Can teachers take stands on issues, or should they remain "neutral?" Should teachers lose their right to freedom of speech when they walk into a school building? Check out this short news article from teachermagazine.org and see what you think:The U.S. Supreme Court declined last week to hear the appeal of a former Indiana teacher who alleged that she lost her job because she had discussed the Iraq war in her classroom.
The case was notable because it led to a fairly broad ruling by a federal appeals court that teachers have virtually no First Amendment protection for statements made in the classroom, even on a topic of such public importance as the war.
Deborah A. Mayer was a first-year teacher in the 11,000-student Monroe County, Ind., school district in January 2003 when she used an edition of TIME for Kids in a current-events discussion about the then-impending war.
According to court papers, the magazine reported on a peace march in Washington to protest the prospect of a U.S. invasion of Iraq. Ms. Mayer was asked by a student in her multiage classroom of 3rd through 6th graders if she would ever participate in such a peace demonstration. She told them that when she had driven by recent peace marches in Bloomington, Ind., related to the Iraq situation, she had honked her horn in response to a sign that said, “Honk for Peace.”
“And then I went on to say that I thought it was important for people to seek out peaceful solutions to problems before going to war, and that we train kids to be mediators on the playground so that they can seek out peaceful solutions to their own problems,” Ms. Mayer said in a deposition in the case.
Some parents complained to the principal about the brief discussion, and the principal barred Ms. Mayer from discussing “peace” in her classroom, according to court papers. The principal also canceled the school’s traditional “peace month.”
“We absolutely do not, as a school, promote any particular view on foreign policy related to the situation with Iraq,” Principal Victoria Rogers said in a memo to school personnel at the time. “That is not our business.”
The school district decided in April 2003 not to renew Ms. Mayer’s contract for the next school year. The teacher alleged that it was because of her comments on Iraq, and she sued the district on First Amendment and related grounds.
A U.S. District Court judge in Indianapolis granted summary judgment last year to the school district. In a Jan. 24 ruling, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, in Chicago, ruled unanimously for the district as well.
“The First Amendment does not entitle primary and secondary teachers, when conducting the education of captive audiences, to cover topics, or advocate viewpoints, that depart from the curriculum adopted by the school system,” the appeals court said.
What do you think? Should teachers have the right to express their opinions in classroom discussions? Should freedom of speech for teachers be regulated? Where should we draw the line?
10 comments:
After reading the passage, and keeping in mind some class discussions, I do think teachers "lose" their right to freedom of speech when they walk into the classroom. Teachers are government workers, so certainly speaking against the government in a school context is entirely inappropriate. I know a few weeks ago in a staff meeting, this topic randomly came up, and the Principal emphasized that as we are approaching an election year, all political issues should be left at the door. This doesn't go to say that social studies teachers (in particular) can't talk about current events, but I think that is where the neutrality most come in. Like we have discussed in class, if you are going to discuss the war, you need to present multiple artifacts from a variety of point of views that represent both sides, to allow your students to form your own opinions. As a teacher, I think it is a judgement call, and a potential risk you take to share your own personal point of views, but I don't see why you couldn't use artifacts presented to the class to help argue for both sides. When discussing current events in the classroom, I don't think it is relevant or not to know the teacher's personal point of view, because helping educate students to make their own opinions is the objective goal. Again, the decision is up to the teacher what they will or will not share and how they choose to conduct their teachers, but I think it is important to remember that word travels fast, and so whatever you do, be confident in your teaching.
After reading the news article I felt torn between the two oppinions. As a teacher, I think we need to realize the impact our words have on students. Therefore I agree with your post that teachers do "lose" some of their rights to freedom of speech. As a teacher you do have to present facts and oppinions from both sides. However, I don't feel the teacher was trying to push her views on her students. After reading a Times for Kids which addressed peace and anti-war movements they simply asked her. We always say we want our students to dig deeper into what they read and relate it to themselves. I feel this was a great opportunity to present the fact that peole have different views on political issues. I don't feel the teacher was overstepping her bounderies by letting students know she had participated in a "peace" honking. I also think it was absolutly rediculous for the school to cancel their "peace month". What kind of message is this sending the students? I feel that message is "Don't stand up for what you feel is right because you might be persecuted if people don't agree. I just feel this is once again another case of someone making a bigger deal out of a little comment. If the teacher had forced her students to participate in a "peace walk" which was anti-war, I would totally see the reasoning behind parents being upset. I feel the parents are only hurting their students education by getting a teacher fired.
