Monday, October 27, 2008
Politics in the Classroom
Today I'm struggling with the stickiness of partisan politics in the classroom. With the election just around the corner, there is a lot to talk about. However, I'm worried about keeping my emotions in check. Today some students were talking about Sean Hannity and it made my blood pressure rise. I'm fairly sure there are some Yes on 8 people (see Saturday's post below) in my class and when discussing it, I'm afraid of coming across in a way that is too partisan. Many of my students now know that I'm a democrat given that they saw me hawking dem candidates at the BBQ on campus last week. I'm glad they saw me participating in the process, but it also heightens, in my opinion, the delicateness of discussing the issues in class. Or, maybe I'm making it into a bigger deal than it is. If you're teaching teachers (and about 9 of the 10 people reading this blog are), how are you handling this issue? Please! I need help!
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4 comments:
Thanks for sharing your struggle. I canvassed in Pennsylvania for the Obama-Biden campaign on Saturday (out there in fully partisan gear) and one woman said, "I might even vote for the dark one." Oy. Do your students or other voters you know even have the words to convey ideas about race?! I mean, "the dark one"?! Sheesh! That leads me to give my smidgeon of advice...that we in teacher education are here most often to teach terms, to teach the language of education. Of course, we always, always teach culture as we teach language, right? So, to teach the woman noted above to use the term "African American" instead of "the dark one" (or to teach John McCain to use "Senator Obama instead of "that one") IS teaching culture, though I believe the best we can do at times is to teach others the best terms to use so that we/they may sound professional and knowledgeable (and maybe even less than ignorant). When the Iraq war started, I asked my students, "How are your K-6 students responding to any news/media about the war?" One woman said, "My relatives are in the National Guard and it's all Clinton's fault that they will have to go to war"... and then she started to cry. Huh? My immediate response (in my head) was that this woman was a conservative and Clinton was the easiest liberal target. AND, HOW could I ever express my true opinions in class? How could I even get people to answer the question I was asking, which requested nothing about identifying one's own political viewpoints? The conversation ended with this one woman setting a conservative tone in my classroom where students I knew who were against the Iraq war, for example, carefully expressed points of view that were quite neutral (all in support of troops, saying little about the policies taking those troops to war). I guess the question that comes from this story is, Who SHOULD set the tone in our classrooms? If we do NOT do it, won't someone else freely step up in his/her own way to possibly set a tone that might squelch other points of view? Argh. This is mostly unclear...sorry about that! Ann! I guess I am doing my own therapy too!
This is an interesting question, because I don't think it's ever impacted me in a teacher ed classroom. Yes, we talk about potentially divisive issues (for example, including LGBTQ perspective in the curriculum), but I always try to make sure my comments remain student-centered. In other words, what's best for students?
The only example I can think of where I might include a perspective/viewpoint that is strictly my own is when I discuss how being an atheist sometimes makes it difficult for me to see a spiritual person's point of view and how I have to be vigilant to examine my own assumptions and biases in that case.
You might consider making a sort of joke out it. Some days, when I know I'm going to rant about something (NCLB, documenting interactions with students/parents), I take a little booster stool that has "SOAP" written on it in Sharpie. When I start ranting, I pause, say, "Just a second..." and hop up on it. "There, that's better!" And off I go again. Then I climb down when I'm done. It's cheesy, but it works to underscore that what I'm about to say is more opinion than usual, and I also discuss using it as a technique in their own classrooms.
The best advice I can give is to stick to education topics appropriate for the context of the class, and if you do go into territory you figure is potentially divisive, stick to factual evidence whenever possible, keeping the best interests of school children at the core of your information.
GOBAMA!
I love the soapbox idea!
You also said, "I always try to make sure my comments remain student-centered. In other words, what's best for students?" which is great, but unfortunately, what is at odds in Prop 8 is what is best for children. Some believe "traditional" marriage is and others believe allowing all parents to marry is best for kids.
I meant to say, "allowing all PEOPLE to marry." I have been talking in my class a lot about having students with LGBT parents and accepting that your students love their parents regardless of how you feel about them.
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