Spokane7
27°
December 16, 2011 in Opinion
Editorial: Slanted ‘debate’ can still serve as civics lesson
Wouldn’t it be a wonderful educational experience if one of the local high schools allowed its students to manage a political debate? They’d research the issues, write questions and debate which ones to use. Some teachers would oversee the activities to ensure fair play. Candidates would be invited to participate, and the community would be invited to attend.
Ferris High School’s Leadership Class advertised such an event in October, featuring mayoral candidates Mary Verner and David Condon and school board candidates Deana Brower and Sally Fullmer. But it turned out to be a forum where a partisan teacher and like-minded adults used schoolchildren and school property to further an agenda.
Contributors with ties to the Republican Party were invited to conduct “research.” One of them, Mike Noder, was a losing candidate in the mayoral primary. Some slanted questions were written (the complete list of school board questions is attached to this editorial online). And, finally, students were allowed to pick questions from that partisan pile.
Checking facts? Didn’t happen. Ensuring balance? Didn’t happen.
Attendees at this debate had every reason to believe this was a student-run event, because it was billed as such. They were left with the impression that students wrote the questions. Here is one of them:
“Recently, teachers in Tacoma went on strike, defying state law and a judge’s order to return to work. Documents now show it was part of a larger plan by the teachers union. Did the WEA want to send a painful message to parents and lawmakers? Do you see the same thing happening in Spokane? And if so, what would be your reaction?”
Here is another:
“Deana Brower, you have called for more state taxpayer money for schools. Yet Spokane Catholic schools pay significantly less than the $11-$12,000 per student that District 81 spends, and with better measurable results. Is more money really the problem, or is there another issue?”
If baked potatoes were this loaded, you’d never finish one.
The students in the Leadership Class are not to blame. They spearhead many worthwhile events, such as the Coats 4 Kids drive and other charitable events. It’s their teacher, Jennifer Walther, who needs to rethink her role.
This controversy comes on the heels of a Spokane Public Schools newsletter that carried a teachers union ad listing fall election endorsements. This is a newsletter schoolchildren take home to their parents. The district published an apology in the next edition, and the Spokane Education Association acknowledged it was inappropriate.
The district is now looking into the debate controversy. Regardless of how this turns out, the political playgrounds need to be shut down. Taxpayers do not finance public schools so employees can use them for political influence.
However, an opportunity still exists for students to expand their research, writing and critical thinking skills, increase their political knowledge and stage a valuable civic event.
It could be a wonderful educational experience.
Goodwill a good example 
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babybre on December 16 at 6:59 a.m.
Wait a minute…what’s the crime here? That some people are Republicans? Contrary to what some in high positions would like to believe, the liberal left is not the default. The outrage (from this paper, the candidates, the teachers’ union) over a conservative running this debate and reportedly seeking input from other conservatives exposes how deeply entrenched in the mire of the far left is the establishment. Don’t believe for a moment that there’s not outrage over a conservative’s mere existence within the walls of our schools, let alone one who may have the gall to use her personal beliefs to make an impression on students.
“The political playgrounds need to be shut down. Taxpayers do not finance public schools so employees can use them for political influence.”
Wait a minute…Daily our children are subjected to left-leaning (to put it mildly) curricula chosen by administrators and board members. Monthly the teachers’ union president literally uses our children to deliver her political message, including twice to campaign for her candidates during the general election. Maybe this slanted “newspaper” should investigate that.
With Deana Brower, the school district’s chosen candidate, now serving on the school board, I wonder how the district’s investigation will go. I bet they find Jennifer Walthers broke all the rules.
publicphil on December 16 at 8:00 a.m.
Babybre:
No crime here, just some unethical behavior it seems, from Jennifer Walther. And no need for hysterics about the plight of conservative teachers, of whom there are many in Spokane Public.
If you are willing to countenance what this teacher did, both in using students as factotums for loaded questions and in presenting a politically slanted debate as an official school function, then you’re agreeing to precisely that decline in morality that conservatives so often bemoan.
There has to be some standard for ethics in the schools (as everywhere)—not “anything goes.”
richardch on December 16 at 8:01 a.m.
What is so loaded about better results for less money? Looks to me like the Review is still chasing NAZI preists.
DDC on December 16 at 8:39 a.m.
I find it completely ironic that the SEA, a union that touts their educational success and prowess, would make the assumption that students of this age are not smart enough to ask these questions….or smart enough to want to know the answers.
It’s a leadership class. Leaders ask those kinds of questions. The questions stated in this article are completely valid.
I asked Mike Noder once why he continued to run for Mayor when he won’t accept a dime in campaign contributions….not a single cent. Here was his answer (paraphrased):
“Why would I raise large sums of other people’s money and give it to a media organization that has consistently attempted to nullify my message because I continue to hold them accountable for the Riverpark Square fiasco and horrendous reporting that is a disservice to the community? Also, if elected, I will be beholden to no one but the citizens and taxpayers of Spokane.”
Much of the message that got David Condon elected stemmed from the early summer debates in which Noder was the only candidate tackling tough issues….and his message was resonating with those present. Noder was Mayor Elect Condon’s “market research”.
