Illinois Teacher Suspended Over "Gay Animal' Article

There's probably at least one parent

Repeatedly objecting or getting a group of parents to complain.

It would happen if they were seniors just as much as if they were freshmen.  

# Duty, duty -- honor is, is --
Honor, Creideiki -- alertly
# Shared, is -- Honor #

---

by: MileHighDawg @ Sun Nov 01, 2009 at 18:40:11 PM CST

OK, first of all

The teacher has a porn star's name.

There. I said it.

In a biology class, no, this wouldn't be too much. But an AP English class? Was this for test prep or something?

---

by: kevinchi @ Sun Nov 01, 2009 at 18:43:01 PM CST

Hahaha

I was thinking of that as I was typing this out.

The reason it was in an English class is that it was about persuasive speech, and it was showing how personal bias may affect work.

From what I have been able to tell, it was extra credit. They were looking for ways that the bias of a GLBT researcher were expressed in the article by the researcher. I think the article was a good choice for that. It has some clear biased statements.  

---

by: ojrocks @ Sun Nov 01, 2009 at 19:03:15 PM CST

[ Parent ]

OK, in that context

I have no problem with it.

---

by: kevinchi @ Sun Nov 01, 2009 at 19:43:13 PM CST

[ Parent ]

It actually works well in a math class

(concentrating on logical argument and fallacy) or whichever class in the curriculum is supposed to be teaching the kids critical thinking.  We covered logical fallacies in a math class, an English class (we were exposed to homosexuality in literature sophomore year honors curriculum--A Separate Peace, Lord of the Flies, and the Iliad).

# Duty, duty -- honor is, is --
Honor, Creideiki -- alertly
# Shared, is -- Honor #

---

by: MileHighDawg @ Sun Nov 01, 2009 at 21:08:00 PM CST

[ Parent ]

If you teach that process in math, though,

You're not just teaching, you're teaching a tenuous position -- that the whole process of translation between logic as a formal system and language and thought as something quite different can be done with no effective loss of meaning.

---

by: M @ Mon Nov 02, 2009 at 11:02:02 AM CST

[ Parent ]

A good article...

I am just wondering why it was being read in an English class as opposed to a biology class (and there are perfectly good reasons to read something like this in an English class).

---

by: kevinchi @ Sun Nov 01, 2009 at 18:46:21 PM CST

It missed out a bit:

Many primates, including bonobos, perform oral sex on one-another. As far as I know the only other animals that do this are dolphins, so it's probably an activity related to intelligence - i.e. you need to have a certain IQ to figure out that your mouth makes a great sex toy for your buddy.

That kinda shoots the idea that oral sex is unnatural out of the water.

____________________________________
Cuius testiculos habes, habeas cardia et cerebellum.

---

by: tavdy79 @ Mon Nov 02, 2009 at 04:58:09 AM CST

Have you ever...

LOOKED IN A DOLPHINS MOUTH???

Teeth...lots and lots of razor sharp teeth....

((((Shudder))))

Question:  What does an atheist do when they fall to the floor and start "speaking in tongues"?

Answer: Get a CAT scan.

---

by: Snooky Ookums @ Mon Nov 02, 2009 at 05:42:39 AM CST

[ Parent ]

I know.

But dolphins are physiologically very different from humans - different enough that they can "do it" the other way round: a dolphin's snout is just the right shape to stick into a buddy's cloaca (the cavity containing its genitals).

____________________________________
Cuius testiculos habes, habeas cardia et cerebellum.

---

by: tavdy79 @ Mon Nov 02, 2009 at 06:09:56 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Ewwww.

Please, I beg you, keep your snout out of my cloaca.

(Wakka Wakka)

Question:  What does an atheist do when they fall to the floor and start "speaking in tongues"?

Answer: Get a CAT scan.

---

by: Snooky Ookums @ Mon Nov 02, 2009 at 06:32:30 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Fruit Bats Do It

That's some talent!

http://www.livescience.com/ani...

Gives "Eat a Peach" a whole new meaning?

---

by: h0ipolloi @ Mon Nov 02, 2009 at 10:53:52 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Joan Roughgarden's work

was discussed in an article for Seed magazine which isn't too bad: http://seedmagazine.com/conten...

A few of the stories surrounding this make it explicit this was an optional assignment, in the first place, ad the choice of this particular subject was an optional one from among many others.

And, as noted, the particulars of the assignment were to take something and use it to argue passionately about something, with that argument then being used to show how personal biases affect one's arguments.

