Inappropriate Use of Politics in Schools/Education

[Aristotle]

Consider this a META thread for issues like this to be shared. The pollution of education by politics is something that concerns me enormously as a parent. I want my children to be taught the basics in school. I don't want politically activist teachers and administrators using the school as a place to shape children towards their personal political beliefs.

This is another reason why I find the whole evolution/"intelligent design" issue absolutely disgusting. The school is not the place to be experimenting with various political view points. School is also not the place to engage in social engineering, but that's another issue.

Teacher Accused Of Anti-Bush Quiz

One example: "I wish Bush would be (coherent, eschewed) for once during a speech, but there are theories that his everyday diction charms the below-average mind, hence insuring him Republican votes."

What the hell? There is no place for crap like that in school.

I mean in principle, I agree with this example. I sure as hell wish Bush would work on his public speaking. I also wonder why after 6 years he isn't any better, and perhaps it IS indeed part of a plan. But regardless, school is not the place to be furthering this personal, political viewpoint.

[Delryn]

What would you say is the right place for expirimenting with various political standpoints? I'm wondering because overhere we have high-schools consisting 99% of foreign kids. They will never come in contact with any kind of political debate or various standpoints if not confronted at school by teachers with a clear viewpoint. So I believe teachers should be allowed to.

[Gillan]

I think going with that idea confronts another problem - Teachers having no clue what they're talking about. When most people talk politics they're talking "gut" feelings about which side they like regardless of whether the "other" side really has the better argument. The educational value of this seems to be incredibly low to me, and it seems improper to foist your political views (teacher) onto the student.

Now if they wanted to start teaching political science classes or a series of classes that focused on that I would be all for it. My 10th grade History class did this, we spent a semester looking at Marx, Locke, Aristotle, Plato, etc. Fortunately, my professor didn't preach one view over the other - she just made sure we had the basic idea about what each stood for.