Teachers should not swear in school

Throughout public middle schools and high schools, teachers using foul language in the classroom has been a problem. Adults who teach children during their formative years should not be allowed to use swear words or religious cursing in any Illinois public school classroom.

Although teachers, like all Americans, have a fundamental right to freedom of speech, that freedom is reduced upon entering the schoolhouse. Teachers must abide by their school's rules of conduct, put in place for the safety of all.

Throughout my seven years of middle and high school, I have had teachers who have no respect for the code of conduct in their institutions, and who use profanity in the classroom. By doing so, these teachers tell students, "Do as I say, not as I do."

Faculty must be held to the same standards as their students, who are not allowed to swear in school.

Middle school and high school teachers are college-educated adults; with this education, these teachers should have the ability to express themselves without swearing. Teachers are entrusted with the intellectual development of their pupils, who they know to be very impressionable. When teachers use curse words in the classroom, they teach children to do the same.

George Martin Heller

Elgin