4 ms·

Sounds like the solution to that is to make it illegal to ban these topics (and then firmly enforce that law), rather than giving the teachers tenure.

opendais 12y ago
I think you've never experienced unofficial pressure in the workplace before when you need to put food on the table. ;) Tenure is much, much more effective than trying to make a law like that work reliably. Every time some new topic came up that was politically charged, you'd need to amend it. What happens when the people you consider to be the "wrong people" are in charge? They get their way.
- yellowapple 12y ago
  If it's unofficial, then there's not much to be worried about. Do your job and you'll be fine. I honestly don't think tenure is more effective than actual legal enforcement, namely because tenure isn't really effective for that purpose at all, especially when we're considering that the older teachers - the ones who benefit from tenure - are the ones who are probably in support of such pressure, which is more likely directed at the younger teachers, relatively fresh from college, who want their students to learn about the proper science they learned about in school but are afraid to do so when their paychecks are on the line.
Bud 12y ago
That's not even in the possible range of solutions. Remember that lawmakers and law enforcers in red states are actively hostile towards teaching science, never mind teaching anything at all about the body, such as sex education. It's not going to be made illegal, and such laws will not and would not be enforced in the areas in which this is a problem to begin with, i.e., Republican areas.
- w1ntermute 12y ago
  > Remember that lawmakers and law enforcers in red states are actively hostile towards teaching science, never mind teaching anything at all about the body, such as sex education. Then do it at the federal level. Fuck the troglodytes in the red states.

opendais 12y ago

I think you've never experienced unofficial pressure in the workplace before when you need to put food on the table. ;) Tenure is much, much more effective than trying to make a law like that work reliably. Every time some new topic came up that was politically charged, you'd need to amend it. What happens when the people you consider to be the "wrong people" are in charge? They get their way.

yellowapple 12y ago
If it's unofficial, then there's not much to be worried about. Do your job and you'll be fine. I honestly don't think tenure is more effective than actual legal enforcement, namely because tenure isn't really effective for that purpose at all, especially when we're considering that the older teachers - the ones who benefit from tenure - are the ones who are probably in support of such pressure, which is more likely directed at the younger teachers, relatively fresh from college, who want their students to learn about the proper science they learned about in school but are afraid to do so when their paychecks are on the line.

Bud 12y ago

That's not even in the possible range of solutions. Remember that lawmakers and law enforcers in red states are actively hostile towards teaching science, never mind teaching anything at all about the body, such as sex education. It's not going to be made illegal, and such laws will not and would not be enforced in the areas in which this is a problem to begin with, i.e., Republican areas.

w1ntermute 12y ago
> Remember that lawmakers and law enforcers in red states are actively hostile towards teaching science, never mind teaching anything at all about the body, such as sex education. Then do it at the federal level. Fuck the troglodytes in the red states.