I can't understand why forward thinking (ironic choice of words, I know) is not encouraged in teaching. Man, if I had that guy. I was stuck with the footbball coach for my history classes.

Teaching history like that seems like such a good idea! Would have made far more sense to me that way. And showing a video about Baghdad? If that was the issue, then.. I despair. I haven't seen it though - is it any worse than what you'd see on the news?

Don't knee jerk. He showed Baghdad ER in a GEOGRAPHY class. Now yes, Geography should include more than just where rivers and mountains are but Baghdad ER could very easily be construed as politically biased. I know people will say, "it's just the truth, it's not biased" but any video that shows the horrors of the war without also showing the triumphs (what few there are) is at least a little biased.

As a teacher, I don't think you should try to persuade your students one way or the other as far as politics go. Educating them about only one side of a major event going on is biased.

So while he might be a great teacher, it's also possible that he was biased in his views and how he taught the students. To me, that would be reason for reprimand at the least. Making students think is good. Trying to get them to think the way you want them to isn't.

there are so few teachers who can touch a students mind in a way that invites them to think differently then had previously. then again most people out of school have been thinking the same way for so long they dont like the idea of looking at things from a different perspective. when i took international politics in high school my teacher said something that stuck with me; 'in any situation there are at the very lest 3 sides. yours, the other persons and then any non biast bystandar.' he was talking about 911. there is the terrorists view point, the american gov't and the rest of the world watching from the side lines. i have noticed since that there are very few people who can even admit they might be wrong let alone acctually see and desifer anyone elses side of things. the world of education lost when a man who taught open mindedness in thinking was forced to stop. but it doesnt surprise me in the least.

Right. I have a degree in Geography and a flim like that would fit in with the study of geography. It's an incredibly broad field.

war attributes greatly to the locations terrain afterwards. london looked quite different after the wars in went through.there in geography

There is already plenty enough Pro-Status-Quo bias in the Straight News media and in Government propaganda. The students can get their fill of it anytime, anywhere. If the teacher presents material that oppositely biased, the result is Balance.

Due to the huge importance placed upon state and national standardized testing, more and more districts, administrators, and teachers tend to restrict the content of their classrooms and cover specifically what is bound to be on these tests. In other words, they "teach to the test."

In my studies as a future teacher, this topic has come up frequently, and we are frequently told to try to avoid "teaching to the test" and to focus on following the curriculum using methods that challenge students and engage them in critical thinking and problem solving activities.

After seeing what happened to Michael Baker, it's a wonder that MY professors haven't been fired for encouraging us to foster healthy learning environments that do not center on the content of national tests.

This makes me very sad, indeed.

Not in high school. Not to say that I agree with his firing, but you're picking and choosing here. I doubt that any student watching the video will get one thing out of it that has anything to do with geography. The last thing one thinks of when one sees a bloody, severed limb is mountains or rivers.

If he wanted to show the video, which he has a right to, he could have chosen another class subject to show it in that would make it a bit more inconspicuous. He was inviting trouble. The school district was biting at the bit here, and he just let them out of the gates.

Because almost every aspect of teaching is lorded over by huge slowly moving beauracracies, from the federal government to teacher's unions.

At my high school, one of the best math teachers in the state just ended up taking retirement because new rules (essentially, you have to have majored in the subject you are teaching) prevented him from being qualified to teach math. The retarded thing is that he had the most students in the county take the Calc AP exams, and the highest percentage of 5's (and 4's) among his students.

They forgot to mention his illegal smuggling of Canadian maple syrup across the border. That's the REAL meat of the story here...

How so? And by whom?

Since when is "the horrors of war" a political position? Requiring every documentary about the realities of war to make some point about its positives is not "balance." It's propaganda.

and i got a shit ton of information from the 5 million times i was made to watch 'stand and deliver' in EVERY math class since the beginning of time... teachers make kids watch movies all the time in school (at least when i was there) and most of them didnt directly inform us on anything.. at least this one is non fiction.. maybe someone could grab SOMETHING from it..