Nope, sorry, Ogre, you’re a liar

From the news story…

“Daubenmire insisted to WND that the “cross branding” was nothing of the sort. He characterized it as a science experiment Freshwater had been doing for 21 years in which he made X marks, not crosses, on the students’ skin with a Tesa Coil to demonstrate electrical current.

“They tried to make it out to be a cross, because it made him look like some kind of idiot,” Daubenmire said of the parents.

Daubenmire pointed out experts have affirmed the experiment causes no injury to students.

He said the experiment session at the center of the lawsuit, conducted in December, had already been investigated and dealt with.

Daubenmire argued that the accusations about teaching intelligent design or creationism date back to 2003, when Freshwater was challenging students to “clinically analyze evolution.” ”

The parents themselves said the “marks” lasted about 4 weeks… doesn’t sound like “branding” to me, as a brand creates scars that last a lifetime. And given that science is supposed to inspire questions and studies that produce empiracle evidence to support what is fact or proven and what is not, well, everything should be clinically analyzed if it is to be believed.

He characterized it as a science experiment Freshwater had been doing for 21 years in which he made X marks, not crosses, on the students’ skin with a Tesa Coil to demonstrate electrical current.

I assume you mean a Tesla coil. Freshwater used an Electro-Technic Products Inc. BD-10A, the manual for which includes specific safety instructions: “Never touch or come in contact with the high voltage output of this device, nor with any device it is energizing.”

Freshwater deliberately ignored those instructions. Explain why anyone so careless with the safety of the children in his charge should be permitted to continue to work as a teacher.

“They tried to make it out to be a cross, because it made him look like some kind of idiot,” Daubenmire said of the parents.

The picture above clearly shows a cross burned into the arm of a student.

Daubenmire pointed out experts have affirmed the experiment causes no injury to students.

Name the alleged experts. Produce verifiable transcripts of the reports or testimony of the alleged experts.

The parents themselves said the “marks” lasted about 4 weeks… doesn’t sound like “branding” to me, as a brand creates scars that last a lifetime.

Ah. Is it your view that it is acceptable to deliberately burn a students skin, so long as the injury is not permanent? Please, go ahead and make that argument.

And given that science is supposed to inspire questions and studies that produce empiracle evidence to support what is fact or proven and what is not, well, everything should be clinically analyzed if it is to be believed.

It has been proven that John Freshwater likes to deliberately burn the students in his class. He has no place in any classroom.

‘Fraid I’ve gotta agree with you on this one Meatbrain. The man was foolish, obviously branding crosses and deserves to be fired.

I’m a teacher and I cannot believe this man’s behavior was tolerated THIS long. This was BEYOND the pale – As an aside, I don’t care if he was branding crosses, stars & crescents, yin-yangs, or giant spaghetti monsters. It was utterly WRONG.

Orion

Since Ogre and ArmyHoosierMom are probably too lazy/cowardly to read an actual news article about the episode, here is the relevant quote from a USA Today article about the incident for their reference:

“Freshwater’s friend Dave Daubenmire defended him.

“With the exception of the cross-burning episode … I believe John Freshwater is teaching the values of the parents in the Mount Vernon school district,” he told The Columbus Dispatch for a story published Friday.

See? His own friend called it a ‘cross’. And Freshwater was fired unanimously by the school board after this incident.

Why doesn’t ArmyHoosierMom use the same device to brand herself with an Islamic Crescent and let’s see if she is so cavalier about it then?

I merely pointed out the fact that it was not a “brand” as in cattle branding, and I do not advocate this as an appropriate teaching method.
I certainly wouldn’t want to see that done to my kids, but… it seems everything with this story has been twisted to make it more than it is as well. It is a shame that this sort of thing happens, but it’s even worse that our schools have such huge drop out rates and are graduating many who are illiterate as well. And no meatbrain, I do not think this man was correct in what has been done here, and these people are fortunate he did not do this “experiment” on a child with a heart condition or such, so don’t jump to conclusions or make assumptions please.

Billy Joe, you are going off the deep end here, nothing I said was cavalier or had anything to do with the “cross” claim, I was merely addressing the “branding claim” and anyone’s right to encourage clinical analysis of “any claim” made by anyone. I do know I am wasting my time questioning or asking questions of people who are so angry that they don’t see beyond their personal rage.

Wow. One doesn’t often see such blatant backpedaling, even from wingnuts.