In Michigan, the schools have used this election year for real-world applications:- Programs such as these teach students to become critical thinkers and help them understand that voting gives them a voice in society. They quickly learn the relevance of specific issues like health care and the economy, issues many say they never paid attention to before getting involved at school. These are invaluable lessons our students will carry with them throughout life, learning how each decision will affect their future.
In the case of the student who tells me she objects to those who engage in alternative lifestyles (see post below), I try to remain as noncommittal as possible. I avoid telling her, "I think you're wrong, and here's why..." Because that's indoctrination. My role does not involve telling students what to think. Instead, I give her the freedom to carry out her research, make her arguments, support them -- while, at the same time, I play devil's advocate, instilling the need to anticipate opposing arguments, and to attempt to refute them, etc. Naturally, there are topics that are not only unsuitable, but outrageous -- (Example: "Hitler Didn't Go Far Enough" or something similar.) -- and I won't go there. All the same, I must be careful that I do not impose my own politics and personal values upon my students. That is not my mission.
2 comments:
I think as a teacher, you constantly walk a fine line between trying to get your students to "think critically" (which is an individual phenomenon and can't be generalized into either one pedagogical approach on the teacher's part or one universal result from the students) and indoctrinating them with your own views. The fact is that there are a lot of instructors out there who don't even THINK about this issue and just spew their opinions disguised as fact in the classroom. Scary.
I'd like to think that the children I might have one day will learn to be civic minded individuals with the freedom of choice--that being said, we aren't given much choice ourselves as voters in this corrupt 2-party system. I would put up money that the students in Michigan aren't being informed about Nader, McKinney, Barr, etc. In the end, as is with everything, it's up to parents to be involved and unscrew up anything the school might do.
I would put up money that the students in Michigan aren't being informed about Nader, McKinney, Barr, etc.
Darcy, I don't think they're missing much. But thanks for your comment regarding "critical thinking." You can see that concept in just about every mission statement out there, along with such items as "student-centered learning" and "multicultural environment." All such ideas are accepted without begin defined -- as if context has no meaning and all missions are (indeed!) universal.
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