In class on Friday, we discussed the First Amendment, with special focus on when and where it can be limited. The limitations that caught my attention the most were those imposed on teachers. As both government employees and potential role models to their students, they are often prevented, and usually discouraged, from airing their political beliefs, religious beliefs, or generally anything controversial that isn't in the lesson plan.
The logic behind this seems straightforward at first glance: if a teacher, the local figure of authority, says anything about anything, the student is likely to accept it as truth without further thought, similarly to how they believe what their parents say. After all, most children with religious parents grow up to follow the same religion, so it makes sense, right?
Well, not always. Their are two key forces to consider. For starters, at a certain age kids begin to question authority. The colloquial name for this is "teenage rebellion". So while limitations on teachers' self-expression may be logical in K-8 schools, by the time high school rolls around the logic is decidedly weakened.
The second variable is that kids are often not considered capable of thinking for themselves. Which is ridiculous! I can think for myself, and do so regularly, and I would bet that most of my classmates who read this do too. And once students are capable of taking the facts (or failing hard information, the data they're given) and drawing their own conclusions from it, censoring teachers makes zero sense. In fact, from my point of view it cuts down on how interesting and informative their classes are.
Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment please.
While I agree that censoring of teachers is unnecessary, I would not go as far to say it is "ridiculous". Although many of us, as Juniors in High School, would like to think that we would not take every word that our teachers say for granted, I believe that in many cases we still have trouble thinking that authority figures, including teachers, could ever lead us astray. From childhood to adulthood we have all been told to "follow orders" and "stay clean" from Officer Friendly and the occasional visit from a DARE speaker warning us of the dangers of Drugs. It is hard to think that in many cases, we would not fall victim to believing that authority figures always speak the truth.
ReplyDeleteWhile I do agree that censoring of teachers is unnecessary and it does prevent further discussion and argument, I do not agree that it is a ridiculous request to ask that teachers keep their personal opinions to themselves on some matters.
I apologize if I did not make this clear in the original post: what I intended to say (and believe I did say) is "ridiculous" is the idea that students cannot think for themselves. Of course no one wants to be preached at during chemistry class. But enforcing stringent censorship on the basis that we are clay to be molded is a fallacy.
Delete