Teacher under fire for informing kids of their Fifth Amendment rights

>The 5th amendment gives people the right to refuse to testify, as a witness, in a way that might incriminate oneself.

I'm not American, but I'm pretty sure the fifth amendment applies to any and all self incriminating statements that can be used to support a criminal charge against you. This is the entire reason police advise you of these exact same rights at the moment of arrest.

By your explanation, anything you say to a police officer or other figure of authority (in this case the school) that leads to criminal prosecution is fair game. That simply isn't the case.

Entire context:

nor shall (a person) be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;

Witness is in reference to the general action; not just sitting on a stand.

I should have been clearer. From his point of view he had a moral obligation to his students. I actually don't think he did.

The school system should be following a combination of legal code and the generally accepted morals of the community they represent. Notification was provided to parents. Parents could opt out and there was no general movement by parents to prevent the survey. The school therefore didn't ask him to do anything which is "definitively immoral".

People including myself have to make judgements like this at different times during their career. I have worked for companies which have asked me to perform actions which I personally have found against my moral code but which aren't illegal and may not be considered immoral by society as a whole. Sometimes I have done them and other times I have not. It has depended on how large of a violation of my own moral code I though it was. Anytime I have refused I have fully expected and received negative reactions from my employer. To actively interfere with the goals or requests of your employer and not expect a negative reaction is just idiotic.

The survey is compelling students, under color of legal authority, to confess to crimes. This confession can later be construed as "discoverable evidence" leading to actionable charges.

The objection here is to "fishing expeditions" wherein evidence is gathered en masse under an innocent pretext, and later (whether planned or not) an authority could gain access to that information and use it against the coerced students. Example: survey occurs, police find evidence of drug crimes with tenuous connection to a particular student, survey results are demanded via warrant by police, confession by student in question is revealed and a whole lotta other students' confessions are found and subsequently acted on.

That the evidence was elicited prior to development of a criminal case does not excuse compelling students to confess, whoever to, to otherwise unidentified crimes. If the evidence exists at the onset of criminal investigation, it cannot be recalled by the suspect under 5th Amendment grounds. That the confession is elicited by the state, to wit the public school, compounds the issue: the government is not allowed to demand evidence of criminal culpability without warranted cause, which is exactly what the school in question was doing.

I agree!

Someone who attributes to incompetence too regularly is one we may call a "chump" or a "sucker" and is an easy mark for charlatans of all stripes. If I don't get taken for a fool occasionally, maybe I could have a little more human faith. If I get taken for a fool all the time, I should get pissed off more.

He sounds a lot like my social studies teacher in high school. He was the best teacher I ever had because he was a complete, utter bastard. He didn't care if you had the right answer, you had to back it up with facts. He gave us 5 page papers to do every night and a 10 page research paper every semester. Both of those things were crucial to my development of critical thought and being able to communicate it, something nobody else bothered to teach, even in college.

He was fired a few years after I graduated. Which wasn't surprising - he constantly pissed off the school board and other teachers. Dryden sounds a lot more politic than my teacher was.