None of this is correct. First of all, if you read the article this teacher makes both freedom of speech and freedom of religion arguments so this is not simply a religious discussion. Second, she is wrong on both counts.PetrChelcicky wrote: ↑Tue Mar 15, 2022 8:44 am Back to the teacher who insisted on using the traditional pronouns.
Her argument was that she has a religious conviction (and claims freedom to act it out). This is a factual statement and must be treated as that, even if it is normally left to subjective opinion. The officials must at least try to refute the fact.
Insofar the counterargument about students calling teachers by nicknames is faulty. No student has really pretended to do this from a religious conviction.
But here we see how lightheartedly the protection of individual religions and consciences is brushed aside nowadays.They are no more protected because they are treated like mere private whims. That's the slippery slope down into Bolshevism.
(And of course, that shows that it is most important to have one's own Christian schools where Christian consciences are effectively protected.)
First with respect to religion. Your comment misunderstands both the role of of teachers in a public school and the nature of First Amendment religious protections. The First Amendment protects individuals from religious coercion by the state. Within public schools, the teacher IS the state. Or an agent of the state. The state coerces students to attend school through mandatory attendance laws and students generally have no choice in the teacher to whom they are assigned. Within the public school classroom, the teacher is every bit as much the state as a policeman, soldier, or judge. More so for students in fact, because they are with her for hundreds of hours. In this context, the First Amendment regulates the ability of the teacher as an agent of the state to inject religion and religious teachings inside the classroom where she has a captive audience.
This is completely uncontroversial and well established. Public school teachers are forbidden from leading Christian prayer within their classroom regardless of their personal religious convictions. Or any other prayer for that matter. How would you feel about a Muslim teacher who required her students to kneel and pray towards Mecca 5 times a day? Public school teachers cannot proselytize within the classroom on behalf of Christianity or any other faith. Neither can they do things like tell Indian children that they are refusing to use their "heathen" native names and are going to assign them "Christian" names which is what used to happen in state-run Indian boarding schools in the 19th and early 20th Century. That would be impermissible today. So no, public school teachers absolutely do not have a religious right to act out on their religious beliefs within the public school classroom, regardless of how sincere they may be. That has never been the case and it is not the case today.
With respect to freedom of speech or expression within the classroom her claim is similarly wrong. Public school teachers absolutely do not have the right to free expression within the classroom. States are free to mandate the conduct and expression of teachers and do so in a myriad of ways. State curriculum standards mandate what is taught within the classroom and what is not taught. Right now there are a rash of laws being passed across the country that regulate how the topics of racism and LGBT rights are to be addressed within the classroom. You may agree or disagree with these, but state legislatures have the right to impose them. As a teacher I cannot show R rated movies within my classroom even though in another context the First Amendment gives me the right to make, show, and view them. As a teacher I do have some freedom to conduct my classes as I see fit, but within tightly constrained limits. I cannot choose to teach my HS chemistry classes with university graduate school level content and then fail everyone who can't keep up. Nor can I teach at a 3rd grade level and deprive my students of the course material they signed up for and are required to learn. I have to follow the scope, sequence, and depth of material specified by the state curriculum standards so that an 11th grade chemistry class in my school roughly matches one offered by another school across the state.
This case is not just about pronouns, but also about names. It is exceedingly common for public school students to use names other than those that appear on their official enrollment records. And schools routinely accommodate this. Out of the 140 or so students that I have in class, perhaps 10% go by different first names than what are listed in their official record. Some because they have complicated and difficult to pronounce given names in other languages and prefer to use different names in school and with their peers. Some use nick names rather than their formal given names. Some use their middle names instead of their first names. I have one student who's father is in prison for abusing her and for violently assaulting her mother. She chooses not to use his last name even though it still appears on her enrollment record and I respect that. I have three daughters myself and all of them have rather formal Spanish given names because we are a bi-cultural family and they are dual-citizens of the US and Chile. And my wife and I decided to give them traditional family names that will allow them to navigate Chilean society as well as US society. They like their Spanish names, but two of them use English nick names within the classroom and the third uses her middle name, or actually an abbreviation of her middle name in school and with her peers. The schools are all happy to accommodate this as they routinely do for all students.
One of my students from Africa is named Ediana-Abasi. He goes by Eddie in school and I respect that. Another is named Yehowshuwa and goes by Josh. I also respect that. If I were to refuse to address them as they wished to be addressed in class in front of their peers and they complained to the school administration I would no doubt be asked to stop doing so and the school would be within its rights to discipline me if I refused. As an agent of the state, I do not have a First Amendment right to address then differently than they wish to be addressed either on free speech or religious grounds. If this teacher cannot keep her religious beliefs from interfering with her duties and responsibilities within the classroom then she should seek a position within a private religious school where she is free to inject her religion into the classroom because she is no longer an agent of the state.
