How should I put this so as to not offend School Bus Driving Americans. Hmmm. Ok, try this.
It's a school bus driver's job to get kids to and from school. This simple task is kind of wrapped up neatly in the job description, I think. Just between you and me, I don't want any of the school bus drivers around my parts to be edumucating the students that they're driving.
School bus drivers should be entertaining, kind of like Otto from The Simpsons.
So, no tears shed with the following story. But have we become a nation of whiners, or what? (Referring to the parents who instigated the firing...):
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A school bus driver who chatted about stem cell research with her pupils was fired for inappropriate behavior, a local newspaper said on Thursday...
The Buffalo News said Julianne Thompson, 42, was fired from her job in Grand Island, New York after parents complained about her discussing the issue with pupils on Nov. 1 -- the day before the presidential election.
Thompson told the newspaper she had read an interview where movie director Mel Gibson said more than 20 years of embryonic stem cell research had not cured any diseases but more than 300,000 cures had been found with adult stem cells. She said she then shared the stated facts with the pupils, without offering her opinions...
And hey, the noted scientist and Jesus biographer Mel Gibson was the source of her "stated facts"! How much better does it get than that? I'm sure, given the length of the school year, she could have also gotten into a discussion of creationism -vs- evolution as well, had she been able to continue in her profession.
Ah, probably all for the best, anyway. I guess the parents who complained are right, though. She should have reserved her teaching for the Sunday school class instead of a captive audience of bus riding kids.
