By now, you've probably heard this story about the teacher in Ohio who burned crosses into the arms of students.
I tried looking for a story in which a teacher burned a "Darwin fish" into a student's arm. Didn't come up with anything.
Of course not all people who turn their backs on evidence and choose to take myth over science are burning crosses into arms. But isn't this a part of why teachers should check their superstitions at the door of the science classroom? I say "yes."
But this struck me:
Freshwater's friend Dave Daubenmire defended him. "With the exception of the cross-burning episode. ... I believe John Freshwater is teaching the values of the parents in the Mount Vernon school district," he told The Columbus Dispatch for a story published Friday.
Well, if ignore the inconvenient murder and cannibalism, I hear Jeffrey Dahmer was quiet and charismatic.
This creationist dogma is a mental shackle. In the dogma of this Freshwater fellow, it's OK to mark up students with crosses because everything is subjugated to his religious beliefs. And it's OK to lie about it, telling people that you were just marking an "X" into their arms.
Posted by James at June 22, 2008 10:58 AMI had NOT heard of this. I've been out of the loop all weekend.
Amazing - people had been complaining about this guy for years, but they couldn't get rid of him. He could probably have gotten away with teaching creationism for the rest of his life if he hadn't resorted to burning his students.
Not sure what he hopes to accomplish by saying it was an X rather than a cross. I think he might be missing the point.
Posted by: Julie at June 22, 2008 11:19 PM!!!
I don't care if he burned smiley faces into their skin or offered to personalize the branding with their initials--he maimed children in his charge, which makes him dangerous and definitely mentally disturbed if he saw nothing wrong with his actions.
The fact that he branded them with crosses makes him a religious nutball and adds to the overall insanity here.
Reading the story, it seems this guy has been a pain in the ass of the school district for over a decade. It's hard to fire someone without just cause, and I think this child-branding episode will do the trick. Pity it took him harming children to get him out of there.
He's lucky I don't have a kid in his class.
Posted by: Patti M. at June 23, 2008 10:37 AMWow! I had not heard this one. It seems odd that they had to vote to fire a guy who had intentionally burned multiple students.
The dogma is disturbing, but is a significantly lesser issue to me.
Posted by: briwei at June 23, 2008 3:17 PMMind boggling. Whether you share his creationist beliefs or not, intentionally burning students should be grounds for firing -- regardless of the symbolism.
Posted by: Judy at June 23, 2008 3:42 PMI don't think the symbolism had anything to do with his firing, but it clearly was linked to his thought processes. He felt the need to lie about it, which tells me that it was important to him that we do not correctly interpret his motivation.
Posted by: James at June 24, 2008 12:35 PMHmm. Let's see. He lied about branding children with crosses.
Lying is a sin.
He is a Christian.
Will he now spontaneously combust, and if so, how can I gain admission to the event?
Am I too hopeful?
Posted by: Patti M. at June 24, 2008 1:12 PM