Brainwashing or learning? This topic came up before break and it resrufaced today as I went off on a diatribe about abortion, federal spending, right to life, and other issues. Several students were uncomfortable with the topic, with my obviously biased viewpoints, and that I "forced my views" upon you. Isn't that what teachers do every day? Is education a series of events and experiences where an authority figure (who has ethos established by their intellectual and academic accomplishments) tells you what to think?
I apologize for the class for becoming too political, too one-sided, or too intimidating in my position. But I challenge you to address the question above. Do teachers force their beliefs on you? Are some of those beliefs more insidious and latent than others? What effects does that produce in society?
What about political figures? Do they force their views on the people as well, or do they reflect the beliefs of society?
Education
15 years ago
16 comments:
I believe that teachers do force their beliefs on students. Teachers will only allow you to talk about things that they feel comfortable talking about. They will go all out for what they like and believe in but when its something they don't they brush over it. I think that America has always been like this. Political figures do force their views on people and will of course give two sides of the story like teachers, but will make theirs sound better.
Personally, I think everyone does this. Even at church and at home we do not talk about everything. Our parents will push only what they like and teach you what they believe in and thats all their is to it. People tend to not be objective on things unless their job requires them to be and even then, people still can not help but want what they believe to be the only thing that is highlighted. For example if you believe strongly about a subject but have to explain the opposite, you will not feel comfortable and always put in something that will help your views and make you feel comfortable. I don't think its brain washing or learning I think it's simply human nature.
Every person has the ability to think for themselves. Everybody forms thier own opinions. Now whether they let another persons' comments or thoughts on the matter sway thier opionion or not is a chioce that is completely up to that person.
So I don't think that teachers force thier opinions on a student, however I do believe that a teachers' opinion can and have swayed the minds and beliefs of students. If a teacher is adament about their opinion and completely close-mided about the whole topic, how does that effecty the way the student thinks? It only matters if the student allows it to. This doesn't only go for a student and teacher but for anybody.
In my opinion, brainwashing and learning are two complelty different things. With brainwashig, a person is forced to believe something, whether they agree with it or not, until they believe its true. With learning, you are given the information, whether you decide to keep, and believe it or discard it is up to you.
I believe that it is a learning process. From an early age you start to learn what your parents except of you and what they belief. And then you start to go to school and the teachers and other students have different beliefs, which throw a lot of people. But it’s the process of everyone getting together and sharing, true you might not like how some people think but it’s their view and the world is full of many different ones. So yes teachers do push their views but so does everyone else. You learn from everyone you meet and if you chose to take one of their opinions and make it your own that’s your choice and that doesn’t mean your brainwashed it means you learned from the experience and now think a little differently.
Personally i love it when the class becomes political cause in our class we have a really politically diverse clasroom so i dont think that an apology was necessary it is a govt class politics should be involved and it is always nice to see opinion.
Teachers may have somewhat of an impact but at the age and "maturity" we should have opinions for ourselves already but teachers do persuade students into seeing their or the book's side of things. As Gabby said it happens on a daily basis cause it is human nature and people should just get used to it and stick to their own guns dont let others persuade you. If we were to follow everyone elses opinions then i believe that society would become senseless and vote for who the media says is right at the time or what oprah say COUGH *obama* COUGH excuse me there was a bit of dust in the air :P haha at any rate it is a daily thing that may or may not be for the good of everything but it is just a part of life kinda like going to scool for 12 consecutive years
-Emilio
It is brainwashing. That is all it can be. Students go to school to learn( theoretically). But how do students know that teachers are qualified to teach? They dont . We assume that teachers are qualified because of a piece of paper hung on the wall. When teachers were in college, the same went for them. So teachers teach us what they think they know based on what their teachers think they know. So we cannot learn due to the simple fact that teachers can be wrong. Even if teachers were not wrong, the fact is that we as students are forced to listen to teachers thanks to state legislation and bureaucracy. We cannot listen to ipods and mp3s to tune out teachers during class. We at all time are forced to listen to what teashers have to say.
I don't think anyone has addressed this part of the issue yet--is it better to know out right your teachers' political & religious views (which believe it in or not COMPLETELY shape their instruction, study, and teaching philosophy) OR for teachers to tell you they will be completely OBJECTIVE, yet still teach a course that is "loaded" with a particular world view?
In my class specifically, do I REFUSE to consider or discuss viewpoints? Do I tell you your wrong? Do I really FORCE you to believe what I believe?
