Saturday, March 3, 2012

COMMENTARY: Educators Must Not Impose Their Values on Their Students

This week, a Haywood County High School principal in Brownsville, Tennessee was forced to resign, because she insulted gay students, as well as students who may have been pregnant.

Principal Dorothy Bond -- while addressing students at a school assembly -- allegedly told them, "If you're gay, you're going to hell, and if you're pregnant, your life is over."

As an educator, Bond should have known better than to make such an insulting and demeaning statement to the students.

The fact is that students have the right to choose and live a gay lifestyle, if that is what they want. Just because Bond finds that lifestyle to be offensive and non-Christian does not give her the right to insult these students.

As for girls who may be pregnant, Bond crossed the line in telling these students, "Your life is over." Many girls who became pregnant while in high school went on to attain high-level careers and happiness.

In today's society, school teachers and administrators need to have much tolerance for students' views and lifestyles, even if they are different from their own.

In the final analysis, an educator must not try to impose his or her values on students, because doing so may prove to be counter-productive -- and may even result in the termination of that educator.
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