Friday, March 07, 2003

The New York Times has an article today about how the war is being discussed in schools:

In Maine, for instance, Gov. John Baldacci, a Democrat, admonished teachers to maintain neutrality recently after the National Guard complained that teachers, in their classrooms, were calling the military "unethical."

Yes, we knew that -- it was reported in the Times and elsewhere.

In an Omaha district, students said in interviews that a teacher had been playing Rush Limbaugh tapes in class.

Oh, really? We didn't know that.

Your liberal media in action.

Now, I think it makes sense to have war talk in classrooms. And at the risk of sounding hokey, I'll add that I also think balance and mutual respect are necessary in these discussions.

Here's what some right-wingers think about the right to disagree with the president: A teacher in Colorado who wore a "Not My President, Not My War" button on her coat during a school field trip has had her name, e-mail address, and phone number published at Free Republic (scroll down to post #2), after a Colorado radio host revealed her name. Nice, huh?

I want to give the Freepers their due: In the discussion, some of them acknowledge feeling the same way about Clinton for eight years, and some of them think no political opinions should be expressed in classrooms on either side (or that pro-Bush students should respond by wearing buttons and T-shirts of their own). In other words, rather than licking their lips at the thought of harassing this teacher, they're looking for a fair single standard on this issue. But that doesn't excuse the posting of the number and e-mail address.

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