THE INDOCTRINATOR IS ... OUT

Much more about this suspended social studies teacher in Raleigh is bound to tumble into the media spotlight in the weeks to come, so it's premature to call out the hounds against him, but it does appear self-evident that he considered his diploma to teach teenagers as a license to proselytize for his particular brand of Christianity.

Mr. Escamilla, the teacher now on paid leave, ushered a Christian evangelist into his classes on Feb. 15th who proceeded to denounce Islam and hand out brochures to the teenagers: "Jesus not Muhammad, Part I," and "Do Not Marry a Muslim Man, Part I." (By implication, it's Part 2 that's inevitably drawn my curiosity.)

In one of those classes sat a girl whose father is a Muslim.

Now other students who've graduated from Enloe High are starting to come forward and talk about Mr. Escamilla's activities over the past 18 years.

Former Enloe students say Escamilla has never made a secret of his Christian beliefs.

"He's always been a very controversial guy at Enloe," said Jaime Zea, 18, who graduated last year and said he bears no grudge against Escamilla. "He's an opinionated teacher, and he's always pushing the envelope." ...

Wei-Chun Wang, who took an Advanced Placement European history class with Escamilla in 2004, said the teacher brought in a creationist without offering a guest visitor on evolution.

Students who took the same class in 2000 said Escamilla showed the movie version of "Left Behind," a popular apocalyptic Christian fiction series that tells of the Rapture in which Christ lifts his followers to heaven before Jesus' eventual return.

Andrea Schrag said that after she graduated in 2000, Escamilla mailed her a copy of "The Case for Christ," a book by popular Christian evangelist Lee Strobel.

"He knew I was Jewish," said Schrag, now a lawyer in Raleigh. "I was outspoken about that."

Maybe Escamilla was a good teacher. The fact that there's not been more hue & cry against him prior to this might be evidence that he was a good teacher, and there are some ex-students cited in this article who say he was fair.

Whether he was and is a good teacher, the evidence quoted above seems to suggest that he was and is also a jerk. Being a jerk doesn't disqualify one from being a teacher (and we WON'T delve too deeply into THAT), but violating the Constitution of the United States MIGHT. We wouldn't want our kids sitting in his classroom, mainly because such proselytizing could permanently turn a good kid against valuable religion ... any more than we'd want our kids sitting in a classroom run by an obnoxious atheist.