Vt. Teacher Accused of Anti - Bush Quiz

[cal04]

A high school teacher is facing questions from administrators after giving a vocabulary quiz that included digs at President Bush and the extreme right. Bret Chenkin, a social studies and English teacher at Mount Anthony Union High School, said he gave the quiz to his students several months ago. The quiz asked students to pick the proper words to complete sentences.

One example: ''I wish Bush would be (coherent, eschewed) for once during a speech, but there are theories that his everyday diction charms the below-average mind, hence insuring him Republican votes.'' ''Coherent'' is the right answer. Principal Sue Maguire said she hoped to speak to whomever complained about the quiz and any students who might be concerned. She said she also would talk with Chenkin. School Superintendent Wesley Knapp said he was taking the situation seriously.

''It's absolutely unacceptable,'' Knapp said. ''They (teachers) don't have a license to hold forth on a particular standpoint.'' Chenkin, 36, a teacher for seven years, said he isn't shy about sharing his liberal views with students as a way of prompting debate, but said the quizzes are being taken out of context.

''The kids know it's hyperbolic, so-to-speak,'' he said. ''They know it's tongue in cheek.'' But he said he would change his teaching methods if some are concerned. ''I'll put in both sides,'' he said. ''Especially if it's going to cause a lot of grief.'' The school is in Bennington, a community of about 16,500 in the southwest corner of the state.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Liberal-Quiz.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051125/ap_on_re_us/liberal_quiz_1

[merbex]

Gotta love Bennington - I have some pottery from there

[acmavm]

1. Teachers all across this nation have been glorified and rewarded for

supporting this goose stepping little facist bastard since 2000. Now the shoe is on the other foot.

Also, these people are probably pissed because they didn't understand these words. They're bush** supporters. They think misunderstand is good Englist.

[izzie]

2. Still it is pretty funny.

---

[Crankie Avalon]

3. To tell you the truth...

...I don't think he should have done it.

I certainly wouldn't want a teacher with rightward leanings sneaking in digs while I'm trying to learn in his vocabulary class, so I don't see why leftward ones are necessary, either. If he wants to talk politics with students after class, fine, but otherwise this seems out of place and unnecessarily disruptive to the learning environment.

[FredScuttle]

4. agree

We would have been screaming bloody murder if some right-leaning teacher included some digs at Clinton in his coursework. Politics should stay out of the classroom.

[skipos]

10. Agree.

[bammertheblue]

12. yeah...

as funny as it is, I don't think it's really appropriate in the form it took here. Talking about politics in civics or government class is great (it's the point of the class, after all). But talking about politics or taking "digs" at specific politicians in a grammar lesson is just asking for trouble.

[immoderate]

13. Yes. It was Inarfully done.

--IMM

[MsKandice01]

5. I ony have one problem with this...

''I wish Bush would be (coherent, eschewed) for once during a speech, but there are theories that his everyday diction charms the below-average mind, hence insuring him Republican votes.''

That should be ensuring, right?

[Demit]

7. Both are correct. Insure is a variant of ensure.

Though I'm with you, I've always preferred ensure.

[BOSSHOG]

6. "Charms the below average mind"

The key to bush being an idiot. Give that teacher a raise. To be fair and balanced he could add a sentence:

Bill Clinton's intellect is (far superior, much more superior) to that of the current president.

Intellectual curiosity (escapes, eludes) the current president.

[TahitiNut]

8. When I was in grade school, and teachers gave such quizzes ...

... they 'lifted' the sentences from newspapers and magazines. I hope Chenkin did the same - and can shove the newpaper/magazine down the school administration's throat.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

9. Another problem

"Principal Sue Maguire said she hoped to speak to whomever complained about the quiz and any students who might be concerned."

It should be "whoever," not "whomever." "Whoever" is the subject of the noun clause "{whoever} complained about the quiz." The noun clause is the object of the preposition "to."

Reference, chosen at random from a whole bunch of similar books: Holt Handbook, third edition, 1992.

The teacher's quiz was inappropriate.

[NYC Liberal]

11. As much as WE might like it, it was inappropriate and wrong to do it.

[MercutioATC]

14. Absolutely.

If we're against political/religious indoctrination in schools we have to be consistent.

This was a bad idea.

[edbermac]

15. True or False? George Bush can't even open a fucking door.

:sarcasm: