High-school teacher shows "The Daily Show" in class, gets suspended

Rhett Felix is a first-year government and law teacher in central Illinois who decided to spice up his class with some clips from everyone's favorite fake news series, The Daily Show. (Maybe because, honestly, what high-school sophomore would care even the tiniest bit about "the issue of health insurance discounts for exercising" otherwise?) Unfortunately this didn't go over too well in his conservative community, because Felix was suspended for six days and will be reassigned to a class that hasn't been traumatized by those dirty, sexual, liberal comedy segments. (Another clip focused on the Herman Cain sexual harassment scandal.)

Though the Superintendent won't say specifically what Felix did to merit the suspension except for "violate school policy," an executive session of the school board was held this week after parents complained about this progressive demon corrupting their little angels. (Perhaps in less ornate language.) But the Mayor of the town, Scott Punke, thinks this is all well and good:

"I did [support the suspension], because of the language and the sexual overtones that were included in the show that were being shown to sophomores in high school," Punke said. "Many of the children don't even have TVs in their houses because of religious beliefs."

..."We're a very conservative community here in the city of Eureka," Punke said of the town about 30 miles northwest of Bloomington. "Certainly politics are playing a part, but my main concern is they are showing inappropriate material with language and dealing with sex to minors in a school setting."

While I can see how the idea of a teacher using TV shows in class could spark some reasonable concerns — if, say, the clips were being used instead of/without discussion or critique — it seems silly to ban a viewpoint for being too liberal. (Sexual, I could see.) And not just because I happen to be liberal; I just find it cute that these parents think fifteen-year-olds actually care that much about anything a teacher tells them.