After reading the article and the comments posted by my classmates I feel that this is a difficult situation. I agree that teachers in a way "lose" their right to freedom of speech as people have said, but I also believe in answering the questions students ask. I fully agree with what Sarah said about the teacher did not really push her beliefs on the students, she was expressing her views and that was it. She was honest and again was not asking them to change their views, she was simply giving her students an answer to a question. I think that the fact that she was a participant in non-violent movement was actually a good thing for the students to know. It shows them that there are ways to settle arguments or voice their opinions in a non-violent way. I think that canceling peace week, actually sends the wrong message to students and the community.
I definitely think that teachers loose their freedom of speech when they enter the classroom. This situation is a prime example of that. The school went over the top to try to undo what many parents believe that this teacher did. They felt as if she was forcing her ideas on her students, when in reality she was just broadening their knowledge of what is out there. Another example immediately comes to my mind when discussing freedom of speech in the classroom: the teacher in Fox River grove that was fired for discussing his vegan views in his classroom. Many believed he was trying to force his students to become vegans, but he believed that he was informing them of a way of life that they should be informed about. There is a very thin line that teachers must walk when discussing controversial issues such as war and animal rights in their classroom. One toe over that line can end up in unemployment. And everyone’s definition of that line differs. These two teachers did not believe they crossed they line. They saw it as their duty to educate these students and help them build strong values. Others believed that they did cross the line: they were not only educating they were influencing or even forcing.
As a teacher, it is important to know your boundaries, but it is even more important to take risks. In my opinion, if you have been teaching your students they way in which you should be teaching them: encouraging self-discovery, having a mind of you own, and always questioning, even authorities, then your students will be able to handle controversial issues. If you encourage them to take others opinions and make their own then you will be able to express your views and ideas. It is important for teachers to stress forming individual opinions and not always taking the authority as someone who gives the whole truth. If teachers stress these values in their education, they would be able to freely give their opinion without worry that they are implanting ideas in their students’ heads. They can be confident that the students will contemplate the teacher’s views and use that information and other information to form opinions of their own.
After reading some of the posts made by my classmates, I agree when Stacey said that teachers are there to answer students questions. When teaching a lesson it is extremely important to be non-biased. It is innapropriate for a teacher to teach only his/her standpoint of the issue. In a lesson I will be teaching on Native Americans, I will be discussing how the European Settlers changed the environment of the Illinois Native Americans. I have to try not to sway the children to think that the settlers only did bad things, because they also did some good things as well. As a class, the children can discuss if the European settlers were MOSTLY bad or MOSTLY good tot he Native Americans. This is a decision for the students to make, not the teacher. If a teacher would like to share his/her thought process with the students, I believe he/she should be able to do so.
When it comes to the article, I found it interesting how the teacher introduced this activity in the same way across the various grade levels she taught. There is a big difference between the younger grades and sixth grade. Something that may be appropriate in a middle school setting, may not be approriate for elementary aged children. It is sad that teachers have lost the right of freedom of speech, especially when the children ask a question; however, I do think that they should provide an unbiasd opinon on the subject to allow the students to make decisions for themselves.
I agree with a lot of the other opinions already stated about this topic. I believe that although teachers - particularly social studies teachers at the middle and high school levels - should encourage conversation about more controversial topics, the conversation should be more student-directed. By this, I mean that the students should voice their opinions and discuss the details of the issue, rather than the teacher leading the discussion with his or her own opinions and beliefs. Like Marla said, "it is [not] relevant to know the teacher's personal point of view because helping educate students to make their own opinions is the objective goal." In teaching, especially when dealing with complex and controversial topics, there is a thin line between facilitation of learning and borderline propaganda. As teachers, we must remember that students look up to us and we need to watch what we say about a variety of different issues, topics, etc. So, again, instead of discussing our viewpoints on issues, I think that the focus should be on students formulating their own thoughts and opinions and figuring issues out for themselves.