Without pointing to an individual or getting into a snit fight, this same thing is often seen here, at PHB, among the commenters -- and we are not at all the only case of such on the net by a long shot, lol.  The internet is rampant with such stuff.

So personally I find that the subject, and the teacher , deserve support on a grounds that extends far beyond anything to do with LGBT folks -- it has to do with having good conversations, and coming to possess an empathy for others even when their situation doesn't match your own or may even be somewhat offensive to you personally.

I happen to think that this is a great class to teach -- as the teacher is trying to teach students to think, to analyze, to learn from themselves and others as well as for themselves and about others.

So come this evening, I will hope he wins, and during the day, some time, I will contact that school board and let them know this straight gal supports him and his general goal, and opposes the objective of the singular parent who has filed  complaint based in their own bigotry, which appears to be to make sure all American citizens are uniformly uninformed.


http://www.dyssonance.com  Breaking all the rules...

---

by: dyssonance @ Mon Nov 02, 2009 at 05:56:23 AM CST

I was just about to post . . .

. . . that this seems to be about Dr. Joan Roughgarden's "Eviolutions Rainbow."  I would have no problem with this being assigned to 10th grade AP students, who are certainly old enough to handle the subject matter, in either biology or an AP English class with this particular assignment.

How are these kids supposed to learn about logic without being exposed to something like Roughgarden's amazing and masterful analysis of the internalized observer biases of the original researchers.

This should be required reading in biology classes.

---

by: Joann Prinzivalli @ Mon Nov 02, 2009 at 16:15:39 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Yeah it's pretty obvious

That the main objection is to the fact that students might be exposed to truth about outgroups the parents want them to hate. Books about non-white people or imperialism? Giant noise and uproar. Books about women and the things that affect them (abortion, rape, pregnancy)? Need to be banned post swift. Articles that point out homosexuality is in fact naturally occurring in the animal kingdom? Satanism, suspend the teacher immediately. Pointing out that people can be atheists and that some historical figures leaned that way? They probably just drag you out to be shot.

We really need to learn how to fight back against this so that children can get actual education instead of truncated education so the fundies' artifact children can be protected from the big bad world and all of its inconvenient facts.

---

by: Cerberus @ Mon Nov 02, 2009 at 09:16:24 AM CST

Explicit yes, prurient no

Students in Advanced Placement classes are supposed to be willing and able to process subject matter that is more complex and challenging.  The reason the article was part of an English class, as opposed to a biology class, was that it was meant to be part of a lesson on critical interpretation, specifically an examination of author bias in what was presented as an objective essay.  

Were the students informed that the author was a transgender woman?  Was that part of the exercise, to determine whether or not the author's personal bias was obvious in the article?  Or were the students just looking for bias in general?  I haven't read the article, but it sounds like a valid exercise.

My opinion is that students -- all students, not just advanced placement students -- need more education in the art of critical thinking and critical reading.  "Consider the source!" is always good advice.

Parents who try to shield their children from learning about the world (yes, fundamentalist homeschoolers, I am talking about you) are doing their children a disservice.  Sad.

---

by: h0ipolloi @ Mon Nov 02, 2009 at 11:13:58 AM CST

[ Parent ]

It was in the article

that the researcher was a transwoman.  

---

by: ojrocks @ Mon Nov 02, 2009 at 13:17:18 PM CST

[ Parent ]

It's not the article that the parents are objecting to

It's that a teacher actually expected an American schoolchild to think critically and do some work.

God save ornery old queens! - kevinchi

---

by: Keori @ Mon Nov 02, 2009 at 09:28:59 AM CST

In my AP Hist

We had to read an article about Puritans and sex.  And the next day the teacher asked if we didn't understand any terms and a guy behind me raises his hand and asks, "What is sodomy?" in complete seriousness.  We all lost it.

---

by: JBravoEcho09 @ Mon Nov 02, 2009 at 10:21:08 AM CST

Oh yeah

And I'm from a small town in IL as well.

---

by: JBravoEcho09 @ Mon Nov 02, 2009 at 10:21:42 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Sodomy. Fellatio. Cunnilingus. Pederasty.

Father, why do whose words seem so nasty?

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même merde.

---

by: TechBear @ Mon Nov 02, 2009 at 11:12:36 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Wow!!! 3 for 3!!!

This debunks the far rights oft expressed idea that homosexuality is not "natural". It also debunks the fact that homosexuality is a "choice" or a "lifestyle". Wow!!! That's 3 for 3. Keep it up Joan Roughgarden!!!

History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government.-- Thomas Jefferson

---

by: Mykelb @ Mon Nov 02, 2009 at 11:48:57 AM CST