Milpitas (CA) teacher screens anti-abortion clips in 8th-grade class

[theHandpuppet]

http://origin.mercurynews.com/healthandscience/ci_82479...

Milpitas teacher screens anti-abortion clips in 8th-grade class
EIGHTH-GRADERS' PARENTS OUTRAGED; TEACHER ON LEAVE
By Sharon Noguchi
Mercury News
Article Launched: 02/13/2008 02:05:27 AM PST

A Milpitas science teacher has been placed on leave after showing parts of the graphic anti-abortion film "The Silent Scream" to five eighth-grade classes.

On Jan. 23, after students at Russell Middle School finished a chemistry test on acids and bases, first-year teacher Randy Yang showed clips from the controversial film, which depicts an 11-week-old fetus being dismembered during an abortion.

<snipping>

When some students asked why they had to watch, Xhynah said, the teacher told them to avert their eyes if they didn't want to see it.

<snipping>

The video narration begins, "Now we can discern the chilling silent scream on the face of this child who is facing imminent extinction."
The Web site is hosted by the Several Sources Foundation, a Christian anti-abortion group that provides counseling and information for pregnant girls and women....

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[peacebird]

1. Why placed on leave instead of fired outright?

[theHandpuppet]

2. Yeah, that's what I'm wondering, too

His ass should have been FIRED!!!!!

[Howardx]

9. union rules

im betting

[Warpy]

14. Right, that film has been debunked on so many levels

and yet this fetus fetishist male felt compelled to show it to little girls without their parents' permission or knowledge.

His ass should have been fired on the spot. I have a sneaking suspicion enough outraged parents will be threatening to pull their kids out of that school that his ass might be fired, yet.

He needs to stay away from children.

[muddrunner17]

3. I would be outraged if I were a parent.

There are things that should not and are not dealt with in schools. Abortion and gay marriage are two of them. Every new teacher knows, or ought to know, that it's in their best interest to stay away from controversial topics. True teachers share the skills to get students to think independently and come to their own conclusions on moral issues. Perhaps he should be teaching Sunday school in a neo-con church that would welcome his opinions, or continue to teach science in a "faith based school." He's a science teacher though, right? I hope he doesn't like teaching biology too.

[HockeyMom]

5. Does he each creationism too?

The students should have walked out when he showed that video. I know when my daughter was in HS they kids in her class walked out when the teacher tried to make them stand for a moment of silence.

I can just imagine what their reaction, and their parents, would have been to something like this.

[noamnety]

8. They can deal with those topics but not in this way

I don't think we're doing our kids any favors by not discussing difficult topics in school - life is filled with controversial topics, and teaching them to think critically about them is part of our job as teachers.

However, it doesn't sound from the article like that was done in a critical way. A better way to approach the issue would be to have a debate between students, so that they can research both positions on an issue, and the people presenting the viewpoints are equals, not a person in an authority position.

[muddrunner17]

10. That is exactly correct

except that according to the article, he was teaching chemistry. Where does abortion fit into chemistry? If it were social studies, and was presented in a balanced manner to allow students to think critically about it, then it would be different altogether.

[theHandpuppet]

11. Not only that...

No rational discourse on the subject of abortion would include "The Silent Scream".

The choice these kids had -- in a SCIENCE CLASS -- was to watch either a film on the water cycle or one on abortion. It was a total setup. This had nothing to do with any reasoned lesson plan on reproduction or sexuality, but a chemistry teacher forcing a bunch of 8th graders to watch some anti-choice propaganda film.

[niyad]

13. welcome to DU

the problem is, CHOICE is not a subject of discussion in many of our schools. in one of the local districts here, planned parenthood is no longer permitted to give reproductive health lectures, but the anti-choicers and abstinence only, religion-based people are--and I am talking PUBLIC schools.

[PinkTiger]

4. I disagree.

First, I want to see the context. Was it shown for propaganda reasons, or was it shown as an example of a certain type of film? I think the problem with public schools today is, we have dumbed them down by trying to remove all controversial elements. You CAN'T remove all controversial elements without making it bland and dull.

So, if the teacher was showing students this film in the literature context, I do not think it should be an issue.
However, I do agree that students should not be preached to in class.

[theHandpuppet]

7. It was a SCIENCE CLASS

"After they completed a test, students said Yang gave them a choice of watching a film on the water cycle or on abortion..."

Showing "The Silent Scream" to an 8th grade classroom as an example of literature? Get real.

[Warpy]

15. I'm betting he didn't explain how many times life size

the images were or that neural development that would allow a fetus to feel and interpret pain didn't take place until the last month of gestation.

That would have interfered with the propaganda.

That bastard needs to be kept away from kids.

[Vogon_Glory]

6. If, On The Other Hand, She'd Showed A Pro-Choice Video

In these times I suspect that if another science teacher had showed a pro-choice video or displayed graphic photos of dead women who died from self-induced or illegal abortions, that teacher would have been fired outright.

[niyad]

12. let's see--planned parenthood is no longer allowed to give reproductive health lessons

in some school districts, but THIS kind of crap is allowed?


methinks the whole school board needs replacing. don't forget, California is the home of the so-called "stealth campaigns" to get anti-choicers and other right-wing idiots running the school boards.