A teacher in one of my classes today, as an introduction to his powerpoint, had a slide which gave the name and telephone numbers of the head of the district office, as well as the supervisors names and addresses and whatnot, along with a message about how he (the teacher) does not have a specific belief or opinion, and is not endorsing either side of the topic shown.
The powerpoint was about a certain religious holiday/week in Guatemala, and the whole introduction seemed a bit outlandish in my opinion, especially because this teacher is a laidback one who really, generally, doesn't care about that sort of thing. I suppose my general question is whether teachers should really be prohibited from giving their opinions in classrooms or not?
I realize that the goal of not allowing teachers to do so is to allow students to form their own beliefs and opinions without influence from an adult, but if that is the case, it seems that these same adults hold far too little faith in their students if they do believe that their opinions could be easily swayed. Perhaps the necessary action to be taken is for the prohibition of teachers giving their opinions to be allowed in younger ages in schools, however, in higher grades, such as 12 and 11, or even all of high school, it seems a bit ridiculous.
Perhaps I am missing a key factor in all of this, but what, personally, do you think the reasoning behind this is? Do you think that it is acceptable and necessary? Or is it different where you live?
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In high school, it's fine imo, as long as they're not shoving it down the students throats... or being offensive. And it should be relevant to the discussion.
I agree.. it's important to consider the manner in which they present it. Maybe they have these "laws" so as to cover all of it, and make no exceptions? Like.. they say that you can't share ANY opinion, just to be safe, instead of saying that you can say it but have all these restrictions on it. Yeah.. I think I agree with you.
I think the teacher is correct in stating that that he is not going to endorse any side when it came to discussing a religious day in Guatemala. He is upholding seperation of church and state (assuming that you go to a public school.) If he did promote one side of the discussion, than he would be blurring the lines of this seperation.
I think high schoolers still can be swayed by their teachers' opinions. I realize their teachers are smart and educated, and their opinions play a significant role in the shaping of my opinions.