Charlie Kirk’s Assassination Prompts Educators To Reveal Lack Of Integrity, Humanity, And Discretion In Online Posts
Picture courtesy Ryan Fournier
When I started teaching in the late 70’s there was no social media. However, as a young teacher I was counseled, along with many other teachers, to be careful of my actions and statements in public. If I wanted to go out to a bar, that was fine, but I needed to be sure that none of my students would see me drinking. To allow that would send the wrong message. I had to be careful about sharing my political beliefs, since that could lead to some students thinking I wouldn’t or couldn’t be fair to them. I followed that advice.
Later on in my career, when I started working with new teachers in our county, social media was prevalent. We talked to our new teachers about their social media accounts and keeping them private. They were told not to “friend” students or even their families. This was to protect the students from seeing content from their teachers that was not appropriate. It was also to help a teacher maintain that aura of being a professional adult with authority and good judgement. It allowed a teacher keep student respect and helped students focus on academics, not political or personal bias.
It was necessary to keep that social distance.
Counties developed social media policies to assure teachers knew limits. However, it seems that teachers have either forgotten these policies or the policies need to be strengthened.
With the assassination of Charlie Kirk, we see teachers taking to social media to celebrate the murder of a man because of his political views. It’s not just teachers in one district, one state, but teachers across the United States. The examples are horrifying. These activist teachers, for whatever reason, want everyone, including their students, to see the hatred they felt for this man and their glee at his assassination. Here is one report on those statements:
Sadly, there are many more examples of this hatred in and out of Maryland.
This is not what being a teacher is about. It is not what education is about. This is indoctrination into a world where, as Utah Governor Spencer Cox said in an admonition, “Politics feels like rage is the only option.” He then went on to remind young people that this is not true.
First, teachers are supposed to be the ones who help students learn about truth, not inundate them with hate. A student cannot have a “safe platform” to form and express their opinions, beliefs, etc. in the classroom of a teacher who spews hatred. There is no trust in that classroom, only a dark cloud of rage filled bias.
Some have said, “Teachers have freedom of speech.” They do. However, they also have a higher standard of discretion, responsibility, and professionalism that they must meet BECAUSE they work with young minds. If their contracts don’t require this higher standard, their personal morality and integrity should.
But, like any other profession, there are those who are there for self-serving reasons.
Let’s not forget, just because a teacher CAN say something doesn’t mean there won’t be negative consequences IF they say it. Imagine a teacher sharing a social media post about their hatred for Black people, gay people, etc. They wouldn’t, and shouldn’t, be allowed to keep their job.
To be sure, the unions will jump in to protect these teachers, especially if they have tenure. What the unions won’t do is examine how the hate filled rhetoric of American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and NEA President Becky Pringle inspired and encouraged teachers to act this way. Union members may want to think about that.
And, no one will look at the teacher training in the schools of America, where education majors are not always taught to be master teachers but rather self-indulgent activists who manipulate students into anti-American and anti-religion ideology. This is why they are graduating teachers who not only don’t know how to teach but don’t have content knowledge and skill. Some can barely read or do basic math. They certainly don’t know history.
This has to change.
No parent should send their child to be educated in a classroom of a teacher whose ethics, morals, or competence they might question. Parents want their child to learn in an environment which is fair and focused on academic success. If my child was in the classroom of any of the teachers above or any teacher posting these disgusting messages, I would go to the district and demand my child be given another teacher, one with integrity, knowledge and discretion.
In many ways, Kirk was more of a teacher than any of these social media impostors and phonies. He engaged with people, listened, etc. He never advocated for violence or hatred. His assassin, Tyler Robinson, was filled with hatred for Charlie Kirk and shared that intense hatred with his family. Do these teachers want to align themselves with an assassin? I can’t believe they do and I surely hope they don’t.
But, when they post such hateful garbage online, what are people to think? What are students to think?
Charlie Kirk once said, “When people quit talking, that’s when you get violence.” He wanted people to engage in respectful and rational conversation. Part of the reason he started Turning Point USA was because he saw students being bullied by activist teachers in public school and college classrooms and he wanted to let young people know that they could be brave and express their beliefs in a public, in person, forum. He also realized that when one side realizes they can’t defeat the truth, they turn to violence.
The teachers who made these comments are fomenting that violence because they see they can’t defeat the truth. My hope is that they realize the mistake they have made, sincerely apologize and make amends. It’s the only way that we can trust them with our children ever again. I also hope that any who are sending THEM threats will stop. This is not how we should react to their stupidity.
Charlie Kirk, a devout Christian, was not Jesus. But he had many similarities. Jesus often questioned and argued with the Pharisees. They saw that they couldn’t provide answers, and he could. As we know, the Pharisees killed Jesus.
What they didn’t kill was the movement, the truth; they didn’t kill Christianity. Jesus’s message and Christianity grew.
Here’s proof that all the hateful celebrations from these teachers and others didn’t work. Even people who are lifelong liberals and Democrats, are walking away from the hate.
It reminds me of Paul (Saul) who once persecuted Christians and then was struck by a blinding light while on his way to arrest followers of Jesus. He was blinded for three days and then had his sight restored and became a powerful proponent of the gospel. He saw the truth and walked away from the lies; becoming a prolific writer and committed Christian.
There is nothing good about Charlie Kirk’s death. It is horrific. It is devastating. It is awful that his wife and children must now go on without him. I think about two children who are so young that they can’t possibly understand why their daddy is not coming home to play with them and hug them again. Their mommy will try to tell them, but it will be too hard for them to comprehend. Every time I think of that I cry.
What IS good is what will come in the aftermath. A friend of mine sent me the following of a sermon by a Catholic priest that really gives us all perspective.
Charlie Kirk’s message and mission will extend far beyond his years. And we will pray for the conversion of those who hate us, not their condemnation.
I think he might smile at that.
-Jan Greenhawk
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