Teachers as Politicians

The first journal entry is based on a discussion of a quote between Lauren, Nicole and I. The quote we were discussing was by Patrick Shannon (1992) who wrote, ‘All teachers are political, whether they are conscious of it or not. Their acts contribute to or challenge the status quo in literacy education, in schools, and in society’   We had trouble starting the topic so Lisa came over and suggested that evolution is a good example of a subject that is highly contentious among some people currently in the modern day and could serve as a jumping off point in our discussion.

            We talked about how neutrality was an important quality in a teacher so that they did not infringe upon different beliefs within their own classroom. We also discussed how choice of variety of subject matter in classes like socials (i.e. exploring different religions and civilizations, or even as simple as the different spellings between Canadian and US dictionaries). We also talked about how choice of subjects was important. Nicole commented that the school she attended for her middle school years had limited selection of both sports and certain fine arts subjects. There was no wood or metal work or even foods at her school whereas the schools that Lauren and I attended had all 3 of those. This may not seem like a political statement by the school or institution but deciding what classes or subjects you will offer defines what you think is important for students to learn. Less fine arts and athletics suggests that these areas are not important.  Another part of the discussion we talked about was how the teachers came across to students on issues such as the BCTF the school administration or the provincial or federal government. I had teachers that bashed one of more of these institutions which undermines them in the class room. Students without the critical thinking abilities to self check whether they believe what the teacher is saying or not may take whatever side of the argument the teacher is on. 

All teachers no matter their background go into the profession with certain preconceived notions of what teaching will be like what the administration structure is how they want to teach and what importance to give to each subject.  I want to do my best to be open to different opinions and strive to be neutral on issues of contention, even though I may not believe in the other side of the argument.  Here comes the hypocritical part of the argument from me, my second teaching area is biology and I believe that the evidence for evolution is astounding in its depth and breadth and that people who continue to deny its action are banging their heads against a wall. People with religious beliefs who conflict with it should look no farther than the Vatican who have conceded that it exists in some form.  They tend to believe that God put us all here and that we have evolved since being placed on earth.  There are many other takes on the creationist argument but the vast majority simply do not want to accept what is a theory only in name. 

Having gone on my rank for this journal section ill say that some areas I believe in more strongly than others research and new discoveries are happening all the time and letting old thinking get in the way of new discoveries should not be part of our job. We must teach the curriculum as laid out for us but be cognisant of how we are portraying out ideas and thoughts to our students and refrain from soap boxing on issues close to the heart.