Political bias in college classrooms has become a source of increasingly heated debate over the past year. We've all sat through lectures and listened to material selectively critiqued — at least to some degree — by the perceptions of the person at the podium. Curriculum can be significantly manipulated by those who teach it. Yet, while complete objectivity in academia may be a virtual impossibility, we, as college students, are more than capable of muddling through the bullsh-t and drawing our own conclusions.
Of course, there was a time when we did not possess such aptitude, when our undeveloped minds were left vulnerable to the propaganda of our educators and the textbooks they were forced to recite. Remember learning about Christopher Columbus, the allegedly noble and courageous hero who "discovered" America? We were brainwashed into worshipping a man who, as it turns out, was a greedy and ruthless murderer who exploited the hospitality of indigenous people to rape and steal their land. Invoking images of a glorious discovery instead of a horrific genocide does much more to instill a blind sense of nationalism in our country's youth.
Grade schools may not be immune to curriculum deficiencies, but the recent exploits of teachers at Frank Allis Elementary School in Madison have revealed that political partiality in the classroom is not solely a collegiate phenomenon. Last week, third graders at Allis Elementary were assigned a project that served as a vast misuse of educators' institutional standings. The assignment required that the students write 12 letters to media outlets and lawmakers urging an end to the war in Iraq.
The anti-war movement continues to gain speed, especially when U.S. leaders and updates from Iraq give it more reason to. Yet the actions of the teachers at Allis, while offering some merit to conservative claims that public schools are becoming sites of "liberal indoctrination," also undermine the integrity of the entire anti-war movement. The teachers involved claim it was a project meant to advocate peace.
If only it were that simple.
The children were assigned to promote one side of what could possibly be the most controversial military initiative in American history — and they were not free to choose which side.
Never mind that the assignment was in direct violation of school district policy, which bans teachers from promoting their personal beliefs. Using children as pawns in civil protest is a despicable exploitation of an educator's professional privileges. It goes beyond the bickering debates of academic freedom that have ravaged America's campuses.
The reality of political socialization reveals that an individual's political ideology is the inevitable construction of parental and peer influences, education, religion, and a multitude of other factors that manifest in one's childhood. Teachers' views will inevitably influence the perceptions of their students — particularly those who are very young. The objectivity of elementary school teachers, then, is more vital than that of college professors — for the former preach to an audience that is ill-equipped to question or challenge their views. If classroom culture is constructed by political agenda — and young minds are molded by those who use their positions of authority to infringe on the ideologies of others — then we should all be concerned.
It is worth noting that the predominant intention of the teachers at Allis — schooling their kids on civic involvement — was noble. With the apathy of young voters apparent in every election, engaging children in relevant issues at an early age may help contribute to their future political participation. But educationally mandated anti-war rhetoric from nine-year-olds incapable of comprehending the complexities of American foreign policy is mere propaganda. It's not that third-graders don't matter. But, for them, the Iraq war is an inappropriate subject.
We all remember a time when we believed everything we were told. Political bias is not just a threat to the academic quality of higher education. It affects elementary students, as well, who are too young to know any better.
Adam Lichtenheld ([email protected]) is a sophomore majoring in political science and African studies.
