An Arlington, Virginia public school substitute teacher has been suspended for allegedly telling students they should keep an open mind regarding the Russia-fueled conflict in Ukraine. While discussing the events, he advised students to read news from both sides, considering the substantial volume of propaganda involved in current reporting from Ukraine.
According to WTOP, this is what caused parents to take offense:
Arlington Public Schools suspended John Stanton, 65, who made the comments during a middle school Spanish class Friday, The Washington Post reported.
Stanton said he offered an opposing viewpoint and told students to read as many news sources as possible, including Sputnik News, which the FBI, CIA and National Security Agency have declared a “state-run propaganda machine.”
“The statement I think that got me was I said, ‘I personally support the logic of Putin,’ and what I meant by that is, he made a rational decision from his perception,” Stanton said.
While the current feel-good trend is supporting Ukraine blindly, there have been numerous reports of human rights issues in the country, and a number of stories published by Ukraine’s own propaganda machine have proven to be entirely false as well.
12 Responses
My goodness! American people have such (convenient) short memories. You are so naive to believe that we don’t have propaganda here in the good O’ USA? Have you forgot Korea, LSD testing on citizens without consent, Vietnam, Watergate, oil wars, intentional pesticide poisoning, intentional lead poisoning on American people, etc., etc. Republicans and Democrats both have been guilty of crimes against our own people. I have been here for 65 years and I remember many of these government crimes against us. The truth was suppressed for decades by cbs, nbc, abc and others. No one has been properly held accountable in America for crimes against its own people. Past time to wake up! Crimes are still occurring today right here in America. Think for yourself, be informed and ask questions: Why? Think outside the box.
The teacher does not know how and when to keep his big mouth shut.
Good for Arlington!
John…. I think you should research before you speak…. ZELENSKY IS A TYRANT and has been torturing and killing ethnic Russians since he took office. ZELENSKY has also been lying to the world (THERE NEVER WAS A RADIATION LEAK AND ZELENSKY HAS BOMBED HIS OWN BUILDINGS FOR PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES) You don’t KNOW the whole story…. there is MUCH MORE TO THIS SITUATION THAN THE PUBLIC IS ALLOWED TO KNOW. ZELENSY has been at war within his own country AND WITH PUTIN for the past 3 years (and previous leaders have warred since before 2014) SOMETIMES a conflict is best to be handled between the 2 parties. GOOGLE ZELENSKY WANTS WWIII AND JUST MAYBE YOU WILL PUT THE PUZZLE TOGETHER…. ZELENSKY WANTS THE WORLD INVOLVED IN HIS SELF MADE CRISIS.
FAKE NEWS! STOP DRINKING THE KOOL AID
I agree he shouldn’t be enter intervening his own opinion but he also should not be going against his own beliefs entirely early I think that pushing for them to do research was an awesome idea though I don’t think that website was probably the best butI agree he shouldn’t be enter intervening his own opinion but he also should not be going against his own beliefs entirely early I think that pushing for them to do research was an awesome idea though I don’t think that website was probably the best. I think that we need to guide our children to do their Research more often. Maybe the teachers need to have a guide as to what locations to suggest that they go to for their information because otherwise they’re left to their own resources think that happens more often than not the teachers are left with their own resources and they just send them or tell them whatever they would like to do or what they think they should do but at the 1st mistake they’re just attacked and suspended instead of being given the resources to begin with this shit didn’t start going into a Crane yesterday it’s been on the news and all over the place for a little while now these teachers should have been brought into a meeting and advised us to how they’re supposed to be handling this instead of just reprimanding teachers as they make mistakes I think this was a Important that she did not or they did not send theTo propaganda websites but she may very well be misinformed and didn’t know that that’s what that was not all of us are godsWe all don’t know and just because it was a Spanish teacher does not mean that the topic never came up or that they didn’t come directly to them for advice they should have been set down with the meeting when all this junk started going down and told how to handle it.
Sending middle school kids to “Sputnik News” – a known source of propaganda – is not a way to see “both sides” of a story. That also seems pretty far afield from what a substitute in Spanish class ought to be spending time on.
GEOZ… SO WHERE HAVE YOU GOTTEN YOUR INFORMATION FROM? GOOGLE ZELENSKY HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS… ZELENSKY WANTING WWIII…. ZELENSKY – TYRANT RULING UKRAINE. YOU NEED TO GET AN EDUCATION.
This is absurd. That is what teachers are supposed to do. Give them the ability to view all information and draw their own conclusion which leads to discussion. He is teaching them how to think not what to think. This is an awesome teacher who knows how to teach. I was born and raised in Arl and I am really upset about this, especially when there is such a diverse population there. Shame on Arlington for censoring information gathering from sources other than MSM.
Ah, I see the Soviet Republic of Arlington is censoring free speech as can be expected from such an entity. Why should a teacher be expelled if he teaches that there are two sides to a story, and there always is. Soviet Arlington schools system is accusing this teacher just as Soviet Russia would have done before the fall in 1991, should a teacher speak give the US side of the issues.
Maybe because he’s supposed to be teaching Spanish, rather than pointing students to Russian propaganda websites? If he’s too dumb to read the room, then they’ll likely fair better with a different Spanish teacher. Maybe one that teaches Spanish without inserting his own (obviously wrong) political opinions?
MAYBE BECAUSE THE STUDENTS BROUGHT UP THE SUBJECT AND HE IS TELLING THEM IT IS NOT WHAT IT SEEMS…. BRANDON HOW ABOUT YOU GOOGLE THE GOVERNMENT OF UKRAINE AND FIND OUT IT IS NOT A DEMOCRACY… RATHER IT IS HEAVILY INFLUENCE BY THE NAZI FORM OF GOVERNMENT RIGHT ALONG WITH GENOCIDE TO ETHNIC RUSSIANS LIVING WITHIN UKRAINE. Surprised? You won’t find truth in the media who also want WWIII AND GOOGLE ZELENSKY AND FIND OUT HE WAS IN COURT IN POLAND FOR HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS TO THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE WITHIN HIS BOREDER JUST DAYS BEFORE THIS STARTED….. THEN LISTEN TO ZELENSKY… HE WANTS TO PULL THE WHOLE WORLD INTO WWIII…. EVERY REQUEST FROM ZELENSKY WILL START AN INTERNATIONAL WAR. AMAZING HOW PEOPLE KL;IKE BRANDON WILL CRITICIZE BEFORE THEY KNOW WHAT THE ISSUE REALLY IS.
While I appreciate any teacher suggesting researching both sides, I 100% agree w your point Brandon. No business inserting his political opinion, let alone directing students to propaganda websites. VA parents have had enough of this leftist indoctrination, and finally getting involved. Couldn’t be more proud of VA parents leading the transparency in education charge.