Should a Teacher Influence Opinions?
The religious right is intent on capturing education. Homeschooling - attacking public schools - rewriting biology books - now they go on and on about how higher education is a liberal bastion. What they did to the media, they are intent on doing to education.
Perhaps you have heard about all the yelling from the right concerning the Vermont teacher who worded a quiz to poke fun at Bush. I remember our senior PDP (Present Day Problems, a civics class) spent the whole year teaching from the book, The Naked Communist . It was years later that I found out the book was published by the John Birch Society and the teacher never mentioned that the book was biased. The librarian at our local grade school is a reborn Christian and buys religious books and discards all books on saving the environment. If students paid the least attention to school, we might have a problem.
Perhaps you have heard about all the yelling from the right concerning the Vermont teacher who worded a quiz to poke fun at Bush. I remember our senior PDP (Present Day Problems, a civics class) spent the whole year teaching from the book, The Naked Communist . It was years later that I found out the book was published by the John Birch Society and the teacher never mentioned that the book was biased. The librarian at our local grade school is a reborn Christian and buys religious books and discards all books on saving the environment. If students paid the least attention to school, we might have a problem.
posted by Flimsy Sanity @ 1:48 PM
6 Comments:
At 6:02 PM,
R J Adams said…
It's a sad fact of life that teachers will always influence the opinions of students. If only tutors would recognize the immense responsibility they bear, rather than implanting young, impressionable minds with their religio-political beliefs. I left school after learning reading, writing, and a bit of arithmetic. No college education, which is I believe where most such indoctrinations occur. I was left to form my own opinions and conduct my own personal 'higher education'. I never once regretted it.
At 6:14 PM,
Shephard said…
I went to an avante guard college that taught us to think for ourselves and stressed inter-disciplinaray learning and seminaring, and tons of reading. And i STILL feel college was somewhat of a waste of money. But I wouldn't trade the experiences.
Your local librarian... that's shocking. Here's to believing in karmic retribution. May it be as true as anything. ~S
At 6:58 PM,
Anonymous said…
Flimsy, I had two older brothers and so was already an avid reader by the time the school system -- first in California, then Texas, then back to California for university -- got hold of me. I spent a fair amount of time in hot water for expressing views from "outside sources", but since I'm so damned arrogant it never occurred to me I could be wrong, I didn't suffer much from that! I still have to remind myself that because I think something or have read it and been persuaded is not necessarily proof it's right or true. I really, really hate that! LOL! In Texas I never took the teachers very seriously -- I suspect I was a dreadful snob and judged their performance by the fact that they embraced one of the principal stupidities of our era: segregation. The nuts, alas, are no longer limited to rural or Southern schools. They are everywhere.
At 6:43 AM,
Flimsy Sanity said…
RJ: You prove that education and intelligence are not necessarily related.
ShephardI envy you. My friend went to a college where all you did was read books and write papers. I went to one that was almost exclusively lecturing. Don't remember a thing I heard. Yes, the cost is horrible.
xristimSo rebels are born not made. You are my heroine.
I read about a couple that educated their children by just supplying books on anything they were interested in. The boys went on to Yale on scholarships.
Self learning is great provided the kid has an inquisitive mind and the parents allow it. Too many would prefer TV and video games to books on astronomy. I have mixed feelings about public education - but I fear if it were left to the parents, only a few could/would do a better job than public education, poor as that is sometimes.
At 11:18 PM,
Anonymous said…
A fantastic blog. Keep it up. If you are looking for treating irritable bowel syndrome related stuff, I'm sure you'd be interested in treating irritable bowel syndrome Come check it out if you have time.
At 5:11 AM,
Anonymous said…
Hi Fellow! I was just searching blogs,and I found yours! I like it!
If you have a moment, please visit my art habbo hotel money site.
Good luck!
Post a Comment
<< Home