I don't think this is possible absent agreement on what education means across factional loyalties; what sort of information is apolitically important seems to be contested. We might have enough notional agreement for a very minimal reading-writing-calculating education, but that wouldn't justify most of teachers' salaries or serve their day care / carceral function very well.
Mostly disagree with this piece. To the extent that there is a problem here (and I'm not sure it's a very significant one), the answer is not to tell teachers that they need to hide their political beliefs; it's to make sure that they assign readings they disagree with as well as ones that they do and to welcoe (and more than that encourage) students to disagree with them.
I'm completely fine with my kids having teachers who are not shy about sharing their political beliefs as long as they welcome disagreement. And it's not that hard to make it happen. It's simply about principals making it clear the kind of environment they want and also making an effort to hire teachers with different perspectives.
I don't think this is possible absent agreement on what education means across factional loyalties; what sort of information is apolitically important seems to be contested. We might have enough notional agreement for a very minimal reading-writing-calculating education, but that wouldn't justify most of teachers' salaries or serve their day care / carceral function very well.
Mostly disagree with this piece. To the extent that there is a problem here (and I'm not sure it's a very significant one), the answer is not to tell teachers that they need to hide their political beliefs; it's to make sure that they assign readings they disagree with as well as ones that they do and to welcoe (and more than that encourage) students to disagree with them.
I'm completely fine with my kids having teachers who are not shy about sharing their political beliefs as long as they welcome disagreement. And it's not that hard to make it happen. It's simply about principals making it clear the kind of environment they want and also making an effort to hire teachers with different perspectives.
I have occasionally heard it said, that there really kind of isn't a neutral position here... that all there is is a median position
that argument has always worried me