Job Discussion Forums

[bulgogiboy]

What's so bad about East Texas?

[JZer]

[Steinmann]

[bde2]

[/quote]

I'm kinda liking the idea of Cambodia, actually. The pay isn't too good, but I hear the living is excellent.[/quote]

Just moved there myself, after a few years of teaching in different parts of Asia. As you say, the pay isn't great, but visa/bureaucratic hassles are minimal, folks are friendly and mellow, plenty of culture and history (I live right in the shadow of Angkor Wat... how cool is that?)

As I said, I've taught in a few different places before, and I feel like I'm just starting my dessert after choking down a lot of vegetables. Why not skip the veggies and start with dessert?

[Trebek]

[Hod]

[Trebek]

1997

[bulgogiboy]

The thing is, even though I am totally against the principles of the KKK, are they actually an illegal organisation? It might be offensive to a lot of people, for sure, but if it's a legit organisation then technically the kid hasn't done anything wrong (assuming kids are allowed to write on their notebooks). That's just the view that his parents hold, and has been passed on down to him. If the kid had written 'death to n*****s' or something similar then I would understand confiscating the notebook, but would you have confiscated an African-American kid's notebook for writing 'black power' on it?

[Trebek]

You make some valid points. He did have the "N" word written as well. My point is that it was the worst place I have ever taught.

[bulgogiboy]

[Teacher in Rome]

Aren't there laws in the US against hate speech? What about the fact that stuff like that is harassment? Doesn't anyone ever stand up against it? I find it completely bizarre (and very worrying) that there's so much racism and segregation - still - in some places in the US.

[Trebek]

My experience with Principals, is that they (and electricity) usually take the path of the least resistance.

[johnslat]

The First Amendment makes drafting legislation regarding hate speech nearly impossible:

"Hate speech--in this country, principally racist and anti-Semitic speech--has always been recognized as First Amendment-protected. There is no First Amendment exception for hate speech, so unless it fits into one of the other pigeonholes--libel, obscenity, or fighting words--it receives the same guarantees as any other speech.

In recent years, the Supreme Court has held in RAV v. City of St. Paul that an ordinance aimed at cross-burning was an unconstitutional content-based regulation because it only banned cross-burning which constituted hate speech (an ordinance which banned burning any wooden object on lawns might have been constitutional). Also, a federal court recognized the right of the American Nazi Party to march through a Jewish suburb of Skokie, Illinois.

In a 1950's case, Beauharnais v. Illinois, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a state "group libel" law, which gave racial, ethnic and other groups the same right to sue for libel as individuals. Although Beauharnais has never been over-ruled, it is almost certainly a dead letter in light of RAV and numerous other cases.

Canada, Great Britain, Germany and numerous other Western democracies ban hate speech and there is an ongoing debate whether doing so undermines the fundamental tenet of a liberal democracy. Professor Catharine MacKinnon in her book Only Words draws the parallel between hate speech and pornography and observes that principles of free speech and equality are at war in this country. Nadine Strossen, president of the ACLU, replies that laws against speech are always used to ban unpopular minority speech rather than well-settled majority vices or prejudices. Just as Canada has used its official adoption of Mackinnon's principles to ban gay and lesbian speech, while mainstream pornography thrives, British hate speech prosecutions tend to target black groups rather than white skinheads."

And while that makes me a little queasy, I can also see the problem. If the "N word" is hate speech, what about, say "Honkie?"

Regards,
John

[Guy Courchesne]

[JordanX]

What are some undesirable locations for women, particularly slightly chunky ones?

Or, slightly more optimistically, where are good locations for women to go?