Posted on 12/20/2008 12:04:31 PM PST by Tai_Chung
A public school teacher in Mississippi marked down an eleven-year-old’s Christmas poem assignment and told the boy to rewrite it because he used the word “Jesus,” which, the instructor explained, is a name not allowed in school.
Liberty Counsel, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, reports that sixth-grader Andrew White of Hattiesburg, Miss., chose to write the poem on the assignment “What Christmas means to me.”
After White turned in his rough draft, however, his teacher circled the word “Jesus” and deducted a point from his grade. The teacher then explained that he needed to rewrite the poem without the offending word.
When White’s parents questioned the teacher, Liberty Counsel reports, they received a response email explaining, “[Andrew] and another child did a poem about Christ. I know we can’t discuss these type [sic] of things in school so I asked the two of them to do another poem of their choice.”
Mathew D. Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and dean of Liberty University School of Law, expressed dismay that despite many legal clarifications on the issue, there are still educationl officials that mistakenly believe students can’t speak of their faith at school.
“Some educators need education that the story of Christmas is not banned from public schools,” Staver said in a statement.
Staver says he was “horrified that a sixth-grader was told by his teacher, ‘we can’t discuss these types of things in school.’ I don’t understand why some people don’t get it. Christmas is a state and federal holiday. Schools are closed to celebrate this holiday. Obviously, Christmas is constitutional.”
The principal at White’s Thames Elementary School agreed with Staver.
After White’s parents encouraged Andrew to turn in his first, unedited poem, Principal Carrie Hornsby changed the boy’s grade to a 100 and conceded that there was nothing improper in using Jesus’ name. Hornsby also coordinated a mailing to all the school’s parents, explaining that students’ religious expression is permitted under federal guidelines.
White’s parents, however, told OneNewsNow that the situation has caused them to consider homeschooling their son, concerned about other challenges to the faith Andrew may be experiencing apart from their knowledge.
Andrew’s original poem, “A Great Christmas,” reads: “The best Christmas ever is when everyone is there. It is when everyone is laughing here and there. That is the Christmas I want to share. Christmas is about Jesus’ birth. About peace on Earth. This is what Christmas is about. It is when He lay in a manger. And the three wise men come to see. That’s what it means to me.”
They’re certainly a main reason there are so many ignorant and prejudiced teachers in schools.
The Libs from other parts of the country have discovered how good we have it here in the South and have moved down here polluting everything they come into contact with.
Substitute “Christ” for Jesus. Then lets see the teacher deduct for an inappropriate Christmas assignment.....
“What Christmas means to me.”
To the boy "Christmas" meant a celebration of the Christ's birth. To the teacher it might have meant the end of long nights and the return of the sun. If Jesus wasn't allowed, the assignment shouldn't have been worded “What Christmas means to me.”
So the schools can teach Kwanza, Ramadan, the Winter Solstice, etc, but not Christmas?
So I guess I'll have to tell Jesus Martinez that he's not allowed in my 4th period class after all.
While I'm at it, why don't I kick out all the Joshua's, too.
Maybe the kid should have written “Christmas was a religious holiday that we used to celebrate back when America was free; before the Fascists took over, that is.”
Bumpfor Andrew. Proof not being PC is laying up our treasures in heaven. The battle lines have been drawn, the comma Jesus stopped reading in Isaiah is soon going to be in affect....God Bless you Andrew for having more balls than all the anti Christs combined!!
By what constitutional authority does the federal government limit religious expression?
Well, that’s because people take their ball and go home and take their kids to private school or homeschool.
Leaving the rest of us to fight not only our battles with godless NEA liberals but theirs too.
What sense does it make to abandon public schools AND pay for them, not to mention the results of brainwashed socialized kids left behind on our society?!
Liberals should be confronted everywhere, and all the time.
The assignment was about “Christmas”, not Kwanza, Ramadan or the Winter Solstice. The boy wrote what it meant to him, and received a 100. The teacher was in error and corrected.
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