Tony,

The issue of capitalism is controversial, so there will be folks on both 
sides of the issue and the best we can do is agree to disagree.

Again, there is disagreement whether teachers at various levels should or 
should not have an agenda and use it in instruction. There are those who say 
the teachers should spout only undisputed facts, but to do so is often 
likely to leave out the very information that children need to keep the 
instruction from being BORING! Personally, I feel a teacher should present a 
balance of both irrefutable information and some controversial issues. 
Students learn to think when they are given something to think about, and 
education must always be more than just regurgitating facts.

Student, especially from middle school on, become aware that their best 
teachers have an opinion on issues. They not only want to know what that 
opinion is, but how the teacher arrived at an opinion. In essence, students 
model how their parents, their teachers, and other adults around them come 
to conclusions.

But, there is a line drawn in the sand that limits the teacher to present 
his/her opinion, the means at arriving at it, and then allow students to 
form their own opinions. A teacher who does not allow students to disagree, 
is not following good professional practice. A good teacher will "provoke" 
students with what the student perceives perhaps as "outrageous", and 
thereby encourages the student to engage in thinking about the issue. That 
is one way to promote thinking.

Last night someone sent me a "lesson plan" probably presuming I'd link it up 
to my website. It was clear that the "lesson plan" intended for students to 
come to one and only one conclusion - that a vegetarian diet is "best". All 
of the materials and resources for the "lesson" led the student to that 
conclusion. I quipped to the person who sent it, that after reading it, I 
suspect that any child who, at the end of the "lesson", says "I'll have a 
Big Mac" will automatically earn an "F" for the "lessons". Needless to say, 
it will not go on my website. It is far to biased a lesson. Better to 
present the resources and let the student develop their own conclusion than 
to drive the conclusion to a "proper" outcome.

Anne

Anne Pemberton
[log in to unmask]
http://www.erols.com/apembert
http://www.educationalsynthesis.org 

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