Talk about a teachable moment.
A 16-year-old student at high school in Philadelphia was ridiculed and asked to leave class by a teacher for wearing a Romney/Ryan shirt to class last week. According to the student, the geometry teacher told her the school was a "Democratic" school, brought others into the room to laugh at the girl, and compared wearing the Romney/Ryan shirt to wearing a "KKK" shirt.
The teacher has issued a written apology, and the student has returned to school after missing a few days of class because of the incident.
A teachable moment, indeed, for the school's students, staff and especially the teacher involved in the incident. Certainly it's an opportunity for everyone involved to engage in a discussion of some of the very freedoms that are sometimes taken for granted in this country. Freedom of speech, including the freedom to support political candidates of your choice without fear of being mocked, especially in a school setting, cannot be denied. Schools should be institutions of learning, not institutions of ignorance and divisiveness.
We wonder if the uproar would be bigger had a student been mocked and asked to leave class for wearing an Obama/Biden shirt to school. We think we already know the answer to that question.
School administrators said they would work with the teacher's union to move "towards a conversation that brings together diverse beliefs, inspires understanding, and heals," according to an Associated Press report.
Sounds like the makings of a teachable moment. We hope everyone learns from the incident.