Pubdate: Tue, 14 Mar 2006
Source: Montrose Daily Press (CO)
Copyright: 2006 Montrose Daily Press
Contact: 
http://www.montrosepress.com/shared-content/perform/?domain_name=montrosepress.com&form_template=letters
Website: http://www.montrosepress.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4108
Author: Kent Green, Daily Press Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

TEACHERS MUST BE CAREFUL WITH CONTROVERSIAL CLASSROOM SUBJECTS

Teaching Some Subjects Means Treading Into Dangerous Paths.

This has been illustrated in Colorado over the past month, when Jay
Bennish, a high school teacher in the Cherry Creek School District,
had a lecture recorded by a student in which Bennish harshly
criticized President Bush, comparing him to Adolf Hitler. The
recording was disseminated to radio shows, and Bennish was suspended;
he resumed teaching Monday.

Here in Montrose, teachers must also be sure to not cross any lines
while exploring touchy subjects to a reasonable extent.

Montrose High School social studies teacher Martin Maloney said he
often has to deal with controversial subjects in his course, and he
tries to strike a careful balance when doing so.

One of Bennish's claims was his statements came from playing the role
of "devil's advocate." Maloney said this could be a "valuable learning
tool for kids" but that one shouldn't go too far.

"When you do that devil's advocate kind of thing, you certainly have
to be able to touch on both sides of the topic, and I think that's
maybe the most important part of this whole issue, is being fair to
both sides," Maloney said. "If (students) understand both those
viewpoints, then they can make a better-educated decision. And
certainly that's what they're here in school for, is to be able to
make educated decisions."

Maloney's world geography classes Friday afternoon focused on aspects
of the Colombian drug trade and whether the cost of the drug war
outweigh the benefits. For example, the discussion might entail
whether the money spent on stopping drug trade might be better spent
on programs curtailing demand and desire for drugs.

In these sort of discussions, Maloney said his personal opinion rarely
comes into things, but when it's relevant he said he doesn't hide it.

"My belief is you can't keep your beliefs under wraps, and so my
policy is I'm going to say, 'my belief is this, but --' and then I'm
going to try to give as much information about the opposing viewpoints
as I can because it's not fair and it's not ethical to have an agenda
up here as a teacher."

Marci Jenson, a senior in Maloney's class, said she prefers his
method. Jenson, 18, said teachers have an obligation to present both
sides. She said most teachers she's had do present information
objectively, and when they don't, students can sometimes turn the
debate against them.

"I think that a teacher needs to understand when they sign up to be a
teacher in the first place, they are sort of waiving their right of
speech They're not going to be able to express their opinion
wholeheartedly," Jenson said.

"They can tell us what their opinion is just as long that they make
sure we know it's not a fact -- and that they make sure they ask for
our opinions as well."

The district has a policy on teaching controversial subjects that was
set in 1995. It states that addressing these issues is essential to
further students' education but that teachers must remain objective,
and while teachers may express their viewpoints, they must not try to
indoctrinate students.

These policies are usually predicated by a state statute or a measure
passed by the Colorado Association of School Boards, said Montrose
County School District Re-1J board President Nancy Fishering.

Board and district officials constantly monitor other districts to
make sure local policies are in line with what's happening around the
state.

"We've looked at it several times recently, not because there's been a
problem in Montrose, but when we read somebody else is having
problems, we revisit our policy and say this looks like it would still
serve us well," she said. "We try to be proactive using our policy to
make sure we keep them current with events we hear happening around
us."

Maloney said he agreed with the district's policy, that it basically
reflects what he tries to practice.

"Part of our job is to allow kids to be able to make good decisions,
and you can't expect that to happen if you don't let them practice
that," he said.

Of course, there are some subjects that can be too touchy for Maloney
to mention in his classes. He stays away from both abortion and
religion. Religion can be discussed in a sense of general belief
systems, but not as far as value or right versus wrong.

Heated debates can be valuable, he said. They allow students to get
past the academic nature of things and really explore how they feel.

"It certainly can have some positive impact, I believe," he said.
"'Cause you get that emotion, then it tells you that kids care about
this topic, so you've done your job right there as far as getting them
to really embrace the subject. If you can do that, then the rest is a
piece of cake."
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