Award-winning Teacher files claim against L.A. Unified, blames controversy on joke

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

Source: LA Times



From his modest classroom at Hobart Boulevard Elementary School in Koreatown, Rafe Esquith became an education superstar. His teaching techniques brought him worldwide recognition, and his books became models for how to engage young students.

But for the last two months of school, Esquith was sidelined. The Los Angeles Unified School District launched an investigation in March into allegations of misconduct by the popular teacher.

(...)

In his first interview since he was pulled from his fifth-grade class, Esquith told The Times on Monday that controversy stemmed from a joke he made in the classroom.

He said he quipped with students that if he could not raise enough money for the annual Shakespearean play, they would all have to perform their parts naked like the king in Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."

After another teacher complained, he said he explained the context of the joke to his principal at Hobart Boulevard Elementary. The principal, he said, told him he had nothing to worry about. Nonetheless, Esquith was removed from the classroom in April.

Read more: http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-83845276/

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sigh - this is why we can't have nice things

[immoderate]

1. This guy is good. How can I tell?

By the attention of his students.

--imm

[yellowcanine]

2. That joke sounds entirely appropriate given the context.

It was a joke based on reading Mark Twain. It is only funny to the students because they have done the assignment. It teaches them that great literature can be fun. The "naked king" scene in "Huckleberry Finn" is hilarious.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

3. Now the word "naked" is somehow bad?

This Puritan leftover bullshit is BULLSHIT!

[7962]

4. Proving once again that everything is now offensive to somebody.

Like anyone would take that comment seriously. They're 5th graders, not 4 yr olds. They know a joke. If he was callng for violence it might be different

[Beowulf42]

5. Out of Right Field

So once again we get rid of an excellent, effective teacher because some idiot puritan next door can't stand the competition. Have teachers become the new "Salem Witches" of our society. The MSM and the politicians have bashed and demonized teachers for over half a century and the tree they have planted has been bearing toxic fruit for a long time. We all had better rethink this strategy because the fate of this nation rests on us maintaining a smart, creative, well-educated, and dedicated teacher cadre. If we don't the children of the rich will be the only ones with decent educations, which they will use to keep their fortunes.

[Hoppy]

6. His mistake was, he forgot to trigger-warn the kids and the offended teacher who reported him.

[jtuck004]

7. His mistake was trying to do better in a country which is getting precisely what it deserves. n/t

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

8. We need more people like this

final line of the article:

"I have had many friends say, 'You know what Rafe: Enough is enough. Get off the cross, go into the private sector and make a lot of money,'" Esquith said. "It's tempting, but you haven't seen the damage done to my classroom. You haven't seen the mail that I've gotten from these kids. I have to go back to heal them."

[NaturalHigh]

9. "this is why we can't have nice things"

Yes, there's a wide streak of Puritanism in this country that might well last as long as the human species.