Julianne Benzel teaches AP U.S. History at Rocklin High School outside of Sacramento, California.
On the day of the walk-out she asked a question in her classes;
“And so I just kind of used the example which I know it’s really controversial, but I know it was the best example I thought of at the time—a group of students nationwide, or even locally, decided ‘I want to walk out of school for 17 minutes’ and go in the quad area and protest abortion, would that be allowed by our administration?” she said.
She was placed on administrative leave due to parent complaints “during a civic engagement activity.”
When Benzel returned she was not punished but it does bring up some very interesting dilemmas for Social Studies teachers or teachers in general.
Can parents control teacher lives based on disagreement of pedagogy?
Can parents control the risk factor of content in class?
Is there actually a double standard in public schools regarding political protest?
Your mileage may vary depending on your school but this case pretty clearly shows a bias (and cowardice) in Rocklin’s administration. The was a public relations move that bent over for parents that didn’t like Student paradigms challenge which is one of the pillars of a solid Social Studies program. And now the overreaction by the administration has caused a test case. On April 11, protestors are planning to walk-out at Rocklin High School again. Only this time….
“….to promote nationwide awareness about abortion, especially the “cruel injustices taking place at Planned Parenthood,” and he is encouraging students across the country to join him, using the hashtag #Life on social media.
A group of students is going to the school principal about wanting the same treatment as the Parkland observance walk-out and Rocklin can thank themselves for putting themselves in this corner. Sure, the turnout and the teacher reaction on campus is going to not nearly have the buy-in but a public school is not just gateway for some ideas, it’s a gateway for all ideas including those you don’t agree with.
One student has already objected to the walkout, saying that unlike the country’s school-shooting epidemic, abortion has nothing to do with school or Rocklin’s students.
“They have their First Amendment, they can go protest about that anytime anywhere,” said Naeirika Neev, editor of the school newspaper.
Yeah, pretty sure abortion has something to do with Rocklin students and the country as a whole. While not in the spotlight that school shootings hold, abortion has been a hot topic since the 1970s and never really went away, and now conservative states are pushing against Roe v. Wade and bring it back to the forefront.
For the record I’m pro-choice, I think Julianne Benzel is probably pro-life and knew when to throw it out into conversation, and I still believe that an anti-abortion protest should be held in the same standing. Ukiah High School has plenty of teachers that bring politics into the classroom one way or another and while I consider that fairly reprehensible, I’m pretty certain that controversial topics equate to punishing teachers and that groups that desired to exercise their 1st Amendment right would be allowed to do so.
Rocklin blew this one. They can make it up by promoting Free Expression on all sides.
This post first appeared on A Passion For Teaching And Opinions, please read the originial post: here
