Are teachers owed acceptable terms list?

Last week the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that a teacher with 47 years in education who was named Pea Ridge teacher of the year in 2004 was accused by some students of using “racial words.” According to the paper, he was placed on leave then was terminated by unanimous vote of the school board, upholding the recommendation of school superintendent to terminate the teacher four months before his retirement, even though it was reported that “the students’ statements were not consistent and that the first four statements given on the day of the alleged incident were conflicting.” He was also branded a “repeat offender” because he had been accused of using the phrase “dark-skinned people” in class in answering students’ questions about his skin cancer surgery, explaining he was prone to skin cancer since he was light skinned. When did “dark-skinned people” become a racial slur?

Perhaps the Pea Ridge School Board should publish a list of acceptable and unacceptable phrases so teachers could avoid being unfairly labeled as racist. The board could consult the NAACP, although that in itself would be ironic given that there are no CP in the nation anymore, only P of C.

I have also never understood the media’s apparently acceptable use of “Black” to describe people who are not actually black but are various shades of brown, and “white” to describe people who are not actually white but are various shades of pinkish tan (Note the media’s woke use of capitalization discrimination).

This Pea Ridge situation seems to be a case of some folks going to great lengths to find ways to be offended and making up their own rules as to what is now offensive to them. I find that situation to be offensive itself and I don’t want to even think about the ridiculous flap over pronouns. The PC police (and the P of C police) should just let teachers teach and not try to destroy a man’s reputation over a ridiculous perceived offense.

PHIL WARNER Garfield