My wench English teacher

[Wiccan Clarinet]

Okay. So I go to a public school and I am in English 20-1AP (Advanced placement, smart English). My teacher, this year, decided on very controvercial material for class this. One of the novel studies was a story told from the point of view of a dead girl from heaven, and the class discussion topics all dealt with religon (Lucky by Alice Seabold). Another one was solely based on religion. The whole freakin novel. And again, all the discussion topics were based on religion (Life of Pi by Yann Martel). We then read a play about a boy who was kidnapped, beaten and left for dead on a fence all becuase he was gay. This time the discussion topics all dealt with homosexuality and, again, religion (The Laramie Project by Moises Kauffmann). Now, I am deffinately not religious, so I was very uncomfortable in all of these topics, and I am bisexual, so they gay topic really bugged me as I am only half out of the closet (only my closes friends know).

Questions, comments, concerns, advice, thoughts etc.?  

[Lash Vereaux]

I'm not your friend at all and now I know so you can no longer say that. Now that you've announced it over the internet everyone can find out anyway, so say it loud and proud. Give your opinons if they are giving theirs. Maybe you'll knock afew off the stupid track.  

[Bowmore]

Sounds subversive and disgusting. That teacher shouldn't be teaching, she should not be in a public school, she should be on a street corner, preaching to people who pretend she isn't there.  

[Wiccan Clarinet]

Yeah I guess you do know...but I only know you though the internet, so I really don't care what you or the other internet think about me, so I have no problem telling you guys that I am bi. People at school, however, I have to live with all day everyday, do I'm not as willing to tell them. And I sort of interjected my two cents....until the gay topic came up. I was more than willing to speak my mind about religion, but when the gay topics came up I just kept my face shut, becasue there were a few people that made it quite clear that they were against homosexualitly and all it stands for.

And my teacher is a Christian, so she is obviously biased about the whole topic. It would not have been as bad if she held a neutral position on the topics, but she was quick to say that she is Christian and that her opinions are going to be formed based on her religion. Which pisses me off. You're right...she should be in the catholic school program, not public.  

[Muaethia]

Wiccan Clarinet

People at school, however, I have to live with all day everyday, do I'm not as willing to tell them.

Same here.

Meh, I stick up for gay rights anyway. All of my friends do, one who is a strict muslim, even the straight people. I guess I'm just lucky that I live in an area where religion is highly unpopular among young people, and a lot of my friends are out as gay or bi with little or no prejudice at all. So why aren't I? Because i'm still confused about it meself.
 

[Waffle Dem0n]

Wench is a noun, not an adjective.

Adjective is the type of sord she used it as, right? Oh well. It's a noun.

People have had the s**t beaten out of them, and a few years back someone got killed, for being gay in my old town, which I still live in. I just live there from a long way away.  

[EdenOfDreams]

If your teacher wants controversial then give her controversial. She shouldn't bring up topics like that if she isn't willing to see, hear, and discuss all possibilities and perspectives.

Be proud of who you are and what you believe. Most atheists are atheists because they have given thought to what they believe and what they want in life. So don't hesitate and don't be afraid to express your point of view. If your teacher has a problem raise hell. She's excluding you because of your religious views and that isn't fair or right in any public school system.

As far as being partly out of the closet well I'm straight (for the most part) but I am still adamant about gay rights. So you can be adamant and not be considered a homosexual.  

[caustic 0_0]

I could understand being upset if the teacher was telling you that you should be religious and was openly making the point that it would be wrong to think otherwise. There's nothing wrong with discussing it though. Good literature should give you a lot to discuss, agree with, and disagree with. There's nothing about it having a religious theme or bringing up homosexuality that inherently makes it bad or the teacher a wench. You have to bring up a topic in order to question it. There's no sense in shoving something under the rug because it's 'controversial.'
Clearing public school of mention of the topic of religion isn't going to help. But should the teacher essentially preach in class and present one opinion as the correct one? No.
I don't think that means though that you can never ever give an opinion even if you are a teacher.

I can't really say if I think she did anything wrong since I wasn't there and I don't know what all she said. :0  

[JadeDragonSoul]

You can, I'm sure, go to your guidance councelor and explain how you feel with the overload of religion topics. Religion isn't really supposed to be talk about in public schools anyway.  

[caustic 0_0]

JadeDragonSoul

You can, I'm sure, go to your guidance councelor and explain how you feel with the overload of religion topics. Religion isn't really supposed to be talk about in public schools anyway.

That's not correct at all. Like I said in my other post, why shouldn't it be talked about?
You can talk about it all you want and you even learn some about the world's main religions in classes. It's apart of history. It's tied in to current events. It's a main theme in literature.
The sense of the separation of church and state that applies is that you don't want a public school that really supports religions in the sense of some sort of favoritism but you want the topic to be discussed and students to still be able to practice their religion. A teacher can't say, for example, make the class pray or teach creationism as absolute truth in a science class.
What about religious studies majors in public universities? Should they, because of that discussion of religion, have to become private universities?
I need to research this as I'm not completely sure, but I do not think you are able in any state to be required to say or stand for the pledge either.  

[Wiccan Clarinet]

Waffle Dem0n

Wench is a noun, not an adjective.

Adjective is the type of sord she used it as, right? Oh well. It's a noun.

People have had the s**t beaten out of them, and a few years back someone got killed, for being gay in my old town, which I still live in. I just live there from a long way away.

Where do you live? Becuase we read The Laramie Project...meh. Yeah, that's the kinda junk that goes on, and why I was so pissed that she was using this kind of material!  

[Wiccan Clarinet]

c a u s t i c

I could understand being upset if the teacher was telling you that you should be religious and was openly making the point that it would be wrong to think otherwise. There's nothing wrong with discussing it though. Good literature should give you a lot to discuss, agree with, and disagree with. There's nothing about it having a religious theme or bringing up homosexuality that inherently makes it bad or the teacher a wench. You have to bring up a topic in order to question it. There's no sense in shoving something under the rug because it's 'controversial.'
Clearing public school of mention of the topic of religion isn't going to help. But should the teacher essentially preach in class and present one opinion as the correct one? No.
I don't think that means though that you can never ever give an opinion even if you are a teacher.

I can't really say if I think she did anything wrong since I wasn't there and I don't know what all she said. :0

I don't necessarily think she did anything wrong...I just don't think she should have done as much of it. I would have been fine with the first novel. I was more than willing to express my view to the point I am comfortable and leave it at that. I was just angry that she did it several times. And you're right, she did not come right out and say that I should be religious...I would have walked out of her class right then and there. She did, however, state very clearly that she is religious so ALL of her views are going to be biased. And I got a lot of ridicule from my classmates. As you can tell by my name, I am not an Atheist, but a Wiccan. I say that I am an Atheist because it is far easier to say that I believe in no God than attempt to explain my religion (I don't understand all of it myslef), but I got picked on alot when I did attempt to explain why I felt the way I do. And I was going to bring up the fact that I am bisexual, but then another student came right out and said that all gays shoud die (he go in crap for that one). So you are right, she did nothing wrong. I just wish she had done less and made it a more cofortable environment for people to share their views.

And this is a gooder...We were talking about what books we should read next year and somebody suggested The Da Vinci Code and she said she can't becuase it is too controversial of a topic. Go figure...