Colorado classroom controversy stirs debate

Mark Mullen Correspondent

In Colorado, a high school student decided to teach his teacher a lesson by recording a controversial portion of the geography teacher’s lecture and playing it on a radio station. The teacher says the part of the lecture that gave the lesson context was not played. Still, that teacher has been suspended. NBC News correspondent Mark Mullen reports.

Analyzing the president's state of the union speech, Colorado high school teacher Jay Bennish made some provocative comments to his students about how the president defended his decision to invade Iraq — even comparing the tone of Mr. Bush's address to an Adolph Hitler speech.

Audio recording:
"I'm not saying that Bush and Hitler are exactly the same. Obviously, they're not. Okay?  But there are some eerie similarities to the tones that they use, we're right, you're all wrong."

One of Bennish’s students, 16-year-old Sean Allen, was so offended he recorded part of the lecture and played it on a conservative Denver radio talk show.

“My intention was to get him to stop teaching biased political arguments," says Allen.

But after the recording went public, Bennish was suspended for violating a policy requiring teachers to present different sides of an issue.

NBC VIDEO Matt Lauer talks to suspended teacher March 7: "Today" show anchor Matt Lauer talks with suspended high school geography teacher Jay Bennish about comments that compared George Bush to Hitler, which a student recorded. Today show

“It’s clear the teacher was presenting a biased point of view," says Tustin Amole of the Cherry Creek School district in Colorado.

The suspension prompted a student walkout and protest. "A teacher should be able to teach outside of the books, not just the books," says student Angelica Ortega.

The controversy ignited a debate about free speech.

“What his agenda is as a teacher is to provoke his students with controversial positions on just about everything and engage them in discussion,” says David Lane, Bennish’s attorney.

But education experts say free speech doesn't always apply to public school teachers

“The district has the right to tell Mr. Bennish what he can and cannot teach in the classroom.  There’s really no question about that," says Paul Campos of the University of Colorado Law School

Both teacher and student do have one thing in common: since this controversy went public, both have apparently received anonymous threats from those who don't share their opinion.

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