The Evil Petting Zoo

Now, here's a tale to inspire. In the county of Kearny, there is a high school student by the name of Matthew LaClair, who has a teacher by the name of David Paszkiewicz. Now, during his American history (I repeat-- American history) classes, Mr. Paszkiewicz felt the need to teach some... unorthodox subject matter.

Such as the fact that his students would go to Hell if they did not accept Christ as their savior. Apparently, he also singled out a Muslim girl and lamented the fact that she was destined for the slow roast.

Now, LaClair had the feeling that, were he to complain to the school board, he would not be believed. And this is exactly what happened. But! LaClair, at the meeting, managed to produce two CDs of audio from Paszkiewicz's class, full of the extracurricular bloviating. Of course, Paszkiewicz claimed that he was the victim here, but the matter still had yet to be resolved.

Well, now a resolution has come down. And the answer to a teacher whose curriculum involved teaching matters that were not on the curriculum, teaching what amounted to unscientific propaganda, and oh, yeah, telling his students they were damned?

Oh, he gets to keep his job. And there's now a ban on taping a teacher's comments without their permission. Of course, to make it appear like they're punishing the guy, the school board's insisting that every teacher receive "mandatory instruction about how to interpret the Constitution’s separation of church and state", which, big fucking whoop. I think it was clear from day one what this teacher thought about the separation of church and state.

And what of Mr. Paszkiewicz? Well, don't let you think a slap on the wrist is actually going to stop him:

Meanwhile, Matthew said that Mr. Paszkiewicz recently told the class that scientists who spoke about the danger of global warming were using tactics like those Hitler used, by repeating a lie often enough that people come to believe it.

Mr. Lindenfelser said that the district did not investigate the report of that comment, which he said was not religious or a violation of “any kind of law.”

And, what do you know? It's nothing that could be considered American history.

Did I have the atypical high school experience, or did I just not notice this bullshit? I had teachers who taught me to expand my horizons, to strive, to seek, to find, and all that jazz. And here I see a kid who was honestly concerned about the wellbeing of his classmates and the validity of his education, and he gets punished for revealing that his teacher has absolutely no reason to teach his course, and his teacher gets to go on spewing his bullshit.

All in all, it's just another brick in the wall.