Bush bashing by teacher spurs threats

[Peter Farruggio <pfarr@cal.berkeley.edu>]

Bush bashing by teacher spurs threats

Colorado man compares president to Hitler; angry callers target Mich. 
family, student who taped lesson.

Joe Menard / The Detroit News
March 8, 2006
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060308/SCHOOLS/603080395

BEVERLY HILLS -- The publication of a teacher's comments comparing 
President George W. Bush to Adolf Hitler during a Colorado classroom 
discussion has resulted in threats to the teacher, his family in 
Michigan and the student who reported him.

John Bennish of Beverly Hills said at least 12 people have called his 
home and threatened his life and the lives of his family since 
comments made by his son, Jay, exploded onto the Internet and network 
television.

Jay Bennish, 28, a teacher at Overland High School in Aurora, Colo., 
defended his position on NBC's "Today" show Tuesday, telling host Matt Lauer:

"My job as a social studies teacher is to argue alternative 
perspectives and viewpoints so that students are aware of those 
points of views. They do not necessarily reflect my own views. They 
are simply thrown out there to encourage critical thought."

The comments -- made to his class Feb. 1 in response to Bush's State 
of the Union address -- have thrust Bennish, a 1996 Seaholm High 
School graduate, into the national spotlight in the debate over the 
war in Iraq and war on terrorism. It also stoked the debate on how 
much liberty teachers should have in expressing views on current events.

The comments were made public Feb. 22 by conservative syndicated 
columnist Walter E. Williams. Since then, the comments have been 
repeated on the Internet and on television shows, including Fox News 
Channel's "Hannity & Colmes," on the "Today" show and on Rush 
Limbaugh's syndicated radio show.

"This has been totally lopsided and one-sided," Bennish's father said 
of the coverage his son's comments have received. He said the Fox 
News Channel's coverage "reminds me of McCarthyism. And they're 
supposed to be fair and balanced?"

Sean Allen, a 10th-grade student in Bennish's world geography class, 
recorded the comments on his MP3 player. They included Jay Bennish 
saying some of Bush's speech "sounds a lot like the things that Adolf 
Hitler used to say. We're the only ones who are right, everyone else 
is backwards and our job is to conquer the world and make sure that 
they all live just like we want them to."

Later in the recording, Bennish said he was not claiming Bush and 
Hitler were the same, "but there are some eerie similarities to the 
tones that they use."

Some students said that Allen, too, has become a target, even though 
the teen has not returned to school since the recording was made public.

"Everybody's mad" at Allen, Phil Tekle, 17, told the Denver Post. 
"People are saying that if they see him, they want to beat him up. I 
think that's just talk, though."

Allen, who has said he records all the lectures in his classes 
instead of taking notes, handed it over to his father, who passed it 
on to Williams and a conservative Denver talk radio station. From 
there, it hit Internet blogs and eventually mainstream media such as Fox.

"Regardless of whether you're pro-Bush or anti-Bush, pro-American or 
anti-American, I'd like to know whether there's anyone who believes 
that the teacher's remarks were appropriate for any classroom 
setting, much less a high school geography class," Williams wrote in 
a Feb. 22 column posted on the Web site townhall.com. "It's clear the 
students aren't being taught geography. They're getting socialist 
lies and propaganda."

Jay Bennish, whose mother is a teacher in Birmingham, was placed on 
administrative leave from his job in the Cherry Creek School District 
while it investigates whether his Feb. 1 lecture violated a policy 
requiring that balancing viewpoints be presented in classes.

"The main reason I say those racy or thought-provoking perspectives 
(is) I'm trying to provoke my students to go out there and decide for 
themselves," Jay Bennish told the Post. "I try to throw alternative 
perspectives out to students so they can (think) critically. I think 
the whole thing is reflective of a trend, an intolerance for anyone 
who would dare to speak with an opposing view ... This is not a good 
sign for a healthy democracy."

Bennish said he invites opposing views, as long as students can back 
up their arguments.

He said no parents -- including the family of the student who 
recorded the lecture -- have complained to him, and all the students' 
parents had seen his syllabus and that school officials had approved it.

"I think what I've learned is the level of polarization that America 
is facing right now," he said. "There seems to be a growing 
intolerance for anybody that would dare to articulate (contrary) 
ideas to what is ... mainstream. It's very discouraging and as a 
society and as a country, we need to grapple with these issues.

"I certainly think this is a very scary precedent and this is 
something that could inhibit teachers from actively discussing these 
types of issues for fear they will be the next person to be 
broadcast" in the media.

Bennish has weathered the criticism well for a teacher in the 
profession for just six years, said his mother, Jan, who teaches at 
Harlan Elementary.

"I'm absolutely amazed at how well he's able to handle this," she 
said. "I think Jay's always been very mature."

Jay Bennish's lawyer, David Lane, said he expects the school district 
to make a decision on his client's future on Thursday.

"Aside from right-wing talk radio, he's got a lot of support," Lane 
said. "He's got some of the highest student evaluations of any teacher."

The comments came as a surprise to Bennish's former lacrosse coach at 
Seaholm, Aaron Frank.

"He was fairly quiet," he said, adding that Bennish was a good player.

Despite his quiet demeanor, Bennish was an independent young man and 
an "individual," said Frank, now the school's athletic director.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. You can reach Joe 
Menard at (248) 647-7429 or <mailto:jmenard@detnews.com>jmenard@detnews.com.