Such was the case with the article about Bret Chenkin and his Mount Anthony Union High School vocabulary quiz that excoriated (one of Chenkin's vocab quiz words) the Bush administration.
Here are just a few of the questions:
* It is frightening the way the extreme Right has (balled, arrogated) aspects of the Constitution and warped them for their own agenda.
* I wish Bush would be (coherent, eschewed) for once during a speech, but there are theories that his everyday diction charms the below-average mind, hence insuring him Republican votes.
* The governor (of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger) should have been (excoriated, coherent) by the press for calling Democrats "girlie-men" but instead was invited to speak at the Republican convention; it only goes to show what kind of people they are.
Now, if you open up our editorial page, on occasion what you'll find is an editorial that lambastes President George W. Bush, not for political reasons, but rather because he is a boob.
If memory serves, we have written about how Bush concocted evidence to go to war; how Bush is incoherent during speeches; and how Bush avoided service in Vietnam. The list goes on.
The Banner writes about these subjects because we believe the information that we have gathered over time is truthful and accurate.
We understand that our stance on such things will be viewed as left, liberal, communist and what have you, even if such labels are the farthest thing from the truth.
Chenkin's quizzes - to some - appear to be anti-conservative and pro-liberal. He maintains that the quizzes were taken out of context, and that they are full of hyperbole and inside jokes. Furthermore, he says that he will often create quizzes that seem to promote or poke fun from a conservative point of view.
While it may be OK for us to say that the war in Iraq was trumped up by Bush, it isn't quite the same thing for a high school educator. The impressionable youth, after all, are supposed to be getting a balanced education, one that gives them the opportunity to make up their own minds.
It's not that Chenkin shouldn't be teaching students about current events, relying perhaps on national news reports that prove the president lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but it's just that Chenkin needs to do so in a manner that is fair to school children.
Accordingly, if he was to teach students about the aforementioned news reports, then he would be obligated to show children news reports from other sources that might point to something contrary about the lack of WMDs. And believe it or not, there are such articles in existence, above and beyond what might be found on Bill O'Reilly's Web site.
Also, we believe that Chenkin should be absolutely clear with his students about what is his opinion and what is fact. As long as that's the case, then he should be allowed to say almost anything he wants.
Wolfgang Roxon of Shaftsbury, a former history teacher and parent of two children at the high school, told the Banner that teachers need to be aware of the implications of not offering a politically-balanced curriculum.
"The kids in the school who tend to lean more conservative can be ostracized," Roxon said. "In a classroom, you have a responsibility as a teacher to not implement your point of view."
We think Roxon is absolutely right, even if we happen to agree absolutely with every statement made by Chenkin is his vocab quiz.
That's why it was hard to write a story about something about which we feel so strongly. However, it also goes to point out to the readership the difference between an editorial and a news article. One is opinion; the other fact. And just as Chenkin needs to approach students' education in an even-handed manner, so does the paper when it comes to news coverage. Editorials, on the other hand, can be as freewheeling as we like.
And speaking of even-handed, we would like to remind the Mount Anthony administration that Chenkin's choice of quiz questions is something that should be dealt with lightly. We don't want to see Chenkin excoriated by his superiors. A friendly chat between employee and employer would seem to suffice as far as we're concerned. We think the whole experience of being outed has been traumatic enough for Chenkin, one that has left us pretty rattled too.
In the end, we should say that our support for Chenkin's ideology as it regards the Bush administration hasn't wavered, even if we want to see his methods change slightly within the school.
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