Dec. 8, 2016 "Teacher fired for having the wrong opinion": Today I found this article by Christie Blatchford in the Edmonton Journal:
A teacher at a posh private school in British Columbia was fired last month after making an innocuous comment about abortion to his Grade 12 law class.
Though there is no way of knowing, since discipline matters are shrouded in secrecy, it may be the first time a Canadian teacher has been fired not amid allegations of impropriety, but for having the wrong opinion.
Certainly, Lori Foote, a spokesperson for the 60,000-member-strong Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation, said Wednesday that no one at the association is “aware of anyone being fired” in Ontario in comparable circumstances.
The 44-year-old teacher, who has asked that he not be identified to protect what’s left of his career, was teaching “the criminal law unit, a lesson on vice, ethics, morality and the law” to his small class in the Vancouver-area school in late November.
“I was working my way through examples of how some people’s sense of personal ethics was more liberal than the letter of the law,” he said in an email.
For example, he told them, many people might roll through a stop sign on a deserted country road, deeming it morally acceptable, even if unlawful.
In other words, he said, in a pluralistic democracy, there’s often “a difference between people’s private morality and the law.
“I find abortion to be wrong,” he said, as another illustration of this gap, “but the law is often different from our personal opinions.”
That was it, the teacher said. “It was just a quick exemplar, nothing more. And we moved on.”
A little later, the class had a five-minute break, and when it resumed, several students didn’t return, among them a popular young woman who had gone to an administrator to complain that what the teacher said had “triggered” her such that she felt “unsafe” and that, in any case, he had no right to an opinion on the subject of abortion because he was a man.
The school, for the record, is a witheringly progressive one.
Before classes even started last fall, teachers underwent serious “gender training” given by QMUNITY, an organization for LGBTQQ2S (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, questioning and two-spirit) people.
Teachers were told in no uncertain terms, for instance, that “no one is 100-per-cent male or female” and that everyone is somewhere on the “gender spectrum.”
Unsurprisingly, students at the school, where $30,000-a-year tuition buys small classes, regularly say “I’m so triggered” and are allowed to walk out of class.
What happened to the teacher over the ensuing few days sounds like something out of the Cultural Revolution in Mao’s China, where people were subjected to what were known as ideological struggle sessions, forced to “confess” to various imagined sins before large crowds, and roundly denounced.
Immediately after the student complained to the administrator, the teenager came, with a teacher at her side as support, to confront him in a public area of the school.
She pressed for an apology, but the teacher resisted, because, he said, it would set a dangerous precedent for a teacher to be reamed out in the presence of a colleague.
“When I didn’t show contrition,” he said, “I was summoned upstairs and grilled by two administrators who told me my job was on the line.”
Now panicking — he has a family to support and had just recently returned to teaching after several years in business with a relative — he apologized profusely and promised to apologize the next day to the offended student.
Instead, the school had an administrator take over the class for a day, whereupon, he was told, they would all discuss what went wrong in his absence. He would be invited back to “hear the grievances and offer an apology. It was clear I must do this successfully or I would be terminated.”
He repeatedly asked what he’d done wrong or if there was an allegation of misconduct.
“The answer I got back was that I was recognized as an outstanding teacher, but student ‘safety’ was the school’s primary concern.”
With the discussion now scheduled for the following day, the teacher, near to melting down with apprehension and disbelief, went to a walk-in clinic and asked for tranquillizers.
The discussion was postponed another day, and after “white-knuckling” it through his other classes, it came time for the law class.
It was exactly the horror show he’d imagined: His boss sat among a crowd of students, ran through a list of what had gone wrong and “what I needed to do to change.” While most students appeared to be on his side, the offended girl was still furious.
He apologized specifically to her, but then made what was apparently a fatal error: He said he liked her, that she was a bright and engaging student, and said he’d told her father just that at a recent parent-teacher night.
She stormed out of the class in tears, and he was again castigated by his superiors, this time for having been “too personal” in his apologia.
