*Originally written in 2023 but I had to sit on this post a bit. I'd love to hear your respectful comments.
First day of community college for a couple of my kids, and it's the same old story in a couple of their classes...
Don't want to start a Facebook war, so I'm keeping this post on my very own blog. And here is my question:
Why do so many teachers at places like a local Kansas City community college try to insert their liberal agenda into places it doesn’t even need to be?
Why start Intro to Psychology class on the first day talking about how we came from monkeys?
Do these teachers think their way is the only way, or do they just not care about being respectful? And is it even necessary to insert certain things into the lesson?
Pretty sure if I went into my first day of teaching at JCCC for a Comp class and was like, “So we all know Jesus died for our sins so let’s all write a paper about that,” I would be booed off the campus.
The best teachers are the ones who you don’t have a clue at the end of the semester if they are religious or not, gay or not, vegan, etc. Nothing much personal is shared unless it’s boring, like an allusion to their children or the fact that they like to swim.
During my 10 years off and on at community college from 1989-1999, I don't remember much about my teachers' personal lives or opinions. There was one teacher who I suspected was gay, but she didn't say a word and never hit us over the head with it.
Now I follow her on Instagram because she was a FANTASTIC teacher, and, yep, she's gay and is free to share all her opinions on her social media. Where it should be kept. Not in the classroom.
As a teacher, I am not there to teach about my own personal opinions and profess them as the only way. Nope, not even when I teach high school at the Catholic homeschool coop. Of course, we are mostly all Catholic there, so that makes it easier.
Heck, even in the Dave Ramsey Personal Finance class, where I am supposed to teach that CREDIT CARDS ARE EVIL, I listen respectfully to the kids who say their parents have a credit card that racks up mad points for trips and such, and they pay it off monthly and always have. I acknowledge that Dave Ramsey is not a financial god and that everyone has to do what's right for their own family. (I now advocate for my kids to get a credit card when they hit 18 because you can't get an apartment if you have zero credit, as we found out when my 21-year-old with plenty of money in the bank tried to get an apartment in the town where the college is located where he got a full scholarship.)
Side Note:
Please teach your children to be respectful of other people and their different views. I'm not talking about being respectful of someone who knowingly does horrible things with no regard for humanity or animals. I'm talking about things like this:
My daughter mostly keeps to herself on matters of religion, as she's currently struggling.
Someone says something to her about, "Thank God..." and she says something back like, "I don't believe in God."
Unhelpful responses might include: "You're crazy!" or "That's dumb." or "But your whole family does."
Nobody knows God's plan for anyone else. My daughter who currently does not believe in God could very well end up being a nun or a pastor's wife or a very helpful person in the Catholic community. To judge her harshly at the age of 15 is not only wrong, but it's also potentially harmful to her coming back to being a believer.
Will I love her and support her either way? Yep. And I know you don't have to. But you also don't have to cause harm.
So, yes, my kids are respectful to the teachers who say we came from monkeys or like to insert things about trans rights into lessons where they don't even belong.
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