Puzzle Leads to Teacher's Resignation

[NVMojo]

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - A high school Spanish teacher has resigned because of an extra-credit assignment he gave that included anti-American phrases and defended the Palestinian group Hamas.

Khalid Chahhou resigned from Smithfield-Selma High School last week after students alerted school officials about a word-search puzzle he assigned that contained phrases including "destroy America" and "terrorist."

"I think some of the people in the class were kind of afraid, because how the world is today, you never know with people," said Chris McDaniels, a sophomore at the school in Johnston County southeast of Raleigh.

Chahhou acknowledged that he gave students the assignment, but he declined to comment further, telling The News and Observer of Raleigh: "I don't want to talk about this dark page in my life any more."

He did not immediately respond to a call from The Associated Press seeking comment Tuesday.

more...

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2006/nov/21/112103623.html

[w4rma]

1. Good riddance. (nt)

[donco6]

2. Not sure which he should be fired for . . .

The "terrorist" phrases, or the fact that he assigned a word puzzle to high school kids.

Word puzzles are the worst dumbass waste of time ever invented.

[bbernardini]

4. Word-search puzzles aren't a complete waste of time...

A bit elementary for high-school kids, yes, but I think it's a great tool to help young kids look for patterns, as well as to devise their own solution methods.

[MadMaddie]

3. Well....I would have fired him too....

[pinniped]

5. Did assclown assign them the "activate sleeper cell" puzzle?

[madmusic]

6. BFD

The government has them paranoid and terrified so a few words scare them. If the teacher didn't have any plans or actually promote terrorism, BFD.

[Lipton64]

7. I don't agree with censorship if it's in the right place....

But when you're pushing a certain political agenda down somebody's throat - whether it's right or wrong - and then using taxpayer dollars to do so, that's just wrong in my opinion.

Whatever your opinion of the Israeli/Arab issue is I think most will agree that the classroom is not for such things but should be used for things like language, science, math, etc.

[Katzenjammer]

11. "Whatever you say, say nothing / When you talk about you know what

For if you know who should hear you
You know what you'll get
They'll take you off to you know where
For you wouldn't know how long
So for you know who's sake don't let anyone
Hear you singin' this song.


Unless the real world is talked through in class, how will the kids avoid growing up to be the people so many of us sneer at?

[StarTurtle]

8. And why is a Spanish teacher

giving extra credit for doing word-search puzzles in English? :wtf:

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. Perhaps it was in Spanish, and they've translated for the article

That might explain why a word-search puzzle was appropriate work for high school students as well.

On edit: yes, here's another article:

Khalid Chahhou, 35, a native of Morocco, quit his post last week after a student uncovered the message, which condemned Israel and the United States for their actions in the Middle East. The class assignment asked students to translate English words and phrases into Spanish and then to find the translations in a word search.

"The student found a hidden message about killing innocent Palestinians," said Tammy Amaon, spokeswoman for the Johnston County Sheriff's Office.

More specifically, the message stated: "Now (former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon killed a lot of people innocent in Palestine. Hamas is not a terrorist group. They have all the right to defend their country."

"This is something that forms a part of our freedom and dignity," the message continued. "May Allah help ... to destroy this body of evil that is making humanity miserable and destroy America, where evil gets sponsor(ed)."

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/local/16074725.htm

And it that was the message, then I think he did have to go. That's too much of subjective opinion to turn up in a Spanish lesson. Too much for a politics lesson for that matter, unless it was a part of a complete discussion with opposing viewpoints. It looks more like his parting shot, so to speak.

[Ian David]

9. This may be a stretch, but "Destroy America" is not really appropriate, I think. n/t

[Crim_n al]

12. Agreed, America is not really like Sodom ...

There are probably 10 good men to be found there.

:evilgrin: