Teachers and the 1st Amendment

FOXNews is reporting about a teacher who wore an anti-Bush pin on class fieldtrip. The crux of the article is that the pin upset the parents and that there is now a debate about teachers and the First Amendment, especially in light of the situation in Maine with teachers harrassing some of the students who have parents in the National Guard.

Here's my point of view on all this. The teacher has the right to be anti-war, wear anti-war materials, to express their anti-war feelings to their students and there should be no repercussions, no matter how disagreeable the parents are to the views. Those are the teacher's views and the parents have no right to infringe on the teacher's right to have those views. Men (and women) have fought and died for that teacher's right to piss everyone off. Now if the teacher is harrassing a child because their father is in the military, that's a different story. Singling a child out for unfair treatment is counter to the principle of an equal education for all. A child that has been singled out will likely suffer harrassment by other children and is more apt to suffer longer term learning problems because of the teachers actions. A teacher harrassing a student is violating the student's right to an equal education and that is why a teacher should be punished for it, but not for espousing a general political view.

Now this does not address the appropriateness of the teacher being vocal in their views. As part of a discussion of social studies or current events, a teacher should almost be obligated to disclose their viewpointso that the students don't become confused between fact and opinion. For a teacher to sit and lecture the kids on their viewpoints, without any context for the lesson, is very inappropriate, but still legal. The wearing of a pin, is borderline. The teacher should have a discussion about why they are wearing the pin, but they should not be disciplined for wearing it.

The parent involved in this story seems to have overreacted. If her father and grandfather were in the military, she would understand the idea "I disagree with what you say, but I'll fight to death for your right to say it."