There is an
ongoing debate over whether or not teachers should make social or political
views known to students in the classroom. Some people approve of this idea
because teachers’ comments concerning such topics have a huge influence on
students, so that they could be biased thoughtlessly. Others, however, since students
must have their own stances about political or social issues, it should be done
and it is the most desirable when by a teacher. I agree with the former stance because
conveying a teacher’s social and political thought to students could be a meaningless
behavior and it is highly likely that students are difficult to have their own
stance especially against their teacher’s one.
To
begin with, a teacher’s effort to make students to know social or political
views could be meaningless. One significant reason is that there is an evident
difference between students and teachers in what they usually take care about.
Teachers, as adults, care social or political circumstances much more than
students. They are more interested on studying, their hobbies and the
relationship with other friends. So, teachers’ comment could be easily deemed to
be boring for students. Also, the terms used to explain such issues are not
familiar with students. To illustrate this point, my mathematics teacher in my
middle school usually put an emphasis on the nationalism which was confusing me
and other classmates. So, sometimes we just nodded without understanding his
saying. It’s totally time wasting.
But
even assuming the above is very plausible, some may argue that some may argue
that if a teacher does not emphasize on his or her own view but tries to make
the atmosphere where everyone can discuss freely, it would be surely
interesting class for students. Yet, I still put an emphasis on my idea because
there is one more important matter to consider.
It
is almost impossible for students to have their own stance about such issues.
Particularly it is highly likely that they would follow their teacher’s view
recklessly. This is because it is usual in a class that teachers convey
knowledge to students in which it is difficult for them to be against their
teacher. They relatively have less knowledge and information than their
teacher. That is, students might have biased view about such issues and which
is the crucial bad result.
To
sum up, everyone may hold a different position on this issue. Yet, all things
considered, I firmly believe that teachers should not convey their social or
political views to their students. This is because it is difficult to do so
with students harmoniously and it might have negative impact on students’
developing their own stance. |