To prove his high school social studies teacher was preaching instead of teaching, student Matthew LaClair taped him in class.
On Sept. 14 — the fourth day of class — (David) Paszkiewicz is on tape saying, “He (God) did everything in his power to make sure that you could go to heaven, so much so that he took your sin on his own body, suffered your pains for you and he’s saying, ‘Please accept me, believe me.’”He adds, according to the tapes: “If you reject that, you belong in hell. The outcome is your prerogative. But the way I see it, God himself sent his only son to die for David Paszkiewicz on that cross … And if you reject that, then it really is to hell with you.”
Paszkiewicz didn’t limit his religious observations to personal salvation, according to the tapes.
Paszkiewicz shot down the theories of evolution and the “Big Bang” in favor of creationism. He also told his class that dinosaurs were on Noah’s ark, LaClair said.
Students are mad at LaClair for turning in the teacher.
Via Debate Link and Joe Gandelman’s Moderate Voice.
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There are attachments to the most recent iPODs which all them to become voice recorders. It might be interesting to encourage kids who think that their teachers are particularly good to make a collection of class room performances by their teachers, and then have their parents submit those recordings to the School Boards for consideration.
School Districts might even become “progressive” and allow students to submit the recordings to the district directly to provide the Administration a “heads up” about teachers who might be underperforming.
Is this teacher at school or at church? I don’t see the need for any of that nonsense to be spouted in front of a room full of students.
Bravo to Matthew LaClair for having the guts to do what’s right! This is a public school, not a private Christian school, and the teacher, no matter how much a mob favorite, was clearly in the wrong.
And I see nothing improper about a student taping what is essentially a public performance by a teacher.
I also see nothing wrong with the student taping this sermon. There was a case last year here in Colorado where a student taped his teacher’s regular anti-Bush rants and gave them to a reporter. Same thing, really.
The sad thing is that so many teachers feel they have a license for indoctrination to their personal views, as some kind of perk that goes with the job. The correct description of such behavior, in my view, is “unprofessional”.
Exactly the same thing, and deserves exactly the same punishment as the anti-Bush tirades.
If the teacher was taking class time in a public school to say what was in the quotes, that teacher needs a different job.
It’s not the same thing as an argument against Bush. The teacher in New Jersey was preaching his religion, which is prohibited by the establishment clause within the First Amendment to the US Constitution. Quite beyond that (he said drolly), some might consider telling kids that they belong in hell rather rude.