As a liberal high school student in semi-rural Kentucky, a consistently red state, I am no stranger to dealing with adults with opposite political ideologies from my own. And when I say opposite, I mean polar opposite. As in, we disagree on essentially every political issue at hand. These people include my own family members, friends, friends’ parents... the list goes on. And it’s completely fine; I understand, accept, and embrace civilly conversing with those of differing beliefs. But I question the presence of one group of people that’s on the list: teachers. I’ve been blessed with some amazing teachers in my elementary, middle, and high school education, but I’ve recently experienced the opinions of teachers influencing the curriculum they’re teaching.
I’ve had a teacher tell the class that schizophrenia is “probably just demonic possession”. I’ve had a teacher tell the class that all LGBTQ+ people have mental illnesses and need to be “fixed”. I’ve had a teacher tell the class that we need to embrace stereotypical, toxic gender roles.
While this is my personal experience, I’m sure something similar happens in the vast majority of schools. Many teachers strive to teach objectively while others let their opinions dominate their material.
Especially this year in a particular class, it’s become prevalent that the teacher is consciously and intentionally expressing their opinion in a way to influence the students to side with them. When said teacher’s opinions come into our class’ notes, it’s labeled “the truth”, making it seem objective on the outside, but on the inside it’s wildly subjective.
So that begs the question: is there a place for teachers’ opinions in the curriculum?
While teachers should be free to make their opinions on matters clear, their primary duty is to provide students with objective facts on their designated subjects so they are equipped to come to their own conclusions, especially when it comes to politics. In a political culture that is as polarizing as the one we’re in right now, it’s as important as ever to allow children to form their own opinions on their own time.
Teachers taking over the reigns of the formation of a student’s political beliefs is simply manipulative and an abuse of power.
We have to hold our teachers to a standard; we have to ensure a biased-free education for my fellow students. How are the leaders of tomorrow supposed to properly come into themselves if they aren’t guaranteed a properly objective education? Allowing teachers to continue to let their curriculum be polluted with their opinions masked as truth will lead to the deterioration of our education system. We have to do better. We have to expect better.