Does Your Child's Teacher Brainwash Them?

OK...this is a fairly simple set of questions and opinions. A teacher is supposed to teach children facts. Math, reading, writing, history, etc. And the vast majority of teachers (from what I have experienced and read) are left leaning, politically. I find that my own daughters being presented with liberal opinions by their teachers and sometimes anti-right propaganda.

I have read about and have personally seen enough to know that liberal teachers like to express, and sometimes force their opinions upon their students. Maybe right-wing teachers do the same, but they are in the vast minority. Maybe giving a "B" for a right leaning essay and an "A" for a left leaning essay...for example. It makes me wonder that with the state of the USA government and the right/left fighting that the left (which includes most teacher's unions) could be having a field-day raising our children to believe that left leaning views are correct and right leaning views are wrong.

One example. My younger daughter asked me the difference between Republicans and Democrats. I was as fair as I could be...being right leaning myself. She commented that her teacher (among other comments) said "Republicans like starting wars". My understanding is quite the opposite.

I would like to propose the following for consideration. A law that states simply that teachers must teach proven facts only, and not opinions. Teach from a book...test upon facts and keep your personal opinions to yourself. I think it is a completely fair idea that doesn't harm or hinder anyone, it may even (in some cases: Religion) support the left side of politics. What does ATS think about this idea?

There are other options besides public schools. Home schooling for instance.

Yesterday my youngest (6th grade) said that "in the olden days if two women were fighting over a child, they would cut the baby in half".
Now, I know where that story comes from and so I explained it to him...
He wasn't able to explain the context that made the story relevant to the lessons.

I just corrected it...
I wonder though about children who don't tell their parents about stuff like this and so they would grow up believing that THIS is what happened in the "olden days".

History is rarely just facts and is always taught with a slant one way or another.
Science will have climate, creation and evolution opinions.
Reading will be taught occasionally with books based in political agendas.
So yeah, your kid is being exposed to the agendas of the teachers.
But it's up to the parents to raise the kids in the best way they see even with the influence of others.
I would not want my kid to only hear my views of the world, but to hear everything and make up her own mind.

a reply to: TNMockingbird

Agreed. And maybe I'm just looking for a boogie-man like a typical conspiracy nut...but...considering the left leaning opinion and percentage of teachers, is there more to this? Is this a plan? Maybe even a conspiracy?

But regardless...what about a "Teach Facts...Not Opinions" rule where if a teacher is found to be instilling their opinions upon the students...tenure or not...they can be fired? I think it is a fair rule to both sides and would pacify at least my concerns.

originally posted by: Hoosierdaddy71
History is rarely just facts and is always taught with a slant one way or another.
Science will have climate, creation and evolution opinions.
Reading will be taught occasionally with books based in political agendas.
So yeah, your kid is being exposed to the agendas of the teachers.
But it's up to the parents to raise the kids in the best way they see even with the influence of others.
I would not want my kid to only hear my views of the world, but to hear everything and make up her own mind.

Sure...and my wife and I do so. But for more hours a day, the teachers have control of their growing minds and they are told to respect their teachers. So how about some simple protection against any teacher preaching their personal opinions to students?

I see what your saying, but I'd be more upset if my sons were being brainwashed with right wing ideas.

I'm not sure the teacher was really wrong when she said republicans started more wars...especially in recent times. Iraq, Afghanistan and who wants us to start a war with Iran, right now? The republicans.

a reply to: WeAreAWAKE

Yes, but I live in a fairly conservative area so I have actually had "brainwashing" on both sides of that culture divide. The most notable instances off the top of my head were when a teacher's aid shamed my daughter (in front of her peers) because she didn't go to church, and when her English teacher decided that some sort of Community Service needed to be a major part of the curriculum instead of you know... actually teaching English. Both of these had me spitting nails and I darned well did it in their direction too. I got an apology on the first and she never brought religion up to her again by God (pun intended), and the English teacher ah... "compromised" on the second because I wasn't having it.

I think this does happen, for sure.

One example from my childhood at school was my grade 2 teacher, when i wrote about playing soccer and baseball in my little book she would write comments in the margins like; "and you know what else is a good sport? Hockey!" And the word hockey would be underlined 2 times.

