Back in September, an art teacher was fired in Illinois for teaching veganism to his classroom.
They said he began teaching veganism and animal rights instead of art without telling school officials or parents, told students to keep it a secret, and then refused to answer school officials’ questions about what he was teaching.
Source: Northwest Herald
Now, while I believe in freedom of speech, I don't believe that teachers have the right to proselytize to their students. Dave Warwak, the fired teacher, took it upon himself to use his classroom to promote his agenda, rather than teach art, the subject he was hired to teach. Wrong forum, wrong audience, wrong behavior!
While I'm all for broadening the minds of our youth, I don't believe a teacher has the right to take it upon himself to try to sway their opinions in such a furtive manner. Clearly Warwak knew he was doing something "wrong" or he would not have demanded secrecy from his students.
Today, the Illinois State Board of Education, upheld the decision to fire Warwak.
Related Information:
- Let the Eater Beware
- Vegan Activism
- OK, Who Didn’t Wash Their Hands?
- Does Your Doctor Have All The Nutritional Facts?
- Another Reason Not to Eat Meat
ADDITONAL INFORMATION
Vegan SugarWe received a comment from one of our readers (hi Addie) questioning the validity of PETAs list of "I Can't Believe It's Vegan." She says she used to use that site as a reference tool, but has since learned that sugar is absolutely not vegan...
You're Feeding Me a Mushroom For Dinner?I almost got killed last night. Well, not literally, but it could have been close. As I've mentioned before, Jane is the cook in our household. I get home from work after 7pm, so she usually has dinner just about plated up as I'm walking thru the...
Jane's Red Cabbage SaladBefore Jane and I were married, the only time I ever willingly ate red cabbage was when there were a few pieces in a salad I ordered at some restaurant. I'd never found it worthy of eating, there were always other options that were much better. ...
Happy Holidays!Hi Everyone,Jane and I want to wish you all Happy Holidays. We celebrate Christmas in our household and that means we're going to be incredibly busy over the next week... We're also still having DSL issues, and won't have time to get to the...
4 MonthsToday is our 4 month anniversary - we started following a vegan diet on 7/7/7 (a most auspicious date). Today was also the day of my annual check up. Jane and I have been eagerly awaiting today as a day of validation. We have been operating under...
He claims he never asked them to keep it secret. And some of his “vegangelism” truly was art. He did art projects about veganism and animal rights.
I agree with you that from what I know of the case he stepped over the line. But I have also experienced and read of MANY stories of vegan discrimination where vegans don’t have the same rights to free speech as the rest of the country.
I’m not certain you have all the facts staright about this one. You can’t always trust the mainstream media about intimate details regarding employment disputes.
Hi Elaine,
Thanks for sharing. I didn’t come across any news article that indicated he was using animal rights as an art project. (I can only write based on the info at hand.) However, middle school students can be as young as 11. That might be too early to be subjecting them to some of the brutal animal rights literature that’s out there. I think this kind of thing is a hot button topic for a lot of parents out there. He had to know he was stepping over that line at least.
You’re right, you can’t always trust the mainstream media. I read a really interesting article on the real rate of inflation today.
“Not only at Fox River Grove Middle School but also in thousands of schools across the country, corporate agribusiness has run amok in the attempt to utilize public education as a place to establish the naturalization of commercial meat and dairy as lifelong eating habits, to generate increased sales, to subsidize the food industry against decreased producer prices, as well as to funnel below-health standards food not fit for public sale. Warwak was correct to demand the riddance of the Dairy Council’s posters as they had in fact already been targeted for removal from approximately 105,000 public schools by the Federal Trade Commission.” Richard Kahn PhD, University of North Dakota
http://freire.mcgill.ca/files/kahn-epistemologiesofignorance.pdf
Hi Warwak,
I’m not objecting to his intention. Although vegans represent less than 5% of the population. To expect a school to cater to that sensitivity is, I believe, unrealistic. What I do strongly object to is that this teacher decided to change the curriculum in his classes without prior approval of the school board/superintendents… This is an ART teacher lecturing about animal rights. If he were to mention that certain papers are treated with animal by-product, I could possibly excuse his behavior. However, he told the students to keep his agenda a secret from their parents. Clearly he knew he was crossing a line.
Also, as an example, a math teacher who decided to teach interior decorating wouldn’t be doing his/her job either. Shouldn’t that person be fired as well?