{"id":441,"date":"2006-08-07T11:24:00","date_gmt":"2006-08-07T17:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/08\/dendahl-unfairly-attacks-public-school-teachers\/"},"modified":"2006-08-07T11:24:00","modified_gmt":"2006-08-07T17:24:00","slug":"dendahl-unfairly-attacks-public-school-teachers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/08\/dendahl-unfairly-attacks-public-school-teachers\/","title":{"rendered":"Dendahl unfairly attacks public school teachers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Republican gubernatorial candidate John Dendahl made some ignorant comments about public school teachers this weekend. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Dendahl, reacting to school rankings announced last week, said teachers aren\u2019t teaching the basics because they spend too much time on the \u201cthree S\u2019s \u2013 sexuality, self-esteem and socialism,\u201d according to a weekend article in the Albuquerque Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of teaching the three R\u2019s \u2013 reading, writing, and \u2018rithmetic, schools are too busy trying to teach the three S\u2019s,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The Republican Party distanced itself from his statements, and Dendahl later toned down his comments.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is my impression \u2013 from conversations with parents, some personal experience in classrooms and a great deal of reading \u2013 that many teachers, perhaps a majority, neither understand nor support the capitalist system,\u201d Dendahl wrote in an e-mail to the Journal. \u201cMany advocate views on economics that are socialist. Some punish students through the grading process for expressing conservative opinions.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Politically, Dendahl just alienated some 21,000 teachers in the state. But his comments also reveal a lack of understanding of the situation.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The role of teachers in our society has changed drastically in the past few decades. A large number of parents have quit doing their jobs, and someone has to fill in.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Many kids come to school hungry or high on sugar because their parents don\u2019t take time to cook. Many have self-esteem issues because parents aren\u2019t spending time with them. Many aren\u2019t getting any sort of sex education at home and are already experimenting.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

For most teachers I know, it isn\u2019t about socialism. It\u2019s about ensuring that someone is nurturing these kids and teaching them about living life. If many teachers happen to be down on our capitalist system, perhaps it\u2019s because they see firsthand the negative effects of such a system on our nation\u2019s youth.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Let me be clear on this point: There are many excellent parents. But an increasing number are too busy or simply don\u2019t know how to raise their children. A few just don\u2019t care.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

This is not a role that should be forced on teachers. But it\u2019s reality.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The solution is not to attack teachers or force them to spend more time on fundamentals and less on life lessons. The solution lies with families. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Republican gubernatorial candidate John Dendahl made some ignorant comments about public school teachers this weekend. Dendahl, reacting to school rankings announced last week, said teachers aren\u2019t teaching the basics because they spend too much time on the \u201cthree S\u2019s \u2013 sexuality, self-esteem and socialism,\u201d according to a weekend article in the Albuquerque Journal. \u201cInstead of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}