An Advertisement For School Vouchers?

[Jimbo]

[b]I think so.[/b]
http://nypost.com/news/worldnews/40259.htm

February 21, 2005 -- [b]An American soldier overseas is fuming over letters he received from Brooklyn middle-school children accusing GIs of destroying mosques and killing civilians in Iraq.[/b]
Pfc. Rob Jacobs of New Jersey said he was initially ecstatic to get a package of letters from sixth-graders at JHS 51 in Park Slope last month at his base 10 miles from the North Korea border.
That changed when he opened the envelope and found missives strewn with politically charged rhetoric, vicious accusations and demoralizing predictions that only a handful of soldiers would leave the Iraq war alive.
"It's hard enough for soldiers to deal with being away from their families, they don't need to be getting letters like this," Jacobs, 20, said in a phone interview from his base at Camp Casey.
"If they don't have anything nice to say, they might as well not say anything at all."
One Muslim boy wrote: "Even thoe [sic] you are risking your life for our country, have you seen how many civilians you or some other soldier killed?"
His letter, which was stamped with a smiley face, went on: "I know your [sic] trying to save our country and kill the terrorists but you are also destroying holy places like Mosques."
Most of the 21 letters Jacobs provided to The Post mentioned some support for the armed forces, if not the Iraq war, and thanked him for his service. But nine of the students made clear their distaste for the president or the war.
[b]The letters were written as a social-studies assignment.[/b]
The JHS 51 teacher, Alex Kunhardt, did not return phone calls, but the school principal, Xavier Costello, responded with a statement:
"While we would never censor anything that our children write, we sincerely apologize for forwarding letters that were in any way inappropriate to Pfc. Jacobs. This assignment was not intended to be insensitive, but to be supportive of the men and women in service to our nation."

[enzfan]

sounds like another case of teachers pushing their on polictical/social/religous agendas or beliefs on the students they teach.

[eight6]

[quote][i]Originally posted by enzfan[/i]
<br>sounds like another case of teachers pushing their on polictical/social/religous agendas or b

[Jimbo]

Considering that this was a school project, and many of the letters say similar things, and the teacher reviewed the letters before they were sent out (as reported on TV), I would say this was likely the result of the teacher's coaching.

I guess that c

[phillyidol]

If my kid had to do that "project", I would be calling my lawyer. The teacher should be fired! I know in my kids school(private) the teachers are watched. Everything they do is checked. I am thankful! What a sick teacher! Also, don't they go through the m

[middlesexnj]

That's really horrible. I do not support the war AT ALL, but sending such comments to soldiers is ridiculous, as if they have any choice in the administration's or military's agenda. A lot (if not most) of the soldiers don't even want to be there. Such le

[Jimbo]

[b]middlesex:[/b]
Don't you think that sending even those types of letters to the administration or congress or whomever still smacks of teacher lead indoctrination, especially when done as a class project?

What if they had sent those types of letters

[SwampThing]

Jimbo,

I'm in agreement on this one. I've supported voucher initatives for years. This teacher had a serious lack of judgement. My question would be was the teacher pushing a political agenda or was he one of those artsy fartsy types who don't believ

[Jimbo]

[b]SwampThing:[/b]
In a way, I agree. I would be far more tolerant if the teacher was just a knucklehead and not pursuing an agenda.

[eight6]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Jimbo[/i]
<br>[b]SwampThing:[/b]
In a way, I agree. I would be far more tolerant if the teacher was just a

[middlesexnj]

Jimbo, I neither endorsed nor condemned the content of the letters; I only said there was no reason to send it to the soldiers.

Obviously teachers in public schools should not be influencing students one way or the other. But this should apply both wa

[Jimbo]

[quote][i]Originally posted by middlesexnj[/i]
The "support our troops" statements and activities which go on in public schools is a defact

[middlesexnj]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Jimbo[/i]
<br>[quote]It is rare to witness such a display of moral relativism. You must really hate this cou

[KYYX4ever]

well, good heavens...don't dissect middlesex's argument too deeply. As a teacher, I agree with his original assertion that those letters should not have been sent. I DO NOT support this war at all either, but sending those letters was not a cool thing to