Shortly after school began in September, the teacher told his sixth-period students at Kearny High School that evolution and the Big Bang were not scientific, that dinosaurs were aboard Noah’s ark, and that only Christians had a place in heaven, according to audio recordings made by a student whose family is now considering a lawsuit claiming Mr. Paszkiewicz broke the church-state boundary.
“If you reject his gift of salvation, then you know where you belong,” Mr. Paszkiewicz was recorded saying of Jesus. “He did everything in his power to make sure that you could go to heaven, so much so that he took your sins on his own body, suffered your pains for you, and he’s saying, ‘Please, accept me, believe.’ If you reject that, you belong in hell.”
The student, Matthew LaClair, said that he felt uncomfortable with Mr. Paszkiewicz’s statements in the first week, and taped eight classes starting Sept. 13 out of fear that officials would not believe the teacher had made the comments.
Since Matthew’s complaint, administrators have said they have taken “corrective action” against Mr. Paszkiewicz, 38, who has taught in the district for 14 years and is also a youth pastor at Kearny Baptist Church. However, they declined to say what the action was, saying it was a personnel matter.
“I think he’s an excellent teacher,” said the school principal, Al Somma. “As far as I know, there have never been any problems in the past.”
Staci Snider, the president of the local teacher’s union, said Mr. Paszkiewicz (pronounced pass-KEV-ich) had been assigned a lawyer from the union, the New Jersey Education Association. Two calls to Mr. Paszkiewicz at school and one to his home were not returned.
In this tale of the teacher who preached in class and the pupil he offended, students and the larger community have mostly lined up with Mr. Paszkiewicz, not with Matthew, who has received a death threat handled by the police, as well as critical comments from classmates.
Greice Coelho, who took Mr. Paszkiewicz’s class and is a member of his youth group, said in a letter to The Observer, the local weekly newspaper, that Matthew was “ignoring the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which gives every citizen the freedom of religion.” Some anonymous posters on the town’s electronic bulletin board, Kearnyontheweb.com, called for Matthew’s suspension.
On the sidewalks outside the high school, which has 1,750 students, many agreed with 15-year-old Kyle Durkin, who said, “I’m on the teacher’s side all the way.”
While science teachers, particularly in the Bible Belt, have been known to refuse to teach evolution, the controversy here, 10 miles west of Manhattan, hinges on assertions Mr. Paszkiewicz made in class, including how a specific Muslim girl would go to hell......
This news story is a good example of what can go wrong in government schools. It reveals a great bias both for and against Christians. While I'm a fan of missionary work and not impressed with the Big Bang theory, I have to side with the boy. It is not appropriate to preach to a captive audience composed of minor children.
I'm all for freedom of speech, but let's use a little good manners. Even if the teacher believes that the Muslim girl in his class is going to Hell, he should keep it to himself during classroom time. While the teacher was discussing things off topic, he was not talking about science, which is what he was paid to do.
One could argue that turn about is fair play. Humanism and Socialism are preached every day at schools with impunity. The only thing that make this story noteworthy is that a Christian philosopy was promoted at a school in New Jersey, and most locals supported the teacher.
It also bugged me that they were throwing around the phrase "separation of church and state" like it was in the constitution. It is not, but that is another post.
Regardless of your philosophy, I wouldn't delegate the education of my children to a person I couldn't personally vouch for and easily monitor. That's one of the plusses of homeschooling. Since there is no such thing as a neutral education, we can pick programs that fit our point of view. Most homeschool children are very "socialized" and will run into opposing viewpoints as a matter of course. Ultimately, children will grow up and choose for themselves. However, as a parent, I'm not obligated to promote the opposition's cause or give up my home court advantage.
..................................
Related Tags: United States Constitution, freedom of speach, separation of church and state, public education, government schools, evolution, Big Bang, science teacher
No comments:
Post a Comment