In God we Trust (Our Test Scores)
Sep 11th, 2008 by nick
A high school math teacher in Southern California evidently confused his school with his church, posting seven-foot long signs in his classroom with phrases like, “In God we Trust,” “God Bless America,” and, “God Shed His Grace on Thee.” The school principal rightly demanded that the signs be removed because they were obviously an, “…attempt to make a Judeo-Christian statement to his students.” That should be the end of the story, but the teacher, Brad Johnson, has convinced a Federal judge that his free speech rights were violated. That’s ridiculous. When you’re in a position of authority in a public school, you don’t have the right to impose your irrelevant personal beliefs on your students. Johnson’s lawyers’ arguments that these signs are merely patriotic and historical expressions are transparently bogus.
Unfortunately, this case is complicated because supposedly the school district allowed posters with Buddhist and Islamic messages in other classrooms. I agree that the district should be consistent, and that those expressions of minority beliefs should be just as off-limits as Johnson’s Christian views.