Re: Substituting the 3T’s for the 3 R’s in education), Stop The ACLU, Big Dog’s Weblog, Conservative Thinking, The Nose On Your Face, Scrappleface, California Conservative. [...]
April 12th, 2006 at 12:25 pm
[...] RELATED: Behind The Veneer Of Public Education The “Transgeneration” Liberal Arts: How Many More “Teachers” Like Jay Bennish? [...]
July 11th, 2006 at 11:15 am
[...] RELATED: Deb Frisch: Liberal, Professor, Moonbat Liberal Arts: How Many More “Teachers” Like Jay Bennish? The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America [...]
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