Growing up in Illinois and going to public schools, I have to say this is just making the situation worse. My wife (who went to the same school district) and I both recall situations where politics were in the classroom. I recall in grade school with vivid detail my teacher saying “anyone who voted for bush is an idiot” and kids in the class becoming upset and the teacher doubling down. My entire time at school (thro…
> I recall in grade school with vivid detail my teacher saying “anyone who voted for bush is an idiot” I never encountered anything like it or met anyone who did. My teachers always taught us to think critically; they didn't care what the topic was or what our conclusions were; it was about learning to think. Is there any research, such as a survey, of student experiences of political speech by teachers? I'm sure we…
isn’t the classic argument that being black in America is awful and whites can’t understand because they aren’t marginalized? I actually agree to an extent, but only so far as people don’t realize how it feels to be on the outside, unless that’s at there or have experienced it.
That being said, there’s a long list I can cite. Differing world views lead to dramatically different understandings in even interpretation.
An excellent example, my friend and I in school had to do an essay on the impacts of global warming. We chose the impact on animal populations in the Arctic, as there was a news article about some poor starving polar bears. Turns out (at the time) the population of polar bears and other animals was booming (while a few were decreasing). We showed some graphs, we were surprised about this honestly. We failed because “we didn’t show the impact of global warming” - seriously, I don’t have evidence, but it’s an ideological world view that teachers push.
In my AP government class in high school it was so bad the students would scream at the teacher. He had to regularly remove and suspend kids for getting aggressive at what they were being taught. Believe it or not, idk It was a personal experience.
> I'm sure we can find a few examples of anything, but we also all know well that there's a political group that is trying to denigrate and politicize every institution, from the media to schools to the FBI to the courts to scientists, etc. by saying they are biased toward liberals. Repeating its claims doesn't help; if we are going to think critically about it, and we should, we need some credible evidence.
I linked a lawsuit. You can also request the ciriculum from school districts you live in. You can also attend school board meetings. I urge you to do so and see for yourself.