DU Teachers/Profs: How do you keep your partisanship in check in class

[bluestateguy]

Well tomorrow I go back to teaching: my second year as a university instructor. But this is an election semester, and I will have to be especially vigilant to keep my partisanship in check during class (I would say that my students are usually about 3-2 Republican over Democrat).

Those of you who are either teachers or college/university instructors, how do you rein in your partisanship during your classes? I teach a subject that is inescapable from partisan politics and current events. Or maybe some of you just choose to let the chips fall where they may with regard to the expression of your views in class. I respect that pedagogical approach too.

[PittPoliSci]

1. even though i'm not a teacher...

Some of my teachers try to play devil's advocate against the liberals to make sure they know what they're talking about.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

2. I am a teacher

but I teach English and am on special assignment this year and not in the classroom (I am coaching fellow teachers, doing workshops for them, etc.).

But last year was a bit difficult, simply because the kids (eighth graders) kept asking me questions about bush. I just answered them as factually as I could and pointed them to mainstream sources.

I was delightfully surprised to find out how many of my kids absolutely detested him--probably 75% of them couldn't stand the man.

So hey. But I find it is harder to stay nuetral on social issues....homosexuality and GLBT rights are a hard one for me to bite my tongue on, but I did.

Usually I just let them talk and sort of guided their discussion so it didn't become a free-for-all, but like I said, teaching English, these things didn't come up TOO often (unless they were themes in the literature, which did happen).

[Dudley_DUright]

3. I start tomorrow as well

but it is relatively easy for me to keep my politics out of my teaching as I teach physics. However, if I were teaching poly sci or a related field, I would be teaching critical thinking skills, examples of which would invariably lead to demonstrating how intellectually bankrupt the republicans are in their tactics and "arguments". Good luck with the school year!

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

6. That's what I did

we do a unit on propaganda and we teach critical thinking skills throughout the year (well, we're supposed to, but I felt like the only teacher who was doing it!) so I was SURE to really pound home the critical thinking.

By the end of the year, I had some eighth graders with a LOT of questions and fairly progressive attitudes! (The progressiveness was pretty much already there...)

[SoCalDem]

4. Here's how MY teacher did it..

He announced on DAY ONE, that he really didn't give a crap whether we learned the "stuff" or not.. This was US History ...taught in Kansas...in 1967..

He then announced that he was going to teach us HOW to find out information, and HOW to decipher it..

We DID use the book, and we had tests , BUT when we covered things that had some "meat on the bones", he showed us films (this is pre-cd/dvd/tape)...He also "made" us do current events, and then tie them into something from the past...compare them, and find the common denominator between then and now..

He never "tested" us on those parts of the lesson plan, but in every test, he always had some essay questions, so that he knew whether or not we were "getting" it..


He subscribed to many newspapers and magazines that were used in class...and he also got "suspended" for a week for showing us "movies" that his brother sent the family...from Viet Nam.. His excuse for showing them.. "Some of you will be told to go there, and you might as well know what you are in for"..

How he got in trouble?? Kids (mostly boys) from OTHER classes kept bugging him to show THEM the films, and they were going late to football practice...the COACH ratted him out..:grr:

[mediaman007]

11. Now that's teaching...

and that's the reality of high school football.

[mediaman007]

5. I bend over backward to be neutral...

I really have a hard time with critics who say that the faculty of America is trying to indoctrinate our students.

The closest that I come to revealing my position is to be a devil's advocate. Mostly, I observe that when all of the facts are on the table, students tend to like progressive ideas better.

[Gyre]

7. I know a Jr. HS history teacher

And she uses Howard Zinn's "People's History of the United States" as a large part of her curriculum. She's caught some serious threats from freeper parents but maybe she's immune from termination. I not sure whether she's immune or too pissed to care.

Gyre

[mediaman007]

9. I assume that there's plenty of room for free flow of information...

I suppose that would be the threat that the Freeper parents would object to.

Here in Minnesota we had the Freeper social studies standards shoved down our throats by the Republican Commissioner of Education. The teachers and general public revolted. The standards were eventually rewritten and thankfully the Democratic Senate refused to confirm the appointment of the commissioner.

She wasn't unemployed for long...she got a job at a republican think tank. Imagine!

[LiberalManiacfromOC]

15. That is a great book!

I wish it could be part of our ciriculum.

[LiberalManiacfromOC]

16. glitch

[NEOBuckeye]

8. I wouldn't know. Thanks to Bush and Cheney, I don't have a class!

I'm a Social Studies teacher in Ohio still looking for a teaching job. Given what the GOP's ineptitude combined with the No Child Left Behind Act has done to education here, I don't have much hope of finding a job anytime in the near future.

I can think of a ton of things that I would be telling my kids about the current administration and the neo-cons in the Republican Party if I did have a job, though. Someday, I will make certain that my students know about this sorry episode in history -- and WHY it happened.

[Chomskyite]

13. This is the story for many many humanities teachers

I'm letting loose of my teaching habit and getting into bartending. I liked teaching, but I found that the deeper I sunk into poverty the less effective I was.

I just hope I can get hired at a bar.

[WilliamPitt]

10. When I taught

and a political issue came up, I would always always always argue for the side I didn't believe in. If I lost the argument, it made the point. If I won the argument, I'd immediately take the other side.

I was essentially teaching them that there is no truth, I guess. :)

Mostly I taught Beowulf.

