Friendly Reminder: What the Right's Leaders Really Think About Teachers and Public Schools

I don't especially want to get into the details of the horrible tragedy in Connecticut yesterday, at least not now.  But on a day when stories of heroic teachers saving the lives of children are emerging everywhere, I think it's important to reflect on the insane criticism they have received just in the past couple of years.  Plus a couple of bonus idiotic comments about prayer and religion in public schools.

Former teacher Bill O'Reilly during the Feb. 2011 Wisconsin labor protests:

"The teachers in Wisconsin should be compensated to the best of the state’s ability. But, the gravy train is off the tracks. The taxpayer is tapped out. So, if you want to teach kids, you’ll have to take less to do it.

That may not be fair, but that’s the lesson Wisconsin is teaching: No more public money is on the way.

I left teaching because I understood the limitations of the job. I knew that my income would be restricted and that my life would be fairly predictable. I wanted more.

But, I respect immensely those who devote their lives to teaching. I want them to have as much as the market will bear. Sadly, that point has now been reached."

Translation:  I left teaching because I realized the money sucked.  But every other teacher should just suck it up and deal with it.  Just don't ask me or the other rich to contribute more.

Rush Limbaugh in March 2011:

"Can we get rid of the myth once and for all that school teachers, anymore, are these average, ordinary (as Obama wants to say), next-door neighbors who are just doing everything they can to further the educational experience of your children?

That's not who they are. They are left-wing activists, active members of unions who are oriented first by a political agenda, second by their own well-being, and your kids come last."

Please, please tell this to the families of the teachers who died yesterday protecting their students.  I'm sure it'll go over really well.

Mike Huckabee on the day of the shooting:

"We ask why there is violence in our schools, but we have systematically removed God from our schools.  Should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage?  We've made it a place where we don't want to talk about eternity, life, what responsibility means, accountability -- that we're not just going to have be accountable to the police if they catch us, but one day we stand before, you know, a holy God in judgment.  If we don't believe that, then we don't fear that. Maybe we ought to let [God] in on the front end and we wouldn't have to call him to show up when it's all said and done at the back end."

Bryan Fischer, head of the American Family Association, on the day of the shooting:

"In 1962 we kicked prayer out of the schools. In 1963 we kicked God's word out of ours schools. In 1980 we kicked the Ten Commandments out of our schools. We've kicked God out of our public school system. And I think God would say to us, 'Hey, I'll be glad to protect your children, but you've got to invite me back into your world first. I'm not going to go where I'm not wanted. I am a gentlemen."

If the God of Huckabee and Fischer is so sensitive that he won't save the lives of 20 innocent children because there was no prayer said to him in that school, I don't want any part of Him.  Separation of church and state is a fact.  Deal with it.  Christian dogma has no place in a public school  Does that mean schools cannot teach good morals and ethics?  No.  Christianity is not the sole source of morality.  You can be a good person without being a Christian - shock! - and religious instruction is not required to instill common human values in children.  Matters of faith should be taught by parents and religious institutions.  Not public schools.  Period.

I didn't pick quotes from obscure figures here.  These are the leaders of movement conservatism and have millions of adherents.  Huckabee might make another run at the Presidency.  And this is how they feel about the people responsible for educating children and protecting them when the worst happens.  I only hope that the next time someone complains about overpaid teachers making $30,000/year and receiving disaster response raining as a routine part of their job, you'll remember the heroes of Connecticut.