What Condon did was spend the most…folks….who did he spend it with? The SR and Q-6…..DUH. Who did the SR endorse? DUH. Who won? DUH.
That’s how it works.
I will not stand by as a massively declining SR continues it’s assault on the true critical thinkers in our community.
A student format that actually asks pertinent questions that may shine a unfavorable light on the status quo…that’s what I call a real leadership experience. But evidently real leadership and critical thinking is a bit inconvenient for some in the Union collective.
Some in the SEA would rather the kids were just good, quiet, obedient students and distribute the flyers endorsing “their” candidate.
DickAdams on December 16 at 11:31 a.m.
I liked Mr. Mike Noder`s response to DDC`s question,re why he continued to run for Mayor when he won’t accept a dime in campaign contributions….not a single cent. Here was his answer (paraphrased):
“Why would I raise large sums of other people’s money and give it to a media organization that has consistently attempted to nullify my message because I continue to hold them accountable for the Riverpark Square fiasco and horrendous reporting that is a disservice to the community? Also, if elected, I will be beholden to no one but the citizens and taxpayers of Spokane.” Noder
It sure would be great if everybody running for office felt the same way as Mr. Noder. If a person running for office were sincere, they should use their own money, rather than selling out to the highest bidder.
I suppose I`ll be criticized by those who think it unfair for the person that can`t afford to run. My answer, I want someone who is successful and because of his/her success has enough of their own money, the same as Mr.Noder, and is not beholding to anybody.
valleyman on December 16 at 11:52 a.m.
Were these questions not germane and were these questions not reflective of the questions the voters in Spokane had? I think we all know the answers to both charges…
I applaud Ferris, the teacher in question, and most of all the students, for having the tenacity and the gall to ask and to pose probing questions that sought real answers, not fluff. If Democrats wanted to play ball, they could have organized their own debate with their own questions. I’m sure there were plenty of lefty teachers who had the union backing who would have done their part to host a debate that only asked “Democrat, union-approved, unimportant” questions.
If the teacher’s union, the Democratic party, and sore loser Verner keep at this with their little SR minions, the public backlash is going to be ugly.
Simply because this teacher chooses to buck the union and not pay into their political coffers, and she dares to have a mind of her own that differs from the Democratic union, she is a target for dismissal? If only the caterwauling were so great each and every time a teacher of the left perpetrated against their students and the public a “crime” even half as bad as this.
SHAME District 81. SHAME Spokane Teachers Union. SHAME Mary Verner. SHAME Spokesman Review.
Sour grapes much?
babybre on December 16 at 12:28 p.m.
Thank you, publicphil. You’re right, there are many conservatives working for the school district. Many silent, intimidated conservatives.
To clarify, of course I cannot countenance what Ms. Walther did because I was not privy to the organization of the debate and have only this paper’s reporting on which to base a judgement. Unless one is personally involved, none of us have the information to do that at this point. I have no idea if she broke the rules of the debate or not, let alone engaged in unethical behavior. If she did, I certainly do not sanction that. Yes, it would be hypocritical of me to do so in the same breath I submit that the district/union is sanctioning from their own ranks exactly what they accuse Ms. Walther of. I guess I didn’t think that needed to be stated outright.
My comment is on the double standard which exists between the establishment (which does engage in unethical behavior, and I have been witness to that) and anyone who dares to hold an opposing view.
ericdx on December 16 at 1:02 p.m.
If the questions posted on the website at around 10:00 are the actual questions that were used, I have no issue with them whatsoever. Those questions are the exact questions that SHOULD be asked, both of candidates, and of the board as a whole.
richard on December 17 at 11:09 a.m.
I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiments on this page, the questions at the debate were “unfair” to the ultra-liberal SR board only becasue those questions did not take the “default” liberal position that we see daily reflected in the SR.
Not once have I seen an editorial condemning the default liberal stances offered to our children by Spokane Schools and teachers.
I have spent a fair amount of time working with the school district over the years - teachers and administrators - and there is a decidedly liberal tone when political or social issues are discussed and taught in our schools.
This phenomena, however, is never condemned by the SR, becuase liberalism is the default viewpoint of nearly every “journalist” at the SR.
Look at the opinion pieces we see almost daily in the news section by Shawn Vestal. No one has ever explained why his pieces are not in the opinion section where they belong. You would never - never - see pieces such as Vestal’s which expressed a conservative viewpoint in the news section. How come?
The answer lies in the obvious belief in journalism that liberalism is the norm; it is the middle-of-the-road worldview. Thus we routinely that conservatism offered as somehow slanted and/or “extreme”.
Besides, the questions identified by the “editors” (???) are neither slanted nor “gamed”, they merely call for the responder to take a stance on a given issue.
The board ought to be embarassed. Maybe their errors will become more pronounced to them when the daily newspaper becomes completely irrelevant and shuts its doors.
WillyPeter on December 18 at 9:02 a.m.
What a pathetic editorial………the PDC in Olympia says the Union and District’s hand-outs endorsing “their” candidates were ILLEGAL! That means the District and the Union broke the law!
“But, but, but….there is a conservative teacher at Ferris.”
pathetic