On Nov. 30, he showed up at the school, was retrieved by an administrator and taken to the “head” of school, the private school equivalent of a principal.
He was told he “could no longer continue in the classroom,” and was offered a short-term medical disability top-up for employment insurance.
He was then escorted down the hall and off the premises.
“Such is the cost of a small misstep in a crushingly politically correct world,” he said sorrowfully.
Postmedia is not identifying the school at the teacher’s request.
“They torched me,” he said, “but I’m reluctant to damage the brand … So many kids who would otherwise fall through the cracks … are valued and helped here,” he said.
So still a good teacher, then, after all that.
What is wrong with kids today? What is wrong with our educational establishments?
They are not educating our kids, they are creating a bunch of spoiled, slack-jawed, entitled little monsters!
Can't wait until these snowflakes enter the workforce and get a dose of reality. Can't wait for the day a parent comes to see me on behalf of their child because something happened to "trigger" them.
252
There are 630 comments right now.
|
This seems like the female student is too sensitive.
I know this is subjective.
Apr. 26, 2021 Social Studies 20: This reminds me when I took this in summer school. Mr. Copeland who is a white guy in his late 30s talked a bit about it. This was in 2002.
Mr. Copeland: Some people will say they're aborting a baby, but some will say that it's not a baby, it's a fetus.
Business Communication class: This was in 2014. I was in the Office Assistant program at MacEwan and I took this and a computer class. One of the assignments was to do a Power Point presentation on any topic that you want. The teacher has to approve of it first.
The teacher Matt is like a white guy in his late 30s or early 40s. He kept saying at like every class: "You can do any topic that you want, as long as it's not about abortions or anything controversial. No abortions, no abortions, and no abortions."
I'm not exaggerating, but he did say "No abortions" at every class.
I know he and probably the class does not want to deal with getting angry, depressed, and in a bad mood, and start yelling at each other when they disagree. He prevented a lot of drama, conflict, and tension.
The topics that people did were serious like the Ebola virus and bipolar disorder.
The topics were fun like: yoga, the benefits of pet ownership, and traveling on a cruise. The guy B who traveled on the cruise was a performer. A lot of students asked questions about that.
My presentation was about the Edmonton actor Eric Johnson. No one asked questions, except the teacher Matt of why I chose him. As a teen I wanted to be an actor, and Johnson was like an inspiration to me because he was from Edmonton and so was I.
You can talk about abortions with your friends and family, or write about on your blog. Does anyone remember this May 2019 post?:
Lena Dunham on abortions/ "Abortion at 35 weeks was not done for 'silly reasons'"/ Alabama abortion
music/ abortion/ job search
This is from Jul. 2009:
Abortion: Anyway that best man speech really "jumped the shark." That means a show has hit it's lowest point. That reminds me of Cheaters. There was this woman who found out her boyfriend was cheating on her and she yells at him: "I even got an abortion for you, I should have kept that f---ing baby."
I felt so sorry for her. She needs counselling. At that time I was like 19. At first I was kind of confused because why would you want to keep a baby by a guy who's a total scumbag? But then I realized that she didn't agree with a decision that he made. She wanted to keep her boyfriend, and she should have really gotten rid of him, and kept the baby.
I remember telling this to my friend Leslie back in 2004. We were at Wendy's and it was the end of summer. We were going to watch the Jet Li movie Hero afterwards. I thought Leslie was going to be agreeing with me and saying that it was sad. Instead it was different.
L: Well actually it's a good thing that she did get an abortion. If she kept the kid and raised it as her own, then she wouldn't even have enough money for her own retirement.
I told this to Ray awhile back.
R: Well it seems that this woman is not ready to have a baby because she put her boyfriend ahead of the baby.
Anyway, I hope people (women) who do watch this show will realize that even if you get an abortion to keep your boyfriend, your boyfriend may still cheat on you and leave you.
That also reminds me of another ep where this woman got pregnant and her boyfriend was cheating on her.
