Hey Teachers!: We don't pay you to think

Thayer Verschoor, Republican majority leader of the Arizona State Senate, has decided to do whatever he can to stop teachers from having filthy liberal opinions. He introduced a bill last week that would "discipline, fine or fire educators for speaking about elections, legislation, judicial action or 'a social, political or culture issue that is a matter of partisan controversy,'"

Imagine trying to teach a Social Studies, History or English class while not being allowed to have a controversial opinion. What issue is not a subject of 'partisan controversy'. Every Bible-thumper, creationist, Flat-Earther, every-sperm-is-sacred pro-lifer, drug-prohibitionist and islamochristojudeofascist will love this. Teach my kid about birth control? Teach my kid about evolution and science? Use drug-dealing to teach kids about math? You do these things and you will be stripped of your teaching certificate.

Luckily, there are smart editorialists in Arizona that see the folly of muzzling teachers and keeping teenagers from thinking. I found this article via Top Ten Conservative Idiots. This was the best part:

Incidentally, the bill would also make it illegal to "hamper or impede the lawful access of military recruiters to campus." Combine that with Verschoor's assault on critical thinking and it's pretty clear that he does not view schools as places from which young people can gain an education, but as factories for teenage cannon-fodder.

AMEN!