i wanna indoctrinate my students
i made an off-hand remark/joke today that i indoctrinate the students in my class with my beliefs.
it was a joke, but it was only half a joke. while i want to teach reading, writing, and critical thinking skills, i also want my students to come away with a set of values & beliefs. i want them to believe racism is wrong. homophobia is wrong. violence is wrong. i want them to think critically about the american dream and ask hard questions of their history text books. this means that if one of my students writes an essay in support of hateful beliefs, i will unapologetically do everything i can to change those beliefs.
some folks think that the classroom should be a values-neutral space. if a student writes a homophobic paper, the teacher should simply encourage that student to write it more persuasively. it’s not the teachers place to teach values. but i would respond by saying that students are bombarded with value-laden messages everywhere they turn, and the classroom is one of many discourses competing for the kids’ mind.
so i was surprised to hear some of my classmates shocked and dismayed, and “offended” by my comments. i suppose the word “indoctrinate” created some unfavorable images in their minds, but the real contentious issue was not simply my word choice, but the idea that a teacher should not impose certain beliefs or ways of thinking upon their students, no matter how good or true those ways of thinking may be.
certainly, i acknowledge that there is a slippery slope here, and it’s not hard to imagine how this approach i propose could go awry. my sense though is that this is how almost every single liberal arts program in the country is characterized, and i’m not certain i agree that such things can’t also find a home in high schools. as mlk jr argued, intelligence is not enough. the true goal of education ought to be intelligence plus character.
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The Reverend was right… a true education combines intelligence + character. As much as some people would think, education is (probably never should be) a value-less system. Teachers teach values all the time (and hopefully, good ones).
Easy examples…
*When I give you homework to do and expect it to be turned in on time, I’m teaching RESPONSIBILITY.
*When I ask you to do your own work on an assignment/test, and not copy or cheat, I’m teaching you about HARD WORK and HONESTY.
*When I admonish and chastise you for mocking somebody else on the basis of their ethnicity, culture, language, religious beliefs, physical/mental disabilities, etc… I’m teaching you about RESPECT and TOLERANCE.
When you think about it, one of the definitions of a bad teacher is someone is amoral.
Oops, typo… I meant to say “As much as some people would think, education ISN’T (probably never should be) a value-less system”
how do you indoctrinate them? what techniques do you use? as a fellow teacher, i find that sharing my own opinions only does so much, especially for the students who do not have a relationship with me. but allowing big group discussions about big issues is also tricky. what have you found that works? i’m eager for suggestions.
gar: exactly, couldn’t agree more.
gwendol: i think i’ve seen quite a few things help. first, if someone makes a distasteful comment in class, i’ll quickly admonish them and move on. i found that harping on them for what they did shows that they’ve “pushed my buttons” and actually encourages students to keep on with that behavior. second, i’ve had the opportunity to select a lot of my own texts for reading in class. recently i had students do literary essays on short stories and/or children’s books. i taught strategies for identifying the “implicit messages” of stories and did some mini lessons on “meta narratives” of class, race, gender, religion, etc. each story i provided dealt with some sort of issue dealing with racism, sexism, classism, homophobia. i was relieved to find i didn’t need to tell anyone how to think or interpret their texts; most of the students were able to apply the strategies for identifying the “message” of a text and come to some good conclusions. i found just by providing the appropriate texts and teaching a couple critical thinking skills helped teach my students some good values. third, as you kinda alluded to, building relationships with my students was the most helpful for me. as you know, it makes all the difference in the world.