Is it possible for a teacher, or anyone really, to be OBJECTIVE?
Socratic seminar is based on probing commonly held assumptions, questioning those views, and constanly evaluating and sharing ideas so one can "think" more for themselves? Isn't everything we think a blend of what we've "learned" from others?
I wish Howard Roark really existed!
i believe that learning is the part of life in which you learn the fundamentals and do not yet understand what it is to have your own opinion on any subject. brainwashing is what teachers, media, and politics do when they find ways to menipulate you into voting, supporting, and excepting certian views that are not what you originally thought. brainwashing can be done in teaching only when taught biasedly because then the student is unaware that thier is another side so the teacher is manipulating them into feeling as they do and if they have a natural conviction against what they have been taught most would not say so because they would be the odd one out.
learning is teaching at a biased, leaving a choice, giving them a sence of opinion, and incoraging or leaving the door open for new ideas and opinions.
christen valentine
when it comes to pilitical parties they bothe brainwash and learn to make themselves look good. they find out what the majority of poeple want to hear and they queeze that in with what they want the majority to beleive so they can get what they want.
yet is this not politics? who gets what when and how? it is an all about me nation so why should government not reflect the poeples want to have it all and not work escpecially if the poeple are the government in this land...
christen valentine
I believe that teachers have their affect on some values and beliefs when it comes to teaching students. I also believe that students can have an affect on their teachers with their beliefs. Teachers are meant to teach and guide their students through the world and life. With out some sort of initial belief to branch off of, how can you actually learn?? Once you have an initial belief or point of view, you can change it by learning and experiencing life itself. But with out that initial belief, what do you actually believe?? Nothing?? Is that even possible?? To believe nothing? No. So teachers are a gateway to other beliefs and opinions. If a student chooses to stick with a teachers belief, thats his/her choice.
Teachers are humans and humans in general naturally want others to believe what they believe. But this is how we learn and see different percpectives. You cannot learn all their is to know without changing perspectives every now and again. Why? Because you will refuse to see something anyother way, neglecting to learn all there is to know about that thing.
Teachers are teaching not breainwashing. Especially since most teachers give an opinion and give students the option to defend, challenge, or qualify that opinion. Its not all one sided, unless you just have a bad teacher. Which Mrs. Russionello isnt. So our class cannot say that we are being brainwashed.
Tatia
Descartes stated in his Meditations on First Philosophy, that we should withhold our assent until we know for a certainty what we are trying to decide on. So I will not say one way or another weather teachers brainwash their students. I will simply state some of my observations.
For teachers who are blatantly biased, especially teachers in the humanities, their students will have strong feelings one way or the other about the teacher. They will either hate them or love them. Seeing this, a student who has not yet assented to either viewpoint should realize that this teacher, being biased, is likely to misrepresent the facts. Therefore, a blatantly and unabashedly biased teacher will have little sway over their intelligent students, as those who have already made up their minds will either unequivocally agree or vehemently disagree with the teachers view, and those who have not yet assented will ignore the teacher.
The other teacher, the one who has their views, but attempts to hide said view, and attempts to teach without bias, will be seen as being honest, neutral, and fair. They will not set off any warning signs in the mind of the undecided, and will be listened to. However, it does not matter how hard they try to hide their views, they cannot help but present the material which will better represent their particular ideology. This will cause those who have withheld their assent to unsuspectingly become biased to one side, and while they may still withhold, they will find it difficult later in life, when they may discover some counterexample, to overcome belief perseveration.
And as for the teacher who doesn't care, it is impossible to teach effectively with no attachment. You have to care about a subject to have an impact when talking about it.
Thus, it seems that it is the perhaps slightly biased, or the attemptedly unbiased who in fact transfers the greatest bias onto their students.
However, I am not completely sure of this, so I will withhold my assent. I may have evidence, but where my infinite will meets my finite judgment, I must not make any decision.
im not too sure if its learning or brainwashing, i've learned from a very young age to just not listen to anything a teacher says. i've never liked teachers, no offense, but they're all idiots, no offense, and i can't stand any of them, no offense. i dont think its much 'brainwashing' as it is rediculous. i mean i understand you need to be educated to do certain things but i have to go to school for 4 years to put a tube into someones shoulder artery, then another tube into their wrist to embalm them. so im not sure, i really dont care if its brainwashing or if its learning since i've learned all i need to from school. never trust men, or women without a beard.