Cleaning out my closet or something i came across all this old homework my mother kept for some reason and there were other hockey related comments. But I do live in Canada, not surprising we're indoctrinated into hockey from a young age.

I played basketball all through highschool and not being a morning person, even at that age, was not a good fit for getting up for 6am to go the the rink. As my father was always a b-ball man i think that suited him fine, but to this day the Canucks are the only professional sports team i truly care about.

Pretty random example, but yes absolutely i believe teachers make lasting impressions on young children which is something worth giving serious consideration to imo because children are so susceptible to adult influence and impressionable at a young age. Things can really stick in those formative years, other than parents or guardians it could be argued teachers are the second most influential adults in a child's life.

If this is a thread about American politics or something then I don't have much to say about that. Other than get yourselves another political party or two to vote for.

You don't think the government would spend all that money on school if it wasn't being used to condition kids do you? That is more important to them than us getting an education. If you send your kids to Harvard they might teach them how to brainwash the rest of the population and use the laws to get elected to congress if they desire.

School has been a place to condition kids since I was a kid. Even the teenagers know they are being conditioned a lot of times.

originally posted by: amazing
I see what your saying, but I'd be more upset if my sons were being brainwashed with right wing ideas.

I'm not sure the teacher was really wrong when she said republicans started more wars...especially in recent times. Iraq, Afghanistan and who wants us to start a war with Iran, right now? The republicans.

My understanding...in general...is that the Dems have been in power during the majority of the start of wars. But I'm not going to argue and derail the topic and would like to center on the teacher opinion topic regardless of the way they lean.

originally posted by: redhorse
a reply to: WeAreAWAKE

Yes, but I live in a fairly conservative area so I have actually had "brainwashing" on both sides of that culture divide. The most notable instances off the top of my head were when a teacher's aid shamed my daughter (in front of her peers) because she didn't go to church, and when her English teacher decided that some sort of Community Service needed to be a major part of the curriculum instead of you know... actually teaching English. Both of these had me spitting nails and I darned well did it in their direction too. I got an apology on the first and she never brought religion up to her again by God (pun intended), and the English teacher ah... "compromised" on the second because I wasn't having it.

And that shouldn't happen. Should there be a rule or law where the teachers are told up front NOT to do this type of thing and if they do...they can be fired and have been forewarned?

a reply to: WeAreAWAKE

What do you do when the books are biased?

Why do you think the left was so upset about the Texas education board decisions on some matters of history in the curriculum?

It's because Texas, being one of the largest text book buyers in the market, largely dictates what the text books for the rest of the states are going to look like. So if the Texas board decides to teach a more balanced view of US History that is less Howard Zinn and more "Hey, you know those Native Americans weren't exactly innocent either." or "No, the 3/5 compromise clause was NOT about dehumanizing blacks but far more complex." Then the text books offered for sale to the rest of the country are largely going to reflect those curriculum demands.

So what gets taught in Texas gets taught to everyone else almost by default.

originally posted by: amazing
I see what your saying, but I'd be more upset if my sons were being brainwashed with right wing ideas.

I'm not sure the teacher was really wrong when she said republicans started more wars...especially in recent times. Iraq, Afghanistan and who wants us to start a war with Iran, right now? The republicans.

This is a perfect example, you two can't agree on this historic political issue. How can a school make you both happy?

originally posted by: WeAreAWAKE

originally posted by: redhorse
a reply to: WeAreAWAKE

Yes, but I live in a fairly conservative area so I have actually had "brainwashing" on both sides of that culture divide. The most notable instances off the top of my head were when a teacher's aid shamed my daughter (in front of her peers) because she didn't go to church, and when her English teacher decided that some sort of Community Service needed to be a major part of the curriculum instead of you know... actually teaching English. Both of these had me spitting nails and I darned well did it in their direction too. I got an apology on the first and she never brought religion up to her again by God (pun intended), and the English teacher ah... "compromised" on the second because I wasn't having it.

And that shouldn't happen. Should there be a rule or law where the teachers are told up front NOT to do this type of thing and if they do...they can be fired and have been forewarned?

I think its hard to enforce. On the surface you could say that it's not okay to say which party started the most wars or something like that. We can all agree on that, but then where do you draw the line because teachers are people and we all have opinions. And as you know children ask all sorts of questions.

