Over the years, I have been writing about misconceptions regarding the schooling process. The purpose of these posts is to explain why I disagree with various comments that I have heard people make about schooling. These are meant as personal thoughts rather than conclusive proof, and I will admit that I'm not always the best at explaining my thoughts. Regardless, I have decided that I should be willing to share these posts when I encounter someone online who makes an argument that I have already discussed.
For my latest misconception, I'm going to do things a little differently. I'm going to address two related misconceptions at the same time.
A lot of parents have criticized teachers for forcing their views onto students. These parents feel that it is the responsibility of parents, not teachers, to establish their children's views.
A lot of teachers have countered that parents are uninformed and biased. They insist that this is why students should embrace the views promoted by teachers. There's a big problem with this argument since teachers are also uninformed and biased. To make things worse, they are in a much better position to manipulate the general public.
Disagreements over whose views children should embrace has essentially resulted in a war between parents and teachers. This isn't an issue for parents who share a brain with teachers, since they have the same views. Parents with different perspectives than teachers, however, are being absolutely villainized by the teaching profession.
What this dispute ultimately comes down to is a false binary option. There are other potential sources for the views that children develop. If you know me, you already know my preference. I want the views possessed by children to be controlled by neither parents nor teachers.
I am openly critical of mental dependence. If children properly learn to think for themselves, they can't possibly create a consistent match with those who are in a position to influence their views. Ultimately, children need to be responsible for their own views.
If we are doing our jobs, the views of children will deviate from those of their parents. For the exact same reasons, their views should deviate from those of their teachers. To put it another way, both sides of the war between parents and teachers are completely wrong.
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