Bias In The Classroom
Bias in the classroom is the largest problem facing our educational system today. Teachers, especially in the social studies curriculum, and predominately in the more liberal east and west coasts of the United States, have taken to teaching their political ideology as the gospel truth. What is most vexing is not why they do this, but rather why the school districts and parents allow it to happen.
Idaho, where I live, is not immune to this phenomenon. Over the decade, my children have brought home some of the most factually inaccurate information I have ever heard. When I ask where they got this 'information' from, they would always say, 'from my history teacher' or 'from my government teacher.' Here are just some of the things my children told me during some of our dinner discussions:
1) Theodore Roosevelt was a racist and anti-women because there were no women or people of color in his cabinet (the government teacher somehow failed to mention that women and minorities didn't appear regularly in a president's cabinet until almost seventy years later)
2) One of the main reasons Roosevelt supported the Spanish-American war was because of the 'dark skin' of our enemy (never mentioned was Spains horrific treatment of the Cubans)
3) In history class last fall, one of my daughter's history teachers said, 'Those of you who are old enough to vote better vote for John Kerry. George Bush has a plan to reinstitution the draft in January.' (this was taken directly from the democratic talking points from the DNC website)
4) That same teacher told his class last month that they wouldn't have social security to fall back on because 'George Bush was going to privatize and destroy it.' (again, never mentioned was the fact [and this is a fact acknowledged by everyone] that without changes, Social Security will cease to function in thirty or so years unless drastic changes are made to the system)
At no time did these teachers tell the students that these were subjective observations, leading them to believe that the teacher's observations were based on fact. They were not. I have no problem having liberals and Democrats teach my children. I have a problem with liberals and Democrats indoctrinating my children.
Our children are our future, and should be given objective facts and then be allowed to make their own decisions, regardless of whether it matches our own political ideology. I, as a conservative Republican, should never interweave my politics with history. Although the Republican in me may have trouble speaking positively about Bill Clinton, the teacher in me had darn well better portray his accomplishments right along with his mistakes.
I voiced a concern to a teacher friend recently, saying that I was concerned as to how to bring up 'hot' topics such as abortion fairly. She told me that she always framed the discussion about abortion as how the individual students would work to keep abortion 'safe and available' to women, as the Supreme Court ruled that it was a right supported in the Constitution.
It is teachers such as this that concern me the most. Using this thought process, then she would also have had to teach in 1950 that 'separate but equal' was a just law because the Supreme Court agreed with it in 'Plessy vs Ferguson' in 1896. She further would have to tell her students that 'Brown vs Board of Education' was an attempt to undermine states rights, and should therefore be voted down by the Court.
I am in no way suggesting that abortion is or isn't a right contained within the Constitution. I am simply saying that an educated teacher should understand that a Supreme Court decision simply means that today, now, a particular law is or isn't constitutional.
In no way is this a slam against the profession. I will be a teacher in a little more than a year, and believe there is no greater calling that being a teacher. But in accepting this calling, all of us must check our personal beliefs at the door. The children deserve no less.
My, we teachers have a difficult job.
Idaho, where I live, is not immune to this phenomenon. Over the decade, my children have brought home some of the most factually inaccurate information I have ever heard. When I ask where they got this 'information' from, they would always say, 'from my history teacher' or 'from my government teacher.' Here are just some of the things my children told me during some of our dinner discussions:
1) Theodore Roosevelt was a racist and anti-women because there were no women or people of color in his cabinet (the government teacher somehow failed to mention that women and minorities didn't appear regularly in a president's cabinet until almost seventy years later)
2) One of the main reasons Roosevelt supported the Spanish-American war was because of the 'dark skin' of our enemy (never mentioned was Spains horrific treatment of the Cubans)
3) In history class last fall, one of my daughter's history teachers said, 'Those of you who are old enough to vote better vote for John Kerry. George Bush has a plan to reinstitution the draft in January.' (this was taken directly from the democratic talking points from the DNC website)
4) That same teacher told his class last month that they wouldn't have social security to fall back on because 'George Bush was going to privatize and destroy it.' (again, never mentioned was the fact [and this is a fact acknowledged by everyone] that without changes, Social Security will cease to function in thirty or so years unless drastic changes are made to the system)
At no time did these teachers tell the students that these were subjective observations, leading them to believe that the teacher's observations were based on fact. They were not. I have no problem having liberals and Democrats teach my children. I have a problem with liberals and Democrats indoctrinating my children.
Our children are our future, and should be given objective facts and then be allowed to make their own decisions, regardless of whether it matches our own political ideology. I, as a conservative Republican, should never interweave my politics with history. Although the Republican in me may have trouble speaking positively about Bill Clinton, the teacher in me had darn well better portray his accomplishments right along with his mistakes.
I voiced a concern to a teacher friend recently, saying that I was concerned as to how to bring up 'hot' topics such as abortion fairly. She told me that she always framed the discussion about abortion as how the individual students would work to keep abortion 'safe and available' to women, as the Supreme Court ruled that it was a right supported in the Constitution.
It is teachers such as this that concern me the most. Using this thought process, then she would also have had to teach in 1950 that 'separate but equal' was a just law because the Supreme Court agreed with it in 'Plessy vs Ferguson' in 1896. She further would have to tell her students that 'Brown vs Board of Education' was an attempt to undermine states rights, and should therefore be voted down by the Court.
I am in no way suggesting that abortion is or isn't a right contained within the Constitution. I am simply saying that an educated teacher should understand that a Supreme Court decision simply means that today, now, a particular law is or isn't constitutional.
In no way is this a slam against the profession. I will be a teacher in a little more than a year, and believe there is no greater calling that being a teacher. But in accepting this calling, all of us must check our personal beliefs at the door. The children deserve no less.
My, we teachers have a difficult job.
