For clarification, what was the political opinion at the root of the disagreement?
What possible difference would that make?
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I sure hope this got reported to the teacher - and higher up if necessary. I know if it had happened in my class I’d have dealt with it.
Wow, so sorry to hear this. When I read this kind of thing, I worry A LOT about the future. I worried even more when someone asked about the content, as though any content at all would warrant that response under any circumstances. Wow, just wow.
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Agreed! Yesterday I saw a bit too much escalating in a “which is better, cats or dogs” warm up question. Had it been in my classroom, I’d have addressed that. One young lad was a bit too insistent that the “correct” answer was dogs. It still bugs me today that I couldn’t address it. (It happened in the tutoring group I volunteer for, but I didn’t get to work with that boy.)
When folks suggest violence over any content they disagree on, it needs to be addressed.
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And I don’t consider it a “free speech” violation that I don’t allow violent threats in my classrooms.
ETA or race/gender/ethnicity/religion put downs - any race/gender/ethnicity/religion
I suppose I’m guilty of suppressing kids beliefs/thoughts in my classroom, but no regrets at all.
We can - and do - talk about politics though (and other “touchy” subjects). Kids enjoy it.
Violence isn’t the right response to any kind of disagreement and if that incident wasn’t dealt with harshly, shame on them. My sense, however, is that actual (or threatened) violence in the classroom is of less concern to most students than the fear of social ostracism.
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Earliest examples of what is now called doxxing were from right wing sources in the 1990s publishing “hit lists” of abortion providers.
Bullying and harassment are now the unfortunate norm of political speech (and more so from the right).
Canceling has a prominent recent history in right wing circles when cabinet officers who had slight disagreements with the former president were told that “you’re fired!” or equivalent.
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Really, you seem to have a lot of “right”wing examples but no “left” wing examples.
Doxxing has been around forever. In the ruins of Pompei, they found a notes on the wall doxxing loads of people. It wasn’t started by the “right” as you said.
Some of them are hilarious.
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I suspect this is to show it happens on both sides since the article in the OP seemed to imply it was only happening to silence the right.
Many times now and in history the right has also wanted to silence the left (how many gay people had to stay in the closet?). Now @ucbalumnus is correct that the far right is also trying to silence the moderate right. I see that a ton here in PA living in Deep Red territory.
But again, nothing really is new under the sun. The topics might change. Humanity doesn’t really. I’m hopeful the younger generation will be leading us together rather than toward Civil War II.
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I’m not getting into the left vs right debate, but why do we even introduce these topics to HS students? Shouldn’t they be focusing on learning things that are proven to be true first and foremost? Critical thinking skills are also best learned in subjects that are less politically charged. If kids spend all their energies on these issues, how can we expect them to learn well the skills they really need?
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Your children are in good company. 
This subject reminds me of a quote from the late George Carlin
“Political correctness is America’s newest form of intolerance, and it is especially pernicious because it comes disguised as tolerance. It presents itself as fairness, yet attempts to restrict and control people’s language with strict codes and rigid rules. I’m not sure that’s the way to fight discrimination. I’m not sure silencing people or forcing them to alter their speech is the best method for solving problems that go much deeper than speech.”
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But are kids spending “all their time” on these issues. I can tell you my kids aren’t -and they attend a public school in a pretty liberal town in MA (a very liberal state). There is some discussion about political issues in AP History (which has been fairly traditionally taught - including all the presidents- but which has also included more background on slavery & reconstruction than I ever got when I was in the class years ago) and a bit in AP Lang (in the context of 1984, The Great Gatsby and other classics) but I wouldn’t consider it detrimental. The rest of the classes (pre-calc, Latin, Chemistry etc) don’t touch on political topics or debate. I’d hardly consider these topics a central component of my kids’ education.
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Cry me a river. Have you or your friend from Sidwell Friends once contemplated the effects of prior educational environments? The environment where world history and geography were entirely European based. Where black history was confined to a month and consisted mainly of Booker T Washington, MLK, Rosa Park, and Harriet Tubman. Where guidance counselors told students of color certain professions aren’t realistic for them. Where one felt secure in the power of being part of a majority and the privilege that comes with it. God forbid an effort is made to be inclusive, have privilege of any kind not be inherent to ethnicity, and practice empathy/decency.
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My kids also went to public school in MA (for many years). They spent an inordinate amount of time on these non-subjects. Yet, failed to advance many kids in math, science, and writing. It was a very highly ranked school and their was no way to opt and continue traditional learning while this took place. It started in K. It’s different from school to school but growing in the amount of time it takes away from basic learning.
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What an extraordinary set of assumptions you make without knowing anything about me, or my friends at Sidwell, @ShanFerg3 . Not worth even responding to specifically, other than to note the presumption displayed. Wow.
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Well, I can barely remember the elementary years so there is that . . . The biggest issue here was the terrible math curriculum back then (since updated, thank god).
Common core? A major reason for a switch to private for us. Subtracting to add did not make sense. Never did, never will.
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Everyday math . . . a wide but not deep program which introduced simplified advanced concepts too early (IMO). For my younger kiddo there was some common core but he was in 5th grade so it did little harm. He’s a natural mathematician who grasps concepts really easily (unfortunately he doesn’t like math).
Interesting that this quote dates back to a book published in 2004. Is that when he first said it or is it even older than that?
Nothing new under the sun.
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