My daughter is in 8th grade and expressed a concern that her social studies teacher had strong political views. I contacted the principal and he told me to contact the teacher. It went downhill fast. What do I do now?

This was the email I got from the teacher.  I really appreciate you communicating with me directly, and please feel free to do so first in the future if there is anything I can clarify for you. Let me see if I can help/clarify your comments/concerns. In regards to the second amendment, my comments were that this right to bear arms is very important, not only to our founding fathers who drafted the Bill of Rights, but also to us today. I stated that History is replete with examples where governments took the guns from their people and then began, sometimes immediately, taking their rights from them. I have a list of those governments here if you are interested. Stating that this second amendment has/is under attack by certain groups/politicians, is no secret and does fall within the realm of my subject and this is possibly one of the most important lessons I can teach today to my students. I will reiterate this lesson throughout the year dozens of times and hope it sticks. So I must admit I'm a bit confused when you say this is a political statement. I endorse no political group at the moment and am concerned about what I see in politics and in the news, as I'm sure you must be. So maybe you can clarify that for me a little better as far as your concern about my political views being stated in class. Stating that I teach because I love it and that my finances are such that I don't really need to teach is not only true but I would think would be construed as a plus, not a negative. I do share my personal history in class and the students also have a lot of opportunity to share theirs as well. We even have an assignment coming up soon that has them sharing some of their history in the form of a personal timeline. I see know harm in getting to know one another this way. Again, I would welcome an elaboration on how you viewed this as offensive or inappropriate. A lot of teachers tell personal stories/share personal information, so I probably need a little more explanation from you on this one as well. I did mention there are those in high government offices of our land that think the Constitution is outdated and seem to wish it to fail or be replaced. I also have a list of famous quotes by high government officials attacking our Constitution here as well.  If you've done your research I'm sure you know this is true. Some of them seem to be promoting a "New World Order" (the Bushes for instance spoke openly about it) agenda, which is much like Communism in that it limits our freedoms. The context of this statement was that knowing and defending our Constitution is more important today than ever in history, as it seems to be under attack. Again, I would need more clarification from you to see where this is (A) untrue, (B) an inappropriate comment in a U.S. History class, or (C) a statement of my political views.I hope this helps. If not, I would again invite you to be more specific in tying in my comments to specific political views. Please remember, my job title is "teacher." It is my job to teach and many of the concepts I teach may be new to not only your daughter, but you as well. I can back my comments with a plethora of research that also my be new to you. I welcome any chance to clarify new information for you. Thanks again for your contact. I welcome your future comments. via /r/Parenting http://ift.tt/2wrDatQ