Sisters teachers are not afraid of controversial subjects

Sisters teachers have not shied away from the teaching of controversial issues.

Because of the age level and maturity of students, the high school is the place where these issues come up most often.

Problems do not arise from the mere fact that controversial issues are taught. Problems arise when the approach that is taken in teaching them is not carefully charted.

According to high school principal Bob Macauley, the vast majority of parent complaints during his tenure as principal have been concerns about how political issues are approached.

Macauley can only remember two instances during the past 15 years when church-state concerns have been an issue: The recent firing of Kris Helphinstine for crossing the barrier in teaching materials outside of accepted curriculum in a Biology II class, and the homeschool program Macauley supervised and the district ran at Sonrise Christian School (now Sisters Christian Academy) from 1999 to 2004.

Controversial subject matter usually comes up in Social Studies classes, and Sisters High School's master teacher Jon Renner regularly deals with these issues.

In comparing his own situation to that of Helphinstine's Renner told The Nugget: "I am given legal authority to teach one of the subjects he was forbidden to teach. Oregon statute clearly restricts what he can teach to ideas that can be tested using the scientific method. In my classes ... I am not bound by that rule."

Key to the teaching of controversial issues is presenting information accurately. High school U.S. History and Constitution teacher Bill Rexford points out the importance of looking at primary source data that surrounds an issue and then having students make up their own minds.

"There's no right or wrong answers. It's the students ability to use the documents to build an argument," he said. Rexford uses letters that have been written to the editor of The Nugget as an example: "They're all right. It's just whether you agree or not."

Presenting subject matter that is appropriate to students' age group is also essential.

"Sometimes you can have a class, for instance juniors or pretty much any class, and you can have kids in there who clearly are not ready for some types of material," Renner said.

Appropriate subject matter is also often dependent upon whether the class is required or an elective. Renner refers to his Fifty Years Through Film class, a class that uses commercial films rather than a textbook to explore the history of the past 50 years, as an example.

"The films have been really carefully selected and vetted by a whole bunch of people, and they all have sort of our national stamp of approval both artistically and historically and yet ... many of those films are rated 'R,'" Renner said.

For a film to attain Renner's stamp of approval, the consequences of violence to those who are directly involved as well as to their families, friends and society at large must be depicted.

"Gratuitous violence basically gets weeded out pretty quickly when you use that kind of filter," Renner said.

Renner used "The Killing Fields" as an example of a film that has portions that are "truly awful. But, of course, they are truly awful because of what truly happened in the world we all live in was truly awful in Cambodia," he said.

Beyond being an elective, parents must sign a parental release for students to even take Renner's film class. Renner provides a synopsis of all films for parents to examine.

"Parents can't pick and choose the films that their kids see. It's an all-or-nothing thing," he said.

Renner's class watches a portion of a movie, then initiates discussion before going on to the next segment.

"It's really a guided view of the film. During the process of that, kids ask questions," Renner said.

As a further control Renner chooses the specific films that each class watches dependent upon the maturity of its students.

"If I have kids who are really sophisticated they are going to perhaps know about the Korean War or Viet Nam or drugs in the Golden Triangle...," Renner said. Other students may not even know where these places are.

Renner always asks people who question the material to come to class and participate.

"Then, you can actually see for yourself what's going on. I think when people are honestly welcomed to be part of the process that changes the whole feeling of the thing that's going on," Renner said.

Having a community like Sisters where parents are very careful about their children is commendable, Renner believes.

"It think that's really a good thing, regardless of which side of an issue you're on," he said.