Nov 10 2008
Film Maker Says Cumberland County Teacher Exaggerating
The producer of a film that features a former Asheville schoolteacher talking presidential politics in the classroom defended the teacher in an interview today.
Swedish filmmaker Folke Ryden said teacher Diantha Harris was “exaggerating” when she told a child her father would stay in the military for 100 years if McCain won the election.
Bloggers are off the mark in saying Harris was “belittling” a child during the May lesson in her Cumberland County classroom, he said.
Harris is a dedicated teacher who used humor – like saying “Oh Lord” and “Oh Jesus” when the fifth-grader said she supported McCain.
That language was intended to fire up her class and engage students in a discussion, Ryden said in a telephone interview from Sweden.
Like I said in the other post, there may have been more to this other than what is seen in the video. Yeah, this guy could just be saying this to cover the teacher’s ass, although what would we have to gain from it. The girl in the video was definitely uncomfortable by what the teach was telling her and I don’t think the teacher went about this discussion the right way, but I don’t get the impression watching this video that she was intentionally trying to belittle the girl or berate her. There was nothing mean spirited about her attitude.
This is really why unless you’re teaching a political science class politics should just be left out of the classroom.