Woman: When I got pregnant, he was trying to convince me to get an abortion even though he knows I'm totally against that. If I find out he's cheating on me, I'm going to leave him. I'm going to be a single mom.
I felt this ep had also a really "jump the shark" moment because the boyfriend stabbed the host Joey Greco. Seriously, I saw it.
I felt so sorry for her. She needs counselling. At that time I was like 19. At first I was kind of confused because why would you want to keep a baby by a guy who's a total scumbag? But then I realized that she didn't agree with a decision that he made. She wanted to keep her boyfriend, and she should have really gotten rid of him, and kept the baby.
I remember telling this to my friend Leslie back in 2004. We were at Wendy's and it was the end of summer. We were going to watch the Jet Li movie Hero afterwards. I thought Leslie was going to be agreeing with me and saying that it was sad. Instead it was different.
L: Well actually it's a good thing that she did get an abortion. If she kept the kid and raised it as her own, then she wouldn't even have enough money for her own retirement.
I told this to Ray awhile back.
R: Well it seems that this woman is not ready to have a baby because she put her boyfriend ahead of the baby.
Anyway, I hope people (women) who do watch this show will realize that even if you get an abortion to keep your boyfriend, your boyfriend may still cheat on you and leave you.
That also reminds me of another ep where this woman got pregnant and her boyfriend was cheating on her.
Woman: When I got pregnant, he was trying to convince me to get an abortion even though he knows I'm totally against that. If I find out he's cheating on me, I'm going to leave him. I'm going to be a single mom.
I felt this ep had also a really "jump the shark" moment because the boyfriend stabbed the host Joey Greco. Seriously, I saw it.
This week there isn't a theme. The first blog post is a job and self-help article. The other is a job article.
"Workplace wallowing"/ "Grow for it"
"Benefits a hot topic as more older workers stay on the job"/ "Bracing for the boomer brain drain"
My week:
The chicken taco pizza tastes just like a taco with the chicken, cheese, and green peppers.
"Canada's economy grew at a 6.5% pace to start 2021, slightly faster than U.S. did":
Statistics Canada reported Friday that Canada's gross domestic product expanded by 0.4 per cent in February alone. That came on the heels of a larger 0.7 per cent spike in January. But coupled with preliminary data for March showing 0.9 per cent growth, that puts Canada on track for healthy growth for the quarter as a whole.
U.S. numbers out Thursday showed the American economy expanded by a bit less over the same time frame, at a 6.4 per cent expansionary pace.
"So, even with much more forceful restrictions, a slower vaccine roll-out, and without the help of the two mega U.S. stimulus packages at the start of the year, somehow the Canadian economy matched the U.S. step for step through the winter months," Bank of Montreal economist Doug Porter said of the numbers. "That is impressive."
Apr. 26, 2021"Staying 6 feet apart indoors isn't enough to stop the spread of COVID-19, MIT study finds": Today I found this article by Marianne Guenot on Yahoo news:
The widely used 6-foot rule is too little to stop COVID-9 exposure indoors, MIT researchers found.
The risk of exposure from an infected person is similar at 6 feet and 60 feet, one researcher said.
The study said mask-wearing, ventilation, and what a space is used for were bigger variables.
May 3, 2021 Bi-monthly meeting for Anxiety and Depression Meetup: I joined the group a long time ago and I never attended a meeting because it was on Sun. nights and I work at that time on my 1st restaurant job.
I haven't attended an in-person or online Meetup since Mar. 2020. I don't really feel lonely because I am an introvert. I send 3 weekly emails to my friends, I live with my immediate family, I go on Facebook, and I call my friends.
I keep busy with working, watching TV, and watching those self-development videos. If you go on my Facebook page, you will see all those videos.
I really should go and meet some new people. I attended the meeting and it was a positive experience. When I got on my microphone and audio wasn't working, and I picked a random name on chat to ask. The woman told me to click on the bottom of the screen.
