I am an elementary social studies teacher and while I tend
to lean more to the conservative side of politics these
days, I am very careful to leave my views outside the
classroom. My daughter is now a sophomore in high school
and I can't believe what her teachers are trying to push on
her. The whole '08 election was an eye opening experience
to say the least. Many of her friends told me they were
afraid to open their mouths because the teacher would set
their sights on them to ridicule/tease for the class
period, if not the entire semester. This singled them out
among their peers for the same behavior.

Two extremes of this kind of teaching are shown in Hiding
Out (Jonathan Cryer goes into hiding for witness protection
and hides out by going back to his cousin's high school)
and Back to School (Rodney Dangerfield goes back to college
to show his son how important an education is and faces off
with contemporary history teacher Sam Kinnison). I've
included the link to the Rodney Dangerfield movie but
couldn't find one for Cryer's. Warning: language is harsh
as one would expect from Dangerfield and Kinnison, but it
certainly makes its point. Here's a link to the trailer for
the other flick with Cryer... you'll get the idea from it
though. http://www.flixster.com/movie/hiding-out

I believe that we as teachers have almost a sacred trust to
teach our students the facts, and then allow them to
interpret them, not force our opinions or views on them,
however gently or forcefully we do it. I've had to teach my
daughter to "go along" with the teacher for the grade and
hold to her beliefs. We have some great discussions at
home, but for the kids who don't have educated parents or a
homelife where they can discuss what their kids are
learning, these teachers are little more than re-education
specialists, giving a slanted view of world politics from
the past to the present. It's scary.

How do you feel about teachers imposing their political
views on impressionable students?

Back to School clip

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