Whose Place is It, Anyways?

Schools. We go to school to learn. We go to school to gather the fundamentals to build upon them later in life and to develop our own perspective on the world. I don't go to school to hear teachers telling me what to believe or what not to believe. It's ultimately my decision.

Some teachers I've had are excellent at maintaining an apolitical standpoint during class discussions in classes such as AP U.S. History. But, it really bothers me when other teachers start to interject their own political biases and opinions. It's okay to take jabs at certain political parties, as long as you're making the equal amount of jabs at the other political parties. There has to be a balance of some sort, don't you think? If someone bashes CNN and MSNBC, then it's only fair to bash Fox News. When I can't figure out what political orientation a teacher has, I think that the teacher has succeeded in teaching me what I need to know - no more, no less. But, when I tell my friends, "Oh, yeah. That teacher bashes ____ all the time. They must be of _____ party," I think there's something wrong.

I know in elementary schools, high schools, and colleges across the nation, there are probably teachers who aren't necessarily doing their job. They step over the boundaries. But, how do kids stand up to that? Tell their parents? What about handling it on their own? Have we created a society where it's not okay to stand up in a classroom and say that you don't agree that abortion is the right way to go?

Perhaps. And if we have created such a society, then what do we do. Democracy is all about majority rule, but minority rights. Let's not forget that.