mnodonnell

Hey kids, let's keep it clean. Your specious intellectual jabs at each other simply denigrate the discussion.

I'm interested to hear what the board thinks on these issues: 1. Should a teacher at a public school be restricted, in any manner, from straying from an approved curriculum? Are there any subjects (e.g. religion) that should be especially avoided or controlled? 2. If a student explicitly asks a question that concerns a restricted topic (as you have judged in question #1), how should the teacher respond?

Heh. Carry on, coward. 69804[/snapback] Bryan, be careful when you lump quotes together. I do not speak for Strife, and Strife does not speak for me. It strikes me as a cowardly maneuver.

I guess that means you do not understand. We'll carry on without you.

My words speak for themselves -- there is no need to re-interpret them. If I was a coward I would have posted under a pseudonym. My accusations are crystal clear. If you do not understand them by this point, it's time to bow out of the discussion. I am keeping it focused. This is not about you and I, or debating ability, or rhetoric, or Matthew LaClair. This is about the education of high school students and what is and is not appropriate to discuss in a classroom setting.

Paszkiewicz is the one that does not get the pass. The back-and-forth we were having was an endless stream of rhetoric between the two of us. I was re-focusing the discussion.

Paszkiewicz, speaking from a position of authority, inculcated lies to children. That is the bottom line, and you do not get a pass on that one. He was teaching accelerated U.S. History, so he knew he was violating the Establishment Clause of the Constitution. He placed his religious faith above the education of his students.

Yes. By offering his opinion in class, about a scriptural belief, he is advancing that belief. If my views differ from the ADL, so be it. I'm not their spokesperson. You should not hire pre-calculus teachers that do not understand conic sections and you should not hire history teachers that place dinosaurs on man-made boats. The discussion was not about the Bible -- it was about Jesus and salvation. Aside from discussing its existence and effects on history the Bible has no place in a history class. Events (save a few) in the Bible are not history. Paszkiewicz: “He did everything in his power to make sure that you could go to heaven, so much so that he took your sins on his own body, suffered your pains for you, and he’s saying, ‘Please, accept me, believe.’ If you reject that, you belong in hell.”I do not believe it is a wild logical leap to think that someone who is unsure of their personal religious beliefs would be uncomfortable hearing this in their classroom. I don't have the quotation, but the NYT article references a specific incident where he stated that a Muslim girl would go to hell. I italicized "potentially" because I am speculating on the specific girl's state of mind.

Would you consider my post to be infantile? Perhaps you'll be generous and grant me adolescence. The matter has nothing to do with any individual's speaking engagements. Did you have a point to make?

The belief that Jesus Christ is humankind's personal lord and savior, and the only path to eternal salvation. See John 3:16. Regarding science: placing dinosaurs (or anything, for that matter) on Noah's Ark. Injecting religious scripture into a public high school curriculum would be a violation of the Constitution's Establishment Clause. I think it's safe to say that Matthew LaClair as not comfortable in Mr. Paszkiewicz's classroom. Suggesting that Muslim's will go to hell for their beliefs could potentially make some Muslim students uncomfortable. Concerned rationalist.

I realize that this issue is old, and, as a result of the legal settlement, supposedly resolved. However, I am shocked that this man is still teaching in any public school setting. I am stunned that the town where I grew up and the high school where I was educated would allow this to happen. The logistics of the recording and the popularity of Mr. Paszkiewicz are irrelevant. Divorce yourself from the personal passions inherent to the case and consider that the teacher in question: - Abused a position of authority to advance his personal beliefs; - displayed incompetence for his position as evidenced by his teaching on science and ignorance of the U.S. Constitution; and - by virtue of his personal beliefs, made his students uncomfortable in their own ethics and mortality. This is grounds for immediate dismissal of Mr. Paszkiewicz. Further, the Board of Education's mishandling of the matter should call their own positions into question. I am not some liberal outsider swooping in to offer a tongue-lashing to the residents of Kearny. I am a concerned alumnus of Kearny High School that realizes, had the events taken place 12 years earlier, I could have been caught in this crossfire. Sincerely, Michael O'Donnell KHS '95