In this article, authors Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer merits the attention of teachers, policy makers, and academicians who take seriously the idea that learning and service reinforce each other and should come together in America's schools. While I was reading this article, what caught me attention was the thought of how teachers want their students to think politically, with the authors writing, "Our goal is not to replace consensus with conflict, but rather to point out the various ideological, political, and social goals that can be promoted by service learning activities in schools." This got me thinking about my first year at RIC, and how one of my teachers would do something similar to this. I'm not going to use any names, but this teacher would talk the first 20 minutes of some of the classes about her political views and would bash the president and others. Honestly, I didn't pay this much attention to when she/he did this, and would sometimes leave the room when this happened. In my own opinion, teachers should not be allowed to do this type of thing; they should keep their political views to themselves. It seems morally wrong, to me, for a teacher to insult a political officer and try to get her/his students to support them.
http://www.nea.org/tools/52576.htm
Question: What are the limits to what a teacher can talk about politics to in a classroom?
Christian,
ReplyDeleteI think you are completely right that it is wrong for teachers to push their own political opinions on students every day. However, I feel that it is important for political discussion to exist in the classroom, as long as the environment is a safe and respectful one. I really like the link you have included here. I believe it is a great one for all teachers and future teachers to read. Thanks for sharing.
I feel as if boundaries should be at place, but at the same time when can we ever have these conversations?
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