When you voiced your opinion in class yesterday I don't think you were tellling people to believe what you believe. You stated before you ever said anything that this is just your opinon and it is completely biased. I personally was with you on what you believed because that's what i believe. Honestly teachers are constantly voicing their opnion on a subject and wanting you to go along with what they say. But let me remind everyone THAT WE ALL HAVE A RIGHT TO THINK WHATEVER WE WANT! Sure you can be pursuaded to like an idea about anything but it's still your own opnion.
Alex, there is so much that I disagree with in your comment. In fact, I find your attitude disconcerting. You have to understand that your attitude has a highly negative effect on your education. What you are saying is that you haven't trusted your teachers for anything, from a very young age. How young are we talking here? You are what, 17, 18? So then from 14? 12? 10? So as a middle school student, you ceased to pay attention to what your teachers say. I hope to my God that you pay more attention in embalming school, if not for your sake, for the sake of the family of the deceased, so that their loved one doesn't smell of rotting meat at the funeral.
I just have to ask you, why are you even still at school with an attitude like that? You don't trust your teachers, so how can you trust your textbooks? Why do you trust anything you read? How can you learn anything except for what you derive/deduce on your own? It's an effective strategy in philosophy, but I for one am glad that I had someone to guide me through partial differential equations, because that would have been a huge headache to figure out on my own.
Interestingly, however, I do agree with some of what you say. People who intend on providing labor do not benefit from most of high school, or even middle school. Perhaps the United States should do as some European countries and provide trade schools to teach technical skills to people who will not be entering the world of academia. But that argument is neither here nor there as far as this blog is concerned.
There is an option that I have not yet explored: perhaps you are that nasty mode of internet traveler, who derives enjoyment from making the most obscene and off-base statements, known only as a troll.
Despite this possibility, I still feel you should have been paying a little more attention in grammar class. I know that this is "just" a blog, but it is still a sample of your writing given to the public. Use apostrophes, and the squiggly line beneath a word means it is misspelled. I don't care how often you say "no offense," if you are saying offensive things, offense will be taken.
I think its just a part of leaning. Having opinions about stuff is what makes us different. It's fascinating to listen to what other people have to say about politics because you may see things you didn't before.
I think it could possibly be a little of both. teachers dont force theri opinions on you but they can have quite of an influence on shaping your personal views.
~4ng!3~
Channing, have you ever watched a movie in your life? if you had you would have known that the 'no offense' bit is from 'SuperBad', if you had known this you would know this fits the perfect time to do it. Either way, since every statement you have is stated by someone else that you probably read in a book, or probably just goggled.
As for when I stopped caring, I was in the 2nd grade. Not middle school.
To answer your question as of why I’m still in school, all I can say is I’m in school because I know I HAVE to do this to be able to do anything else that involves science so you can lick it.
I would like to ask you why you're still in school. Didn’t you drop out of college? Hmm...
I’m sure you'll say but I’m going to another college but I don’t care so don’t bring it up.
But as for embalming, it’s not an actual embalming school, it’s just a credit in the way to become a mortician, so I don’t think ill have to pay too much attention in embalming classes, but thanks for your concern.
as you said, this is just a blog and all I’m trying to do is do the homework i was assigned, not try to act as if I’m a completely smarter person because I’ve been out of high school for two years and now that no one likes me and i have no friends I have to come back to a blog that high school student do their work on and try to act as if I’m smarter than all of them. Get a life Channing, don’t you have a mission to go attend?
oh by the way, if i was to trust everything i read, especially from a book, i'd be like you...but I’d rather not say why, I think you know . You know reading looks and listening to people who lie to me. :)
I’m not sure how you can refer to me as troll? I’m not sure if you noticed, but I’m enrolled in AP Government and am actually sitting in the class and listening. as you have been out of high school for 2 years now and coming on this blog arguing against other opinions and beliefs on the question that was asked. So next time you want to refer to someone as a troll, maybe you should try look at your internet surfing.
I’ve never heard of a grammar class? What is that? I’ve heard of English. But it's never said on my schedule, 'Mr. doe-grammar class'
Thanks for clarifying what the line underneath a word means, but you're not a teacher so i don’t care what you say, even if you were a teacher I still wouldn't listen.
OH! Another thing troll, im not sure if you're saying the people that are labor workers are stupid or what. but im sure that your intention was to state that labor workers are stupid. But stop to think, they think the same about you, someone who has gone to college, and probably believes that George Bush is a good guy. Anothing thing, if you need some help with finding friends, i know some guys that go to ASU.
see you soon CHANNINGman...
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