O'Reilly: Burqas in schools a path to 'chaos in the classroom' Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, host of The O'Reilly Factor, appears on ABC's Good Morning America to promote his new book, Kids Are Americans, Too, written over the course of at least one sleepless night.
O'Reilly professes to have been a "little thug" as a child, accordingly sent to a private school by his father to be "whipped into shape" in ways including strict, formal dress code and "Paul Anka" hairstyle.
Having briefly been a high school teacher, O'Reilly gives his take on what is transpiring in American classrooms today; what he calls a "culture war."
"A teacher can walk in and say, 'You pray right now!' -- the teacher gets fired."
On the other hand, says O'Reilly, "A teacher can walk in and say 'Your country is evil. America's evil.' Nothing'll happen to the teacher."
O'Reilly and host Diane Sawyer are in agreement that today's youth are unacceptably dressed. Indicators of this include the flaunting of low-hanging pants and burqas. Burqas, O'Reilly says, are an imposition of one's religion on others. He alludes to such an expression of religion as a path to "chaos in the classroom" and an acceptable loss at the discretion of school administration.
The interconnectedness, says O'Reilly, of the rights of students, parents and teachers, should be factored in when crafting school policy. One recently adopted by King Middle School in Portland, Maine, makes contraceptives available to students as young as 11 years old. O'Reilly regards that policy as an enticement into sexual activity.
"It's just a wild zone where nobody knows what the rules are," complains O'Reilly of the public school experience.
The entire exchange, including O'Reilly's take on the pool of 2008 presidential hopefuls, and a special message to comedian and new presidential contender Stephen Colbert, can be viewed below, as broadcast on ABC's Good Morning America on October 29, 2007.
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