Going off of this, I don't believe that teachers' First Amendment rights are necessarily censored. I personally think that Ms. Mayer would have been in the clear if she simply stopped after responding the student's question by telling the class that she has honked her horn in protest of the war when driving past a peace march. To begin with, she did not initiate the sharing of her opinion, a student asked her directly. Furthermore, I think that it is important for teachers to be honest with students. Therefore, I think that where Ms. Mayer "messed up," so to say, is when she expanded on her simply reply to the student's question and began lecturing the students, in a way, about her opinions of the war.
So, I really think that there is just this fine line that teachers need to walk when they are responding to student's direct questions. On the other hand, if teachers really want to steer on the side of safety, they could decline to answer student questions of sensitive nature altogether. I certainly don't think that a teacher has to answer every question he or she gets from a student when they are of personal nature, as they are when discussing opinions on topics such as the war on Iraq, abortion, same-sex marriage, or even a teacher's personal life! In my placement classrooms some popular questions have been "How old are you?" and "Are you married?" I, for one, am pretty content with the fact that I don't HAVE to answer these student's questions if I choose not to. I understand that children are innately curious, but I don't think that we as teachers always have to or even should answer these children's questions that come out of curiosity if they could put us in a corner that we do not wish to be in. I think that a vague response to a child's question pertaining to your personal opinion or even just re-directing the discussion back on track to the students, is an appropriate measure.
I am flabbergasted after reading this article and hearing the exchange between the students and the teacher. I was waiting for the teacher to say something obviously wrong, but I never came upon it. This case is pure politics. The teacher made a comment about peace in Iraq, which was not the view of those in authority. Therefore, she lost her job. In fact, hearing the perspectives from the point of view of different individuals is in the curriculum- it's called critical thinking.
I believe that teachers do have to hold their opinions inside about current event topics. Even though Ms. Mayer didn't say that she was for or against the war, since it is such a highly debated topic I don't think she should have her students read an article about it. Just like how in public schools teachers can discuss religion they shouldn't be able to discuss their feelings about war. Now a days education is about politics and that teachers need to teach to the curriculum. I think that teachers can discuss peace but in general terms and not regarding a specific war. Children should learn about how to resolve a situation without violence. I wish that teachers can express their opinions in elementary and secondary schools but that isn't the case. Parents feel that the teacher may try to pursuade their child to think a certain way or go against what they believe. It is a hard thing to avoid when a student asks a teacher about their opinion on a certain topic. Teachers have to dodge the question and just learn to bite their tongue.
I feel that this is a very hard topic to have the right answer to. On one hand I think that of course we teachers should have a freedom to think what we do, but on the other hand I can't forget all of the lives that I am influencing each day. On that note, I think that teachers should be able to have their own opinions and have the freedom to voice them, but as a teacher you need to think about what you are saying. To voice your opinion on a topic to a class should be depended on the subject as well as the content in which it is voiced. Teachers need to add in their opinions so that their students know that the things they may be discussing in class are relevant. Students want to hear about what the teacher thinks or how something made them feel. At the same time however, teachers need to be very appropriate. You need to think as a teacher that you are always teaching to the students, their families, the rest of the staff and administration every time you give your opinion. I feel that if you think you could voice that same thought in front of all those people then it is appropriate for class. Students always share what they have learned with the people around them, especially if it is something the teacher said directly about him/her self. Having a freedom of speech in our own classroom is getting hard to do, but you should not be afraid to do it.
After reading this article, I have a lot of concerns. I agree that teachers do lose some of their rights to freedom of speech when they walk into school buildings. In some ways, I do understand. I think that it is up to the teacher to ignite discussions among the students in times like these and create many different viewpoints. However, having read the article I do not feel that she is guity of anything. The teacher was discussing the fact that she wanted peace in our world, who doesn't want something like that? Teachers need to present multiple viewpoints and allow students to develop their own ideas however students should understand that teachers are individuals too. Society should be able to understand that teachers are individuals that have opinions. She did not scream out that she was a huge activist in fighting against the war, she just stated that she honked as she drove by. I really feel for the teacher because I don't know if I would have thought that I would get fired from saying something like that. As a teacher, I never want to demand my opinions of students but if students understand the idea that every individual believes something different, then a teacher will have an opinion too!
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