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I have school age children who attend public school. We live in an overwhelmingly Democrat area of the country, so it's absolutely no surprise to me that my children's teachers are overwhelmingly Democrat. And that's okay. To each his own.
And because of a teacher's political affiliation, I would expect a Government teacher to have a hard time keeping his views totally to himself/herself (though I would also expect a Government teacher to allow the students - at this point usually seniors and near voting age - to be able to express their views and not put them down for their views if said views were contradictory to their own)
For the last couple of years, there have been teachers in our district that have gone out of their way to try to influence the political beliefs of the children they teach. Not through open debate (where everyone gets an opinion), but by TELLING the children things like "Bush is an idiot", "the Republicans are going to reinstate the draft" (untrue), and "the Republicans are the reason some of your parents don't have good jobs".
This isn't new or unusual, even in areas that aren't heavily populated with Democrats. It seems teachers in colleges and secondary schools across the country have regularly felt compelled to teach Liberalism, rather than the class that they are supposed to be teaching.
Even worse, there are teachers whose lesson plans have gone into detail about the Muslim faith (wonder what would happen if a teacher discussed the Christian or Jewish faith with their students), and there have actually been YOUNG children reprimanded by teachers for writing about wanting to become a soldier.
My children, at least at this point in their life, probably know more about politics and government at their ages than most of their peers, because we talk politics a lot and debate issues here at home a lot.
So my kids aren't going to be easily swayed by Liberal retoric being shoved down their throats, and they are likely to give their own opinion to someone (even a teacher) who issues a statement as fact that they believe is wrong.
When my daughter came home and informed me that she was very uncomfortable in her science class and asked that I go to the school and have her moved to a different teacher's science class, I asked why she was uncomfortable.
Remember, this is SCIENCE class. She should be learning about atoms and molecules, formulas, dissecting frogs or something similarly scientific, right? Well, she was learning SOME of this, but then the teacher would take about 15 minutes of every class (that's about 1/3 of the class time!) discussing politics.
No, not discussing. It was HER talking bad about President Bush, calling him an idiot, and any child who attempted to refute her, was basically told they were wrong and to be quiet. She hadn't, after all, asked for their opinion.
No one reading this would be surprised by the fact that I wasn't fond of Clinton (or that I'm still not). In fact, I despised him. I thought he was a schmuck and the worst sort of cad, who took credit for the accomplishments of the two Republican presidents before him, and the overwhelmingly Republican congress that he had to work with during his 8 years, and an internet bubble that allowed the economy to (falsely) soar (before taking the fast train to the bottom during the last year of his term).
But would I ever tell other people's CHILDREN that Clinton was an idiot? No way! That would be rude and disrespectful of their parents, whose beliefs may be different than mine. Talking politics to a child who is probably not intellectually capable of debating the issue is vastly unfair. And when an authority figure - like a teacher - tries to tell them what to believe, most children whose parents have taught them to respect their teachers, will not feel they are allowed to dissent (especially when a teacher makes it clear their opinions are not welcome).
I told my own children that despite Clinton's flaws, he was the president, and they must respect the office. They could disagree with what he did, but they weren't to speak disrespectfully about him.
Teachers, who I'm sure would want respect from my children even if my children disagree with them, should respect my children, as well. And me. And the president, even if the teacher doesn't like him.
I was appalled that this teacher had encouraged disrespect from children for anyone, including our president.
But I told my daughter to tough it out. Keep quiet so she didn't get in trouble, and eventually the school year would be over. It wasn't the place for the teacher to discuss politics and spew hatred, but that my daughter should still show this disrespectful teacher respect (I teach my children that they can only control their own actions, and that no matter how others act, they should always do what's right).
Then she came home on another day and told me that the SUBSTITUTE teacher of one of her classes had used almost the whole class to discuss politics and his hatred of Bush and why the war in Iraq was wrong. This was also NOT an open discussion. This teacher was telling them what was right, what was wrong, and they weren't given a chance to voice an opinion.
Guess what class this teacher was substituting for? MATH. Just in case you didn't catch that, this was a MATH class, and this guy was a MATH teacher.
At this point, I call the school. I very calmly and politely tell the principal that I didn't pay taxes for my children's education to have Liberal teachers try to indoctrinate my children with their views. That if it was a science or math class, my children better be learning about science and math, and that the teacher had better not be discussing politics on my dime during these classes.
Then I told him I resented teachers who encouraged disrespect - for anybody.
And finally, I told him that if any of the teachers whose classes dealt with the American government felt compelled to give the Liberal side of the issues, that was okay, but they better also bring someone in (I volunteered) to give the Conservative side of the issues, otherwise, they wouldn't be teaching government or American history, but Liberalism (which is not the class my children signed up for).
That was in 2003.
In 2004, the entire 1st week of my daughter's history class was taken up by the teacher spewing his views on Iraq, the economy and President Bush (very anti-war, anti-Bush), and inferring that Kerry was some sort of god. One of the boys (whose father is in the military) tried to disagree with one statement or another, and the teacher humiliated him. So it was no wonder my daughter was afraid to state her views.
The election was only a couple months away, and it was only going to get nastier unless something was done. Apparently, calling the school stopped the two teachers in question the year before, but there had been no memo sent out to all teachers saying they shouldn't use the classroom as their political podium.
My daughter wanted to make a point. She wanted to counter his claims. But she's a child - a 12 year old CHILD. She didn't want humiliated like her friend had been.
So we went to the shoe store down the street, and I bought her a pair of flip-flops. The plan was for her to put the shoes (never worn) on her desk when she entered the classroom and when the teacher asked her why she had a pair of shoes on the desk, she was going to say, "I'm just exercising my right to free speech, sir, and these flip-flops represent one reason I would not vote for your candidate."
Well, don't you know, the teacher saw the shoes and never said a word. But apparently, he realized the children were not powerless or voiceless. Perhaps he even realized that the child he'd been bombarding with retoric had a Conservative parent who was ready to do serious political battle.
That day, there was no political references. Yes, there were times during the year that he voiced his opinion, but never quite to the degree he'd subjected the kids to that first week of school.
Hey, everyone has their own political view, and I understand that. I celebrate that, even if I don't agree with the views they have.
But don't forcefeed my children your views while telling them to keep their opinions to themselves, and especially if your class has nothing to do with politics, history or government. And if you do this? Don't expect me to vote for higher taxes the next time you initiate a levy because you want a pay increase (but DO expect me to lead the campaign against the levy).
If similar things are happening in your school - a Liberal teacher forcing their Liberal views on your kids, or even a Conservative teacher forcing their views on your kids - there ARE remedies. Namely, calling the school or addressing the school board.
If that doesn't work, try these sites:
ProtestWarrior.com has equipped 160 high school chapters and about 100 individual students with materials to publicize, for instance, whenever a teacher "tries to shove his ideology down someone's throat."
Republicanvoices.org, based in Massachusetts, is soliciting testimony from K-12 students about political bias in the classroom. Led by a 12-year-old editor (with guidance from adults), it aims to leverage support for reform of what it calls "the liberal, bureaucratic, public school indoctrination machine."
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