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Well, it seemed to me at the time that my teachers were presenting an unbiased viewpoint, but in adulthood I have come to recognize their biases. In many cases (for example American history) they were presenting the mainstream view points of historical analysis at the time and the ensuing years have changed our perspective on past events. Examples might be the reputations of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Woodrow Wilson, William Howard Taft, and Andrew Johnson.
Well, yes, the ensuing years have changed our perspective on a lot of people, including Christopher Columbus. I don't think any of us old fogies are the worse for having learned that Columbus was among the first to postulate the world was round, and that he "discovered" America. The more we learn, the more we learn. Now we know that many people believed the world was round, long before Columbus, and that he didn't really "discover" America even for the Europeans. I don't think we knew the Vikings had been there earlier when I was in school.
And yeah, now we know Jefferson was a slave owner; that certainly wasn't emphasized (or even brought up) when I was a student, Wilson was a racist, etc. OTOH, lots of politicians develop a more favorable reputation as time passes, e.g. Harry Truman.
Well, it seemed to me at the time that my teachers were presenting an unbiased viewpoint, but in adulthood I have come to recognize their biases. In many cases (for example American history) they were presenting the mainstream view points of historical analysis at the time and the ensuing years have changed our perspective on past events. Examples might be the reputations of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Woodrow Wilson, William Howard Taft, and Andrew Johnson.
I had American history in 8th and 11th grade. We never got to this level of historical analysis for the teachers to express an biased or unbiased viewpoint or perspective on anything to do with American history. We never discussed the reputation of any of the above presidents. My civics/government classes in 9th and 12th grade never touched on any kind of political philosophy or the difference between conservative and liberal. My social studies teachers were presenting an unbiased viewpoint because they really didn't have a viewpoint.
OTOH, a math teacher that my kids had would spend more time talking about politics than he spent teaching math. He is extremely right-wing.
I was in school during the Vietnam War, and it was more a matter if someone supported or was against the war.
I never remember having liberal or conservative teachers. They were not allowed to let their political view be known to the students. We used to ask them but they wouldn't tell us.
I don't remember our textbooks being conservative or liberal either. But our school system emphasized learning to THINK. Maybe that's what made me liberal. In high school I used to sit and ponder things.
From the late 1960's -mid 1970's I doubt the politics of the time could not have been a factor.
From the late 1960's -mid 1970's I doubt the politics of the time could not have been a factor.
You might be surprised. Like villageidiot1, I was in high school in the 60s. We barely touched on the Viet Nam war. In college, there were all sorts of anti-war groups on campus, articles in the campus newspaper, etc, but the teachers weren't talking about it. Not in my nursing classes, not in any of them, really.
Let me preface my remarks about this by saying up front that I'm not saying liberal or conservative bias in instruction never happens. I'll tell you where it's most likely to happen -- in communities that are overwhelmingly liberal or overwhelmingly conservative. You might say, "It takes a village". And here's why:
As a principal, my average work week was 54 hours. A good week was 46 hours. The last thing I needed was to become embroiled in a controversy over a teacher teaching his or her political persuasion. Those types of situations often become firestorms. And that's just within the building. The last thing my superintendent wanted was to then become looped into such a controversy. And even worse would be to have it go all the way to the school board and perhaps the local media. As our central office often said, "No surprises!" These are the types of situations that lead to transfers and firings.
As I indicated, however, in a community that is overwhelmingly liberal, I can see it happening. In a community that is overwhelmingly conservative, I can see it happening. But in most of America, educational leaders prevent that from happening to any great extent. A comment here or there...perhaps. But any steady diet of it...not likely. What's more likely is that a student picks up on a particular comment a teacher might make, and then the parent(s) begin making assumptions.
Bringing this all back down to the topic of the thread, this would be one of the things (of many) that would concern me about the super-library concept. No one controlling (yes, I used that word intentionally) what media students are perusing. No balance. No review of the appropriateness of media. And having been on challenged books committees, that's a tough situation.
Let me preface my remarks about this by saying up front that I'm not saying liberal or conservative bias in instruction never happens. I'll tell you where it's most likely to happen -- in communities that are overwhelmingly liberal or overwhelmingly conservative. You might say, "It takes a village". And here's why:
As a principal, my average work week was 54 hours. A good week was 46 hours. The last thing I needed was to become embroiled in a controversy over a teacher teaching his or her political persuasion. Those types of situations often become firestorms. And that's just within the building. The last thing my superintendent wanted was to then become looped into such a controversy. And even worse would be to have it go all the way to the school board and perhaps the local media. As our central office often said, "No surprises!" These are the types of situations that lead to transfers and firings.
As I indicated, however, in a community that is overwhelmingly liberal, I can see it happening. In a community that is overwhelmingly conservative, I can see it happening. But in most of America, educational leaders prevent that from happening to any great extent. A comment here or there...perhaps. But any steady diet of it...not likely. What's more likely is that a student picks up on a particular comment a teacher might make, and then the parent(s) begin making assumptions.
Bringing this all back down to the topic of the thread, this would be one of the things (of many) that would concern me about the super-library concept. No one controlling (yes, I used that word intentionally) what media students are perusing. No balance. No review of the appropriateness of media. And having been on challenged books committees, that's a tough situation.
Actually, thinking about it, I can remember a few times when my kids (one in particular) came home and told me stuff their teacher(s) had said about politics that I felt was inappropriate. I remember my daughter telling me "Columbus spread disease" and I told her I didn't think he personally infected anyone, but yes, the Europeans brought diseases over here that had not been seen in the west before. There was something else one time about religion, I don't remember the details, but the teacher had it wrong. (Religion can be taught as a social studies topic, not as a belief system, as I'm sure you know.)
The key that keeps getting overlooked, other than a few egregious cases, isn't about some teacher making an obviously political statement. The bias is much more subtle, and therefore, harder to pinpoint. So often it comes not from what is said, but what isn't said. For example, even way back as a kid in the 60s, I wondered why our history books taught from what I will call a "New England centric" point of view. Sorry, can't think of a better term. By that I mean the history books spent a great deal on events and people centered in the northeast. Kind of a Columbus discovered America in 1492. Then nothing happened until the Pilgrims landed. From that point on most of the text covered events in New England, some eastern Canada because of the French Voyagers, settlement through the French and Indian Wars, and the American Revolution until basically the war in the North settled into stalemate. Then jumped ahead to the end of the war and Washington being elected president (skipping over the intermediate history of the Articles of Confederation and how they didn't work). Then mentioned the Civil War and Lincoln freed the slaves. And then skipped some more to WW2.
The point? They "historians" who wrote those texts ignored the settlements in the South. Or the fact that the Spanish had extensively explored the South and Southwest. Or that they had been thriving in St Augustine and the West for a hundred years before the Pilgrims were starving in New England. They also ignored the culture beyond a brief mention of the native Americans, except for their part in the French and Indian wars and the taking of scalps. And amazingly, there must have been no culture's here before Columbus because they were never mentioned in the text books.
It was only what I researched myself did I discover what had been left out. That's the concern happening today. So much is being left out of history, literature, etc that students are being left with only part of the story. That's where most of the bias happens. What's not said.
^^Pretty sure I'm older than you and I learned all that, back in the late 50s in elementary school.
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