Gotta love those reactionary over-protective fathers. Normally I'd tear him apart for the stupidity of this phrase "borderline pornography... it’s not even like a gray area." But what's the point? Sigh. It's just so sad.
Hey Party Ben, maybe your next Top Ten theme should be "Top 10 Songs to Lighten The Mood for Readers of Dysphoric News?"

That's _always_ what the Top Ten is!

There is no excuse for being alone with a student and giving them and only them adult material that the administration has not approved. We will never know if there was intent or not, but prior to every one of these incidents happening, there could have been signs that would have alerted parents or administrators.

We do not have the luxury of assuming everything is OK, so we can only go with what we see. And what I see is a teacher having an inappropriate interchange with a student, which, in every one of these cases below led to some sort of sexual crime.

This has nothing to do with the content of the assignment. This has to do with how it was given to this girl. If you walk into a bank with a gun drawn, you are going to be charged with bank robbery, simple as that. No one cares if you were walking in to the bank, saw a gun lying on the ground, picked it up, and walked into the bank to turn it in. It’s all about preventing crimes, not punishing criminals.

To bad if Nate Fisher had no intent. If he did, hurray for another sick individual removed from the classroom. If he didn’t, hurry for an incredibly stupid teacher being taken out of the school system who can’t realize that handing a young student adult material after class alone without the administrations knowledge is a pre courser to many other crimes.

Stop defending the comic, it’s not about that. It’s about crime prevention. No one has a problem with the comic being used a learning tool, the problem is the actions of the teacher.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5347819,00.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,145180,00.html
http://educationwonk.blogspot.com/2005/01/another-california-teacher-arrested.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-06-29-teacher-sex_x.htm
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5151787.html
http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=7082675
http://www.komotv.com/news/local/9805907.html
http://www.roanoke.com/news/breaking/wb/54775
http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2005/01/two_female_teac.html
http://lapdblog.typepad.com/lapd_blog/2007/09/school-teacher-.html
http://www.riverheadnewsreview.com/SUN/index/289822004197957.php
http://www.wjbf.com/midatlantic/jbf/news_index.apx.-content-articles-JBF-2007-09-13-0051.html
http://www.nonpareilonline.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18825642&BRD=2703&PAG=461&dept_id=555106&rfi=6
http://www.news10.net/storyfull2.aspx?storyid=26404
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-920teachersex,0,5485882.story
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20913124/
http://www.news10.net/display_story.aspx?storyid=33026
http://www.wkrn.com/nashville/news/williamson-co-teacher-arrested-charged-with-sexual-battery/95482.htm
http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_8618.aspx
http://www.whec.com/article/stories/S202487.shtml?cat=566

man, talk about *backward*

===
"if you don't think like ME... I'm gonna threaten you!

whither the TASER when a GOOD CITZEN needs one?

we don't need no stinking art in North American society... dirty teachers, damn them!!!"
===

BlueBerry can be found @ ThisCanadian.com

MTV should be banned from the Earth, but since I am not one for censorship, I guess I can't really argue that.

It makes me sad. Our nation already suffers from a shortage of uninvolved teachers, so to see this is appalling.

While I would agree that the teacher may have benefited from using some discretion when selecting this particular book, I don't believe he should have lost his career over it. And of course, the voice of the girl is lost in this discussion.

Oops! Correction: Our nation suffers from a shortage of involved teachers.

It's funny how the father hides in anonymity for fear of criticism; mean while, the teacher's response has been muted but his identity is now well known. Having had high school teachers and having been raised by parents, I cannot put much stock in either's opinion. Why does there always have to be someone at fault when someone else is offended? The teacher didn't draw the boobies, right?

Isn't it too sad that a father is ridiculed for protecting his daughter against such trash that a male teacher would give her to read.

This society have been so desensitized from all the garbage that has been thrown out from books, tv, pc and movies,with a let it all hang out attitude, that there are no morals left.

Yet, when someone does show some concern they're made fun of. I say, good for you Dad, you do what you think is best to raise a descent young lady, no matter what the world thinks. You're right Maggs, it is sad!

It's not trash. It's serious art/literature in a format the mainstream doesn't really know how to handle. It's brilliant and entertaining stuff, in my view.

And though it is probably subject matter that a 14-year-old can deal with, it is meant for adults. In our current cultural context (see previous post), the teacher should have known that it would be frowned upon for him to give it to the student. He should have known that he was putting his job on the line.

(Although, you know, there are drawings of naked women in art history books. I will say that the distinction is somewhat arbitrary.)

Yeah, that's right, the girl's father has staved societies great effort to corrupt his and all other's innocent little chattel by it's demonic possesion of Nate Fisher. The father's quixotic pursuit to keep his pure doe eyed daughter makes my heart bleed for him. If he didn't like the selection, then change it. WHO CARES

This article indicates two tragedies being played out in American education. The first is the more obvious, that we are in the midst of a movement of censorship led by the particularly fanatical agents of the Judeo-Christian traditions that so regrettably have come to define America. The second is the current lack of educated educators in this country. I so rarely talk to students of High school age who can tell me anything of lasting and classical literary value they have recently read. And if they have been "forced" to read and discuss anything of this nature they are bored and fail to see any relevance to their own lives. Is this the fault of the student? Not likely. Most young people are sponges waiting to soak up learning and new experiences in life. They must, however, be guided and introduced to this kind of progressive learning by those they know and trust. That would be their parents, guardians, teachers, and clergy perhaps.
Teachers must now be cleverer than the censors and fanatics who control many of our institutions and especially the administrations at all levels of government. This includes the school boards. Teachers must spend the time it takes with those who show interest and discreetly direct them to more satisfying educational resources. Teachers so often want to themselves be "relevant" to their students, mistaking that pleasant yet immature feeling of generational connectivity for educational process. Perhaps they would not be so suspect if they would simply turn to the worlds of classical literature, from the ancient Greeks and Hindi and Chinese to the 20th century post-modernists where they will find everything they need to instill or at least elicit values of critical thinking and cultural sensibilities. But then, do our teachers any longer even know of these riches.
I might be wrong, but if the parents of an earnest student saw a copy of Petronius's Satyricon instead of the latest "graphic novel" or "comic book" sticking out of their son's backpack they might not even suspect that a liberal education is underway.

Good Grief, the dumbing down of America continues. Dedicated and productive teacher fired for his use of reading material that may have had some adult content? There were times through out history where even the showing of a young woman’s ankle was considered pornographic (during the “Dark Ages” possibly?). It's rather ironic that our public school teachers are criticized for their failure to produce educated, productive adults while they fire a teacher that may use methods that might actually be succeeding.

So, dad likes grey-area porno and borderline porno. Wow! I'm amazed at mentally unhealthy people can make neologisms.

How sad. How utterly sad.

Poor usrngrx for the forest of innuendo and malicious intent of a world she lives in. What a frightful place.

None of these people should read Plato because it's got homosexuality in it. Heaven forfend! Therefore, it's horrible literature and not philosophy.

Wait for the next bit of repression: tennis will be banned because of the awfully nice legs, the shot of underpants, bouncing breasts and camera footage of decolletages. And codpieces in male ballet dancers are there for...what?