What’s a teacher’s rightful function?
When I was in school, it was to say things like, “Open your books to page 26.”
The best I can tell, there’s been a metamorphosis.
Teachers appear to be the contemporary caretakers of America’s kids, tasked with training them in righteousness.
Hence:
Virginia School District Tries to Deal With 'Secret Enemies List' of Parents Against Critical Race Theory https://t.co/kiE9Y8UFrE
— RedState (@RedState) March 23, 2021
Another case in point: a Utah teacher’s recent rhetoric.
A woman identified as Leah Kinyon is hitting headlines due to a video of her schooling a classroom.
Her choice of subjects shoots beyond the course’s scientific descriptor, but the clip begins with biology.
She informs her Lehi High School underlings the pandemic could “end in five seconds if people would get vaccinated.”
To hear her tell it, lack of vaccination enables variants:
“We’ll just keep getting variants over and over and over until people get vaccinated.”
As a side note, that science is evidently unsettled:
“Vaccination alone won’t stop the rise of new variants and in fact could push the evolution of strains that evade their protection, researchers warned Friday.”
— Luca Moore (@LucaAnaise) August 13, 2021
Continuing on COVID:
“This is my classroom. And if you guys are gonna put me at risk, you’re gonna hear about it. … I don’t have to be happy about the fact that there’s kids coming in here with their variants that could possibly get me or my family sick. That’s rude, and I’m not gonna pretend like it’s not. So don’t ask me to.”
The teacher also meditates on America’s former president:
“I hate Donald Trump. I’m gonna say it. I don’t care what y’all think. Trump sucks.”
Probably why:
“He is a sexual predator. He’s a literal moron.”
One student points out, “This is a chemistry class!”
“Go tattle on me to the freakin’ admins,” Leah challenges. “They don’t give a crap.”
A contrarian claims President Biden “is a pedophile.”
“No, he is not. Turn off the Fox News,” she replies.
The head of the class goes on to teach minds full of mush about their moms and dads.
And minding.
And I must say, I received instruction quite the opposite when I was in school:
“Most of [y’alls] parents are dumber than you. I’m gonna say that out loud. My parents are freaking dumb, okay? And the minute I figured that out, the world opens up. You don’t have to do everything your parents say. And you don’t have to believe everything your parents believe. Because, most likely, you’re smarter than them.”
From there, she goes on a bouncing tare:
“If you don’t believe in climate change, get the hell out. … That’s pathetic that you think that. You’re the problem with the world.”
And:
“If you’re a homophobe, get out. ‘Cause I am the [Gay Straight Alliance] faculty advisor. I love gay people.”
In terms of language, this is really different than my high school experience:
“All the LGBTQIA+ motherf*****s.”
“If you don’t like it, get out,” she orders anyone suffering from an irrational rainbow fear.
“If I hear you say a damn word against any of them, I will open a can. And I will make your life a living hell.”
But don’t assume her padawans can’t have opinions:
“You can believe what you want to believe, but keep it quiet in here. Because I’m probably going to make fun of y’all.”
According to Heavy.com, the video was first sent to Salt Lake City’s Fox13 by a mother, Judy Storms.
Her son, Zane, asserted such speeches are habitual for the instructor.
In the aftermath, Alpine School District issued a statement:
We became aware late this afternoon of an incident that took place today in one of our high school classrooms. An immediate investigation ensued. The employee has been put on administrative leave pending a thorough investigation. This behavior is inappropriate, not reflective of the professional conduct and decorum we expect of our teachers, and will not be tolerated.
It seems they did, in the end, “give a crap.”
However, a probe won’t likely be completed.
KTSU offers an update:
Following the investigation Wednesday morning, Alpine school officials announced Kinyon was no longer employed by the district.
I’m not sure if kids today can even imagine it: There was a time when school was largely academics and the dry delivery of facts.
School was about knowledge and the sharpening of skills, not sociopolitical issues or ideology.
It’s a different model these days.
But it isn’t so different, as it turns out, as it could be — and, as some might suggest, eventually, it will be.
-ALEX
See more pieces from me:
University Will Punish Unvaccinated Students by Cutting Their Internet Service
Don Jr. Calls Biden’s Afghanistan Fiasco the ‘Largest Hostage Situation in History’
Find all my RedState work here.
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