[Swamp Rat]

18. Hmm... like a REAL Roman forum.

I wish we actually had more folks that would be willing to do this. I've discussed it with colleagues but nobody will commit to partaking in this type of debate. I could brush up on Hegel, Leo Strauss, et al and put up a good fight without sounding too much like a Nazi, but I can't find anyone willing to be Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky or Will Pitt.

I recently took a seminar with an anthro prof from the New School. He's a very brilliant fella (did great work in Amazonas) having worked with Barbara Ehrenreich, Lindenbaum, etc. He has an interesting approach, kinda post-modern, where you can say things like "fuck that Nazi-cannibal GW Bush!" as long as you can back up your statements with sound logic and reasonable evidence... kinda like DU rules. He does not allow recording devices for obvious reasons. I've never experienced such freedom in a class.

Personally, when I'm teaching I leave out politics unless it's relevant to the readings. If the subject is for example "cannibalism," then ultimately politics will be discussed. One cannot simply omit 500 years of European colonisation of the Americas and the corresponding, vast historical record. When I'm playing music, I'm under NO obligation to be a-political.

[Chomskyite]

12. There's no way to win

I taught English on the college level for nine years, finally giving up the profession when it was clear I'd only stay in it if I could tolerate going from adjunct position to adjunct position. I'm going to try bartending instead.

There are two options for any given discussion point. You can try to play neutral, which for most people means each "side" gets equal time. And this is never possible. There are always multiple "sides" and some perspective will always be left out. But playing neutral makes it easier to teach, and students will be less confused and less frustrated. Your evaluations will no doubt see the benefits.

The second option is to go ahead and present things in their full complexity, as much as you can, knowing you'll never completely cover the subject entirely. You do risk confusing students. You do risk angering the ones who have clung for emotional reasons to a two-dimensional world view.

For most of these students seeing things in their complexity is tantamount to coddling the terrorists, raising our taxes and opening abortion clinics. They will take it out on you in evaluations, but they will NEVER forget you and perhaps their later lives will remind them of the value of questions you asked.

But there's no doubt this approach is most faithful to the way world-events unfold and the way most decisions are made (except by the Bush White House).

Good luck. You'll need it.

[murielm99]

14. I always tried to keep it out of the classroom.

During the 2000 elections, my seniors asked me. I taught middle school, with one section of freshmen, but I had a group of seniors for homeroom.

One of them said, "Well, you can tell she is a Democrat by the bumper stickers on her car."

I told them that I already knew my own opinions. I wanted to know that they thought, and why.

Our homeroom ended up being political discussion. All statements had to be researched. I acted as referee only.

The kids ended up being mostly for Gore. I did not steer the discussion, either.

It was lots of fun. But I did not have tenure, and now I have no job.

They made lots of cuts around here after * was selected.

[wickerwoman]

17. It depends on the age of the "kids".

With high schools and freshmen, I would try to present neutral materials and help both sides formulate stronger arguments. If they asked me my opinion, I would say "We're here to hear your opinion, not mine." Too many kids that age will write what they think you want to hear to avoid having to own their own ideas.

But when I teach older students I'm not going to insult their intelligence by pretending I don't have a stake in things. I just make it very clear upfront that they are 100% entitled to disagree with me and that their grade has nothing to do with how well they anticipate my ideas and opinions.

[dancing kali]

19. Dance class doesn't really afford much opportunity.

Students in dance class aren't there for discussion and all the students are required to wear certain colours and styles of leotards... t-shirts with logos (other than the official logo of the school) and slogans are inappropriate wear in the studio. Buttons can fly off and are considered dangerous and not allowed.

I make no effort to hide my political and spiritual leanings... most of the parents think of me as an artsy, leftist, heathen flake and the students (teenagers and adults) just think I'm an flake. Occasionally, current events will inspire a piece of choreography and if I feel that the students need to be aware of what I'm thinking so that they can better understand the emotional life of the piece, then I take the time to discuss it. The most they get generally is something like, "You are women walking through the streets after your town has been bombed." That's generally enough - it doesn't matter if their personal image for that is NYC or Baghdad or Kabul or Berlin or London - their image doesn't have to match mine. The adult students know me well enough to not ask me things that they may not want to hear my answer to. For the most part, however, I show them the movement and they dance - with little or no discussion of anything other than instructions and corrections.

Current events are the fodder of the arts, and, the arts community is one of the few places where the open expression of one's beliefs is not only encouraged, but considered to be a responsibility. I was taught in theatre school that it is my responsibility as an artist to get the spectator to take action in some way - even if that action is just to think. The problem with high art political theatre/dance, unlike commercial theatre which is concerned more with entertainment than message, is that message doesn't sell very well. Most of the time we're preaching to the already converted.

Teaching a class where partisan politics is inevitable... that's a tough call... my personal approach would be, not so much to disguise my opinions, but to frame them in a neutral manner so that they could be used to try to get the holder of the opposing viewpoint to think. I've always held that getting students to think is one of the most important parts of being a teacher in any discipline... as is neutrality. in a class where partisanship is an issue, I think this is doubly important... somebody has to act as neutral referee. A teacher shouldn't express their personal bias or partisanship in a traditional classroom situation unless asked directly; in that case, tell the truth... unless doing so would adversely affect either the teacher or the class. I'm not advocating hiding one's opinions, but, shouting them from the pulpit just because one can is not necessarily appropriate. Sometimes quiet subversion and subtlety is the more appropriate action. What can I say? I'm a big believer in the concept of discretion. Anyhow, all of that is just my personal opinion and as I said, I'm not in the same kind of teaching situation.

A class where political partisanship and current events combined with a major election in volatile times... should be an interesting class.
Good luck with it.