Later she said she recognized from a another Meetup we attended 2 yrs ago. I then remembered her. This was 2hrs long.
May 5, 2021 ACP Zoom – CORE VALUES – An ACP “Foundation” Event: Today I attended this from 12pm. I ate my lunch as I watched. This was average. I have been listening to self-development videos since 2015. This was 1hr 45 min.
My Enneagram is a 5 and I'm all about information and knowledge. I learned a little bit today like:
How is a relationship successful? Shared interests or shared values?
Interests can change. Values mainly stay the same.
On the Meetup page:
In Lewis Carroll's timeless Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice seeks advice from the Cheshire Cat on where she should go next:
“The Cheshire Cat: Where are you going?
Alice: Which way should I go?
The Cheshire Cat: That depends on where you are going.
Alice: I don’t know.
The Cheshire Cat: Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.”
Why do I need to know my Core Values?
Values give us our sense of purpose. When we align with our values on a daily basis, we have more energy and feel more fulfilled because we are leading from what’s important to us. When we don’t align with our values, we feel less authentic and become demotivated about our daily lives.
Think of it as a tree: values are our roots that keep us grounded in what’s important to us. The strength of the values determines the strength of the trunk, branches, leaves and fruit from year to year.
Many people think that values are ethics or morals; they’re not. Values are what is important to us, what we ‘value’, and what gives us purpose. Most people have approximately 5-7 core values that identify who they are at their core. Each person’s values are unique to that person; even if two people happen to pick the same value word, such as integrity, each person will demonstrate it differently in their daily actions and language.
“If you don’t take control of your life, someone else will”.
Personal values offer a form of focus because it becomes clear to you what’s important to YOU and no-one else. Because let’s face it – if we don’t know what’s important to us, how can we live a meaningful life?
“The Cheshire Cat: Where are you going?
Alice: Which way should I go?
The Cheshire Cat: That depends on where you are going.
Alice: I don’t know.
The Cheshire Cat: Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.”
Why do I need to know my Core Values?
Values give us our sense of purpose. When we align with our values on a daily basis, we have more energy and feel more fulfilled because we are leading from what’s important to us. When we don’t align with our values, we feel less authentic and become demotivated about our daily lives.
Think of it as a tree: values are our roots that keep us grounded in what’s important to us. The strength of the values determines the strength of the trunk, branches, leaves and fruit from year to year.
Many people think that values are ethics or morals; they’re not. Values are what is important to us, what we ‘value’, and what gives us purpose. Most people have approximately 5-7 core values that identify who they are at their core. Each person’s values are unique to that person; even if two people happen to pick the same value word, such as integrity, each person will demonstrate it differently in their daily actions and language.
“If you don’t take control of your life, someone else will”.
Personal values offer a form of focus because it becomes clear to you what’s important to YOU and no-one else. Because let’s face it – if we don’t know what’s important to us, how can we live a meaningful life?
The process of discovering your personal values involves not just discovering what you’re passionate about but also finding out what’s really important to you.
“Never let the things that matter to you the most, be at the mercy of those that do not.”
But the truth is, most people coast through life without any kind of consideration for what is truly important to them. This means that unfortunately for many, life is something that ‘just happens’ to them.
“It's not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.” ~ Roy Disney
Developed by Bruce Dougherty & Dr. Gisèle Tennant
Hosted by Kaitlyn Dougherty
May 3, 2021 "Vax hunters: Two Edmonton women take Alberta's vaccine booking system into their own hands": Today I found this article by Dylan Short in the Edmonton Journal. I like to read about people helping people. About 2 months ago, my mom asked me book a vaccine shot for my grandma since she doesn't speak Eng. I did that.
My dad and mom drove her to get the shot.
May 6, 2021 Princess Theatre closed down: My brother P said there was a "For Lease" sign.
Funky Buddha: He said this restaurant that's by the Princess Theatre closed down last year.
No comments:
Post a Comment