A California teacher is suing for the right to use the Declaration of Independence in the classroom. The principal at Stevens Creek Elementary school has banned they use the Declaration and other documents in the classroom because the mention the “G-word”.
Here are four predictions. The third should come true, but won’t.
First, conservative commentators, especially on talk-radio will go into high dudgeon. I would guess that Rush, the two Lauras, Bill O’Reilly, Neil, and Michael will include the principal, Patricia Vidmar, in their prayers at thanksgiving dinner. She has supplied them with at least a week of audience-building material.
Second, the plaintiff, Stephen Williams will win. If the Pledge of Allegiance, with the words “under God” can be said in the schools, it seems reasonable that the Declaration can also be distributed.
Third, policy wonks in the Democratic Party and the National Education Association will ask themselves some hard questions:
• How did we get ourselves into a position of defending the absurd position that teaching the Declaration of Independence is unconstitutional?
• Why are we playing into the stereotypes that energized political moderates to vote against John Kerry?
• How do we retrieve the richness of our tradition and escape this rigid ideology that has bound us to absurd positions such as this?
This prediction should come true. It probably will not. Instead the Democrats and NEA officials will sit around praying (privately, of course) that the Republican party will self-destruct by mirror-imaging their own ideological blindness.
Fourth, when it is all over, the lawyers will get paid. To paraphrase a favorite management book,Augustine’s Laws , "dogs win dogfights, people win bullfights and lawyers win people fights".
hi, you'll find the entire complaint linked at this blog. Check it out.
http://entroposcope.blogspot.com/2004/12/stevens-creek-school-debacle.html
Posted by: puzzlepieces | December 03, 2004 at 10:29 PM