Referring to an incident in which a vegan teacher showed her class a PEDA video, Brittany wrote, “The sharing of such controversial opinions may lead to mistaken perceptions and accusatory beliefs.” She then posed the question: Can you think of a time when your teachers may have shared an opinion to this degree with your class and what effects did it have, if any?
I honestly don’t think I can recall a time when I personally faced this situation with a teacher. I will say that if a teacher is speaking about such opinions as anything but just that—opinions—that is highly inappropriate. If a teacher is speaking about his personal opinions as if it is the right way to think and other opinions are wrong, that is unacceptable. That being said, I also feel like learning about other people’s opinions can help us to better form our own, or better understand the ones we have already formed. I think if a teacher has an opinion that is different from the norm, they should be free to share it as long as they are willing to accept that it is not everyone’s opinion. If a teacher is vegan and wants to share why that is with his students, I find that acceptable as long as he is also willing to listen to the opposing opinions of his students and not try to force his beliefs on them as absolute truth. After all, there have been plenty of teachers who were ostracized and worse for believing in, for instance, evolution. Where would the world be if those teachers had just kept silent and pretended to believe in Creationism because evolution was a controversial topic?
Question in response: Do you think students are more likely to assume their teachers are always correct, or to question them?
No comments:
Post a Comment