Reply #53: I think this is precisely the issue... [View All]

This has been more politicized by those calling it "alleged liberalism", implying that if someone wanted to teach their brand of conservatism in class that would be OK, compared to the evil tenets of "liberalism". The issue is more about preaching one's points of view, whether they be political, religious, etc. which would be wrong, now matter what one's points of view is.

I think it's fine to have discussions, and even teachers to acknowledge their points of view in a classroom, but kids should be challenged to find their own reasons for believing things, andn to look at a whole body of evidence and find explanations for themselves. If a teacher is creative enough, and they have a relavent classroom topic (like philosophy, current events, world history, etc.), they can make sure that kids hear of various events they can look at, that if they look at objectively, will help them perceive them the same way the teacher might. But make sure not to only selectively look at things, and bring forth the core issues of what is supposed to be taught in the classroom, regardless of their beliefs in or not in them. By kids having self-discovery over what their beliefs are, that teaches rational thought, and ownership of their own thoughts.

I think that tests are the wrong place to introduce these sort of departures to personal beliefs too. They are pressure situations, where the kids are feeling pressured into making sure they answer right for a certain question, and if they feel they need to "fit in" to the teacher's mind set to get a good grade, that completely takes away from kids trying to find their own way into understand the world.

The teachers' students in this situation that hear the teacher being investigated for "liberalism" will get completely the wrong message of what's wrong with his approach to teaching, and some may go even further in the wrong direction than this teacher would want because of their perception that he tried to "liberalize" them, instead of trying to "Impress his own viewpoint" on them.