Language Teacher Fired For Using ‘Homophones’
Utah has never been known as the pinnacle of education. There are communities in Utah that are almost entirely homeschooled, especially in the southern part of the state. When Warren Jeffs told followers to take their kids out of public schools, enrollment at the school that serves the sect’s home base of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah, dropped from about 1,200 students to 230.
Tim Torkildson, Teacher Fired For Teaching “Homophones”
The Nomen Global Language Center in Provo is far from Hildale, but the BYU city has many extremely devout LDS members. A recent firing of a language teacher over teaching the concept of homophones points to exactly how bigoted and ignorant a large section of the Utah population may be.
People at this level of English may see the ‘homo’ side and think it has something to do with gay sex,” the owner, Clarke Woodger, allegedly told Tim Torkildson while firing him last week. He then continued, “I’m letting you go because I can’t trust you, this blog about homophones was the last straw. Now our school is going to be associated with homosexuality.”
Spending just fifteen seconds on the intertubes could have educated Mr. Woodger that a homophone is merely a word that sounds exactly like another word, only spelled differently with different meanings. Examples would be which and witch, or sight and site or the most commonly botched words there, their and they’re.
I’m certainly not accusing families who choose to homeschool their children of being irresponsible. However, from personal experience in working with children, I’ve seen parents who are relatively disinterested in matters of education, who are barely high school graduates, choosing to educate their own children. The amount of ignorance in some of these kids is stunning. The rules for homeschooling are pretty vague. Truth is, homeschooling is essentially unregulated in Utah. Utah school districts are forbidden from making parents keep records of instruction or attendance, requiring them to have any teaching qualificationsor testing home-school students.
Times certainly have changed with the homeschooling population. Let’s compare two very different eras.
- 1960s -70s: Most homeschooling parents were members of the counter-cultural Liberal Left (academically and/or socially motivated pedagogues; New Age-ers, hippies, homesteaders)
- 2007: Fifty-eight percent of homeschoolers were “fundamentalists;” however, only thirty-three percent cited religious reasons for homeschooling.
Some parents believe that it is “a God-given right to home-school their children. These families tend to live and die by the word of the Bible and try to use this theory as a means of casting out state monitoring from their home-school program.” It seems the homeschooling trend is edging towards the “Don’t Tread On Me” mindset, where the government should not interfere with ANYTHING. I just hope when they have a gas leak or a road in terrible disrepair, they start to understand that government interference is sometimes the only way a society can help one another.
Click here for reuse options!Copyright 2014 Liberaland
By: VegasJessie
A resident of Las Vegas Nevada, a graduate of the University of Oklahoma as a Political Science major. Very motivated to get people to participate in the electoral process.
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uzza July 31st, 2014 at 16:01
Since he’s resisting the call for puns, I feel compelled to add a correlation:
60s-70s America landed people on the moon
2000s America landed bombs on the Middle East.
——-
(Having said that, if you don’t read the comments on Raw Story’s article, you are totally missing out.
It’s all about homogenous thespians masticating and conjugating with copulatory verbs and periodic ejaculations, while known pedogogues egg them on)
Robert Merrill Taylor July 31st, 2014 at 16:44
Gawd forbid that they learn that the world is populated by homo sapiens.
Robert Merrill Taylor July 31st, 2014 at 16:44
Gawd forbid that they learn that the world is populated by homo sapiens.
Rusty Shackleford July 31st, 2014 at 18:34
It’s a simple mix-up. He confused it with homo-phones, the secret communicators we use to discuss our radical agenda.
MerryMarjie August 1st, 2014 at 14:21
I’m sitting here among homogenous people and almost spit homogenized milk out of my nose on that one!
Rusty Shackleford July 31st, 2014 at 18:34
It’s a simple mix-up. He confused it with homo-phones, the secret communicators we use to discuss our radical agenda.
MerryMarjie August 1st, 2014 at 14:21
I’m sitting here among homogenous people and almost spit homogenized milk out of my nose on that one!
Anomaly 100 July 31st, 2014 at 21:02
Wear that name like a badge of honor!
Annie July 31st, 2014 at 21:05
I do! I do!
shatto August 1st, 2014 at 14:13
….
Are you a homophone?
A Provo, Utah teacher was fired for writing about them.
From where? The Nomen Global Language Center, where
one might presume, they actually know English.
shatto August 1st, 2014 at 14:13
….
Are you a homophone?
A Provo, Utah teacher was fired for writing about them.
From where? The Nomen Global Language Center, where
one might presume, they actually know English.
ideagal August 1st, 2014 at 14:18
Did liberals complain about home schooling when the hippies were doing it? Not likely. I recently met someone home schooled by their hippie mom, and they were SO uninformed…and liberal, of course.
Jimmy Miller August 2nd, 2014 at 20:39
Hippies are a lot smarter than teabaggers.
ideagal August 1st, 2014 at 14:18
Did liberals complain about home schooling when the hippies were doing it? Not likely. I recently met someone home schooled by their hippie mom, and they were SO uninformed…and liberal, of course.
Jimmy Miller August 2nd, 2014 at 20:39
Hippies are a lot smarter than teabaggers.
Jeff Baker August 1st, 2014 at 17:49
I wondered if someone would confuse homeschooling with homosexuality but this is inane!
Jeff Baker August 1st, 2014 at 17:49
I wondered if someone would confuse homeschooling with homosexuality but this is inane!
Skip Patterson August 2nd, 2014 at 01:12
Christofascists never have been known as the sharpest knife in the drawer.
Skip Patterson August 2nd, 2014 at 01:12
Christofascists never have been known as the sharpest knife in the drawer.
motherunit August 2nd, 2014 at 15:56
I learned about homophones in elementary school. Wouldn’t those long-ago nuns be scandalized if they knew what they were teaching us!
motherunit August 2nd, 2014 at 15:56
I learned about homophones in elementary school. Wouldn’t those long-ago nuns be scandalized if they knew what they were teaching us!
Nicko Thime September 6th, 2014 at 21:00
This guy owns a school teaching language and is afraid that an English word might be misunderstood as somehow “gay”?
And for this he fires a teacher?
The teacher shouldn’t waste his time working for a moron.
Nicko Thime September 6th, 2014 at 21:00
This guy owns a school teaching language and is afraid that an English word might be misunderstood as somehow “gay”?
And for this he fires a teacher?
The teacher shouldn’t waste his time working for a moron.