The Firing squad, continued

I think this is a very valid question and absolutely worthy of discussion.  I am wrestling with it as well, even though a big part of teaching for me is political.  But my political take on it is this: teach critical thinkers.  Teach girls that they can be married, or not.  That they can wear makeup and high heels, or not.  Teach boys that they can cry, or not.  That someone  can have two moms, and someone else can think that's a moral sin, and as long as no one is hurting anyone else, an opinion is just fine.  The bit that gets sticky is when one group wants to use their morality/beliefs/values to hurt someone else.  For example, when the reformers decided that poor kids shouldn't take academic classes they were imposing their values (that poor people can't do academic work) on other people to their detriment.   

Liberals can be just as guilty of placing their values on others though.  An experience that I had in my own life that has nothing to do with elementary education but I still think is relevant is this: in a workshop for young women, a "feminist" got up and started telling all the girls there that they are victims of the patriarchal hegemony, and that if they are skinny and/or American-style beautiful they are buying into The American Man's World View.  Her point was that being skinny meant that you were being oppressed.  It didn't seem to matter to her that women come in all shapes and sizes.  After one woman stood up to challenge her and a few girls started crying, many people walked out.  My point is that if you put your values on someone else, it doesn't matter if you are liberal or feminist or conservative or a Bush supporter.   But if you are questioning what values you have and what values you are having placed on you, you can make decisions that hopefully involve kindness and generosity for humanity. 

I want my students to question what they are being told by the media, by their government, by their parents and teachers, and decide for themselves what is valid, and what is skewed.   I don't much care if I turn out a whole bunch of thinkers in direct opposition to my beliefs. But it's vital to me that they are thinkers, and not just blind followers.