Fox News Trying to Create Controversy Over High School Mock Trial

[Taco John]

N.J. High Schoolers Try Bush for 'War Crimes'
Friday, March 03, 2006

TRENTON, N.J. ( — A mock war crimes trial of President George W. Bush at a Parsippany high school continued Friday, despite criticism from people across the nation who heard about the classroom exercise from a prominent Web site and talk-radio programs.

Parsippany-Troy Hills School District interim superintendent James Dwyer said the hearing in the 12th grade politics and government class would continue, but a verdict by a five-teacher "international court of justice" panel would not be rendered as originally planned.

Speaking after a two-hour meeting with school board president, the high school principal and a curriculum superintendent, Dwyer said Friday the project was in keeping with the district's curriculum and had received prior administrative approval.

The class is an advanced placement elective, he said, and the lesson explores current events and foreign policy in an interactive way.

"The focus is on the process itself, not on any outcome," Dwyer said.

Phone messages left at Parsippany High School for the course's instructor, Joseph Kyle, were not immediately returned Friday. Dwyer said Kyle has taught with the district for eight years.

Dwyer said he and the school's principal have received more than two dozen e-mails and phone calls about the course since the Web site "The Drudge Report" linked to a newspaper article about the class. Talk-radio programs also apparently have discussed the course, Dwyer said, and listeners contacting the district were 10-1 against allowing the mock hearing.

But students involved in the project, which began Monday after several weeks of research, said the decision to hold a trial over Bush's alleged "crimes against civilian populations" and "inhumane treatment of prisoners" was agreed upon by all 27 classmates.

Catherine Galdun, one of the student prosecutors, told the Daily Record of Parsippany for Friday's newspapers that she would have been upset had the trial been halted.

"I would say that we're doing this in a fair and balanced way," said Galdun, 18. "We're looking at both sides of it. If (critics) don't believe that's right to do in a classroom — to debate both sides of an issue — I don't agree with that."

Township Council Vice President James Vigilante, a U.S. Air Force reservist, said he could see both sides. "I'm a Bush fan. I don't necessarily, myself, agree with the lesson plan, but on the flip side, I wouldn't condemn the teacher," he told the newspaper.

Vigilante, a Republican, added, "For me, it's the right of free speech."

The mock-hearing is expected to conclude next week. Parsippany, a community of about 28,000, is 30 miles west of New York.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,186793,00.html

[Taco John]

Is our children learning?

[memyselfI]

Ah, give them a break...

their Chimp in Chief is tanking and the party is not far behind...they need something to divert from the pain and try to maintain the slogan 'we report, you decide.'

http://www.mnstate.edu/implosion/images/neumaier1a.jpg

[JBucc]

I remember doing a mock trial in junior high. I was the Prosecuting attorney in a tobacco case. I don't remember the specifics but I lost.:(

[patteeu]

Ah, give them a break...

their Chimp in Chief is tanking and the party is not far behind...they need something to divert from the pain and try to maintain the slogan 'we report, you decide.'

Yep, They're finally at the end of the line. The last nail's been driven into the coffin. The fat lady is singing. The plug's been pulled. The ship is taking on water and the captain has given the order to abandon ship. The credits are rolling. They've jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. The house lights have been turned on. The timer's gun is held high and the hammer is falling. They've crossed the event horizon. The shark has been jumped. It's all over but the crying. ...

... and someday, they might even lose an election.

[patteeu]

For their next current events and foreign policy exploring lesson, maybe they can try Al Gore and/or John Murtha for treason. Not for the outcome, but for the process.

[alanm]

Yep, They're finally at the end of the line. The last nail's been driven into the coffin. The fat lady is singing. The plug's been pulled. The ship is taking on water and the captain has given the order to abandon ship. The credits are rolling. They've jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. The house lights have been turned on. The timer's gun is held high and the hammer is falling. They've crossed the event horizon. The shark has been jumped. It's all over but the crying. ...

... and someday, they might even lose an election.
ROFL :LOL: ROFL

[alanm]

Fox is just trying to emulate the national media. Like with the civil war in Iraq. Someone better tell our soldiers, they haven't got word of that yet. :)

[Pitt Gorilla]

Fox is just trying to emulate the national media. Like with the civil war in Iraq. Someone better tell our soldiers, they haven't got word of that yet. :)Nah, this is just Fox being Fox. They're always pulling up some isolated event in Nowhereville and trying to turn it into a controversy. I wouldn't know about many of them if it weren't for my father-in-law perpetually noting, "Did you hear about that school that forces their kids to pee on Jesus?" or something of that ilk.

[Pitt Gorilla]

Did you read the part where that hippy was talking about free speech? Get a haircut.

[Taco John]

For their next current events and foreign policy exploring lesson, maybe they can try Al Gore and/or John Murtha for treason. Not for the outcome, but for the process.



I wouldn't have a problem with that. Set up two sides of an issue and let the kids play advocate for one side or the other. That's better than the "let me tell you how it is" approach.

[Ultra Peanut]

EXECUTE THEM ALL FOR TREASON

[CRONUS]

Sounds like a really enjoyable exercise to me. Something you can learn about international law interactively and have the stimulation of competition. It also teaches them about how trials are conducted. I don't feel Bush is guilt of war crimes, but I do not see the harm in this exercise.

[listopencil]

Township Council Vice President James Vigilante, a U.S. Air Force reservist...

Man, I wish my last name was Vigilante. That would be pretty cool. Anyhoo, who gives a rat's ass what some High Schoolers debate over? When I was in High School we did a bunch of goofy shit like this. We pretended to be parts of the French government during the revolution. I took a bribe to protect a noblewoman so she wouldn't be kicked out when it all came down. She was cute and we shared a Biology class. We also pretended to be Senators arguing over slavery. I was a slave owner and got stuck with the nickname "Cattle King" for a while because of my arguing points. Lots of stuff like this goes on. Once, in Middle School we debated over how our society would end. I argued for WWIII. It's all fluff. I'm surprised that it's a national story.

[Taco John]

In high school, my buddy and I got into a debate class. The topic for the year was to defend a plan for decreasing worldwide pollution, so we decided to put together a worldwide plan based on sterilizing women after their second child. Of course we didn't really believe in it, but it was edgy and a real challenge to defend... But we did it anyway and made it to regionals... where we promptly got our asses kicked up and down the debate halls... But making it to regionals our first year on the debate team was a big deal, so we felt pretty good about it all.

[listopencil]

I was never on a debate team but participated in quite a few of them during High School. My quick verbal skills, intelligence and (then) anarchistic tendencies made me a difficult opponent.