OMG!!! Is it right for a teacher to teach rebellion against Government??

Question

My STUPID teacher showed a video about How BAD the Government is. And How its horrible..HOW can teachers teach kids to go AGAINST authority??? it makes me angry ...i almost walked out...

Its not right..I mean who's paying the stupid teachers check??

teaching kids to go against authority and their own Government is COMPLETELY wrong. And I really want this to stop. ...

I've always loved Government and Politics...so this makes me really angry..

Answer 1

You should respect your teacher's authority and watch the film.

Answer 2

If you're going to teach the good about a government, which is what history books do, then you have to teach the bad. That way both sides of the story can be shown and a person is less likely to be indoctrinated into one or the other.

God's Kitty, if you love politics you should know that rebellion has often been used to improve the country. That is the POINT of rebellion. If kids are not taught that they can change the government, then they live in an oppressive society. As a teacher, I will NOT let that happen here.

Answer 3

I'm glad your teacher has the guts to stand against propaganda and show the point of view from the OTHER side for once! I wish I had a teacher like that when I was in school. But it was all pretty much one-sided until after high school. You should be in awe of your teacher, not disgusted. Don't be a little Hitler Youth and report your teacher--THAT would be pathetic and disgusting in a supposedly free America.

Just because you disagree with someone, does mean they are wrong and that you should use tactics to shut them up as was used in Russia and Nazi Germany. I'm sure there are kids in that class that agree with your teacher. That probably means that in another class, those same kids will disagree with a another teacher with different views. Do you see any of them squealing to the principal about other teachers? There are going to be people who agree and disagree on EVERY issue. Should we all turn each other in so we don't learn anything???


gandamack2: I thought it was the Republicans who were proud haters of the government!

"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help."
--Ronald Reagan (Republican and American president 1981-1989)

Guess criticizing government is a privilege reserved for Republican neocons only!

Answer 4

I dont think politics should be brought into schools. Both parties too I might add. However the government does have some pretty messed up thing going on with it right now and you would have to be blind and deaf to disagree. However if politics is going to be brought into schools (as it always seems to be) then both sides should be represented so that kids have a choice. I am not saying the government is completely garbage but that it is due for a serious tune up.

Answer 5

I would need to know exactly what you were watching to give you a fair answer... you really didn't go into detail over anything over than that it promoted "going against authority and the government."

Well, here's something you should know... our civil rights movement in this country, for example (remember Martin Luther King?) would have never happened if people didn't decide to "speak out" against authority and choose to be rebellious. It comes with every big social movement. It's not always a bad thing.

Answer 6

Uh - hi?!?! Our present day 'government' has advance into so distant from the folk, for whom the government works for, that it has little resemblance to what the founding fathers created. This democracy can no longer artwork except we question the leaders which we elected. Why do you think of each thing is in one in each of those cluster f**ok now? we've not got get admission to to our leaders, or little or no and that scares me. I thank my fortunate stars that I had a central authority instructor in intense college that made me question my government. A instructor that paints a intense-high quality little rosey photograph approximately our government, or the different for that count, won't be doing their interest. Our u . s . a . has in simple terms been around for a pair of hundred years, and traditionally, we are due for a revolution. we are right here as area of the tests and balances. regrettably, with on the instant's white domicile workforce, we are having much less and much less techniques of checking up on what they are doing, while they are expanding their huge brother mentality. be chuffed which you have AN clever EDUCATOR THAT TEACHES fact AND TEACHES TO EMPOWER YOU TO MAKE your very own judgements particularly of BLANKLY listening to those who've STOLEN ability AND FOLLOWING BLINDLY LIKE LEMMINGS!

Answer 7

Hmmm...that's definitely a sticky subject.

If it was for the purpose of teaching kids that they have a voice & a right to use it if they don't agree with what their government is doing, then I think it is excellent. I, personally, want my kids to know that it's okay to speak out against authority if they disagree with it. If they don't realize that they have that power & that right, then we might as well be living in a communist country. That's the point of political science - to teach kids that they will soon have the say in how their country, state, county, etc. is run.

However, to defend your point, if it was just a video that was blasting the president & giving one-sided views (which I doubt it was, or she would be fired) then that would be absolutely inappropriate & I would definitely file a complaint.

Answer 8

Excellent quotes above. Here's a couple more:

"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government -- lest it come to dominate our lives and interests." -- Patrick Henry

"A man may be loyal to his government and yet oppose the particular principles and methods of administration."
-- Abraham Lincoln

"Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem." -- Ronald Reagan

"The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all."
-- Thomas Jefferson

Answer 9

What do you mean by "how bad the government is"?

The answer depends on that premise.

1) Actual Issues are justifiable and ought to be acknowledged. this is meant to be a democratic nation, not a centralized dictatorship where we're not allowed to criticize the government.

If you mean your teacher is showing how the government failed to protect and provide for African American slaves, then that is something we ought to acknowledge.

If your teacher is criticizing the government for unethical behaviour, mismanagement, poor allocation of resources, antidemocratic practices then that is justified.


2) Controversial issues (s)he may express a political view or economic view that isn't mainstream. though we're a neoliberal capitalist society, there is no reason that arguments and discussions about a more institutionalist, marxist or socialist approaches, ought to be censored


3) Opininative issues if (s)he is expressing her opinion (rather than one based on ideology) then (s)he is entitled to that so long as she does not discriminate nor impose her views on others.


4) Violently supported issues if your teacher is proposing you vandalize property or use violence or criminal activity as a means (not the same thing as peaceful protests or strikes), then (s)he is stepping outside what she is both ethically and legally allowed to do.

Answer 10

It is called sedition. It is no longer illegal. It is contemptible.

Tell your parents. Have them talk to other parents. Have them get several parents together. Do not ask for the teacher to be removed. Insist that the principal look into it and view the whole video with two student representatives (to be sure it's the same unedited video) and their parents.

Ask that the principal help the teacher understand that he is NOT there to indocrinate the children into ANY one political or religious view. Thank the teacher and the principal respectfully for their time.

Write a thank you note to the principal.

Then when the teacher does something similar, next year, being sure to talk to the kids in the grade below yours, follow through a second time but involve the superintendent.

I'm a teacher. I work for you. Remember that when you have kids of your own.

Keep speaking up. Good to have a patriot at this site. Remember not to copy that teacher. You may disagree with a representative, but being seditious is the opposite of patriotism.

Answer 11

Rebellion, no, but it's your civic duty to have a degree of skepticism about our government, and part of your teacher's job is to show you examples and make you think.
For instance, President Bush has led us into a war that's increasingly unpopular. He's no Woodrow Wilson, who kept invading a bunch of countries at the behest of Big Business, but it's a valid teaching point to make some comparisons.