What if a kid asked "Teacher are you a Christian?" What is the teacher supposed to say? To expand, the teacher might say, no I'm an Athiest. The kid then ask if she's going to hell and the teacher says that no, she doesn't believe in hell. Your child then comes home and tells you she's going to be an Atheist because her teacher is one and says there is no hell. You become enraged because the teacher is undermining your parenting and forcing her views on your child, when it's not quite the case.

Or would you suggest that teachers lie, when asked questions like this?

originally posted by: rickymouse
You don't think the government would spend all that money on school if it wasn't being used to condition kids do you? That is more important to them than us getting an education. If you send your kids to Harvard they might teach them how to brainwash the rest of the population and use the laws to get elected to congress if they desire.

School has been a place to condition kids since I was a kid. Even the teenagers know they are being conditioned a lot of times.

And that is one of my obvious concerns. But to be fair...I don't want ANY opinions forced into my children's minds by teachers. They are performing a paid duty to teach facts, history, etc. My kids will get opinions from everyone (you know the saying) and they will live, learn and make up their own minds. They shouldn't be "taught" by a teacher an opinion since the teacher is supposed to be someone they are told to learn from. Know what I mean? The teacher has a position where a student...especially young...is supposed to listen to what they say, and take it as fact.

originally posted by: WeAreAWAKE

originally posted by: Hoosierdaddy71
History is rarely just facts and is always taught with a slant one way or another.
Science will have climate, creation and evolution opinions.
Reading will be taught occasionally with books based in political agendas.
So yeah, your kid is being exposed to the agendas of the teachers.
But it's up to the parents to raise the kids in the best way they see even with the influence of others.
I would not want my kid to only hear my views of the world, but to hear everything and make up her own mind.

Sure...and my wife and I do so. But for more hours a day, the teachers have control of their growing minds and they are told to respect their teachers. So how about some simple protection against any teacher preaching their personal opinions to students?

How about you get your kids out of the public schools. That's truly the only answer to this problem.

originally posted by: amazing

originally posted by: WeAreAWAKE

originally posted by: redhorse
a reply to: WeAreAWAKE

Yes, but I live in a fairly conservative area so I have actually had "brainwashing" on both sides of that culture divide. The most notable instances off the top of my head were when a teacher's aid shamed my daughter (in front of her peers) because she didn't go to church, and when her English teacher decided that some sort of Community Service needed to be a major part of the curriculum instead of you know... actually teaching English. Both of these had me spitting nails and I darned well did it in their direction too. I got an apology on the first and she never brought religion up to her again by God (pun intended), and the English teacher ah... "compromised" on the second because I wasn't having it.

And that shouldn't happen. Should there be a rule or law where the teachers are told up front NOT to do this type of thing and if they do...they can be fired and have been forewarned?

I think its hard to enforce. On the surface you could say that it's not okay to say which party started the most wars or something like that. We can all agree on that, but then where do you draw the line because teachers are people and we all have opinions. And as you know children ask all sorts of questions.

What if a kid asked "Teacher are you a Christian?" What is the teacher supposed to say?

To the last part...the question. I would say the teacher should state a fact. If they are Christian they can say they are Christian. But if they said "Of course I am Christian...because I don't want to go to Hell"...that would be a problem.

What are you talking about? I was in elementary school in the '80's and I remem..."I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." ...ber nothing of the sort.

I'm fine.

originally posted by: TonyS

originally posted by: WeAreAWAKE

originally posted by: Hoosierdaddy71
History is rarely just facts and is always taught with a slant one way or another.
Science will have climate, creation and evolution opinions.
Reading will be taught occasionally with books based in political agendas.
So yeah, your kid is being exposed to the agendas of the teachers.
But it's up to the parents to raise the kids in the best way they see even with the influence of others.
I would not want my kid to only hear my views of the world, but to hear everything and make up her own mind.

Sure...and my wife and I do so. But for more hours a day, the teachers have control of their growing minds and they are told to respect their teachers. So how about some simple protection against any teacher preaching their personal opinions to students?

How about you get your kids out of the public schools. That's truly the only answer to this problem.

But that only solves the symptom...not the problem. Teachers shouldn't teach opinion.