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The Mark of a Good Teacher?


 

First up: if you didn’t get a chance to see part one if the WBAL report on special education in the Howard County Schools, here’s the link. 

Left Behind, Tolly Taylor, WBAL TV


*****


Something else school-related. In an online conversation about local schools, one poster held that you should never be able to tell what political party that a teacher belongs to. Essentially, they claimed that this was a mark of good teaching.

On its face this seems reasonable. We don’t want teachers using their influence to endorse one political party over the other in the classroom as a means of shaping how young people think. 

But we’re at a point where deeply held values that have long been associated with American democracy overall are now being labeled as Leftist “indoctrination”. For example: 

1. We teach the truth about history.

2. Everyone deserves acceptance and respect.

3. Libraries support intellectual freedom.

I’m not saying that our country has been stellar at upholding those values, but - - until very recently there would have been nothing controversial about including them in the classroom. 

What do you think? 


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