‘I don’t really consider this a political issue; I consider it to be a moral issue,” Al Gore says about global warming in his documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.”
His voice engulfs the entire room. Each one of my peers is enthralled by the charts and images on the screen.
About an hour later, the Academy Award-winning movie ends, and a discussion ensues.
My teacher is the first to comment. In a voice imitating George W. Bush, he quips that Gore would have made a much better president.
All around me are smothered giggles and nods. I sat in my desk, appalled by the blatant disrespect for our president.
A true American loves this country and, despite like or dislike, shows respect for the current president.
But I have seen Young Republican Club meeting posters torn down by my peers.
I have heard the same jokes about Sarah Palin so many times that I could repeat each of them without stuttering.
I have listened to students laugh at Sen. John McCain as he gestured to his supporters to stop the “booing” – the “booing” against the presidential candidate that each one of those students supported.
Yet when President-elect Obama’s speech was shown, the classroom was dead silent.
I have sat in a room with my peers, the only one to raise my hand for McCain when asked which presidential candidate we would vote for.
It is not the students who release their closet immaturity most frequently, however. It is the teachers.
I believe each student is entitled to an opinion. I do not believe, though, that educators have the right to encourage or sway that opinion.
They should teach students how to think, not what to think.
A video shown in one of my classes this year claimed that Republicans rigged the election in 2004.
A few weeks later, the same teacher who showed the video made a comment about Democrats possibly rigging an election. I believe the phrase ” . . . but it’s OK” was used.
It is not the video that bothered me, for everyone – Democrat, Republican, independent, etc. – is human. What bothered me was the comment.
Political views should be kept out of the classroom. A learning environment, which shapes children into adults, should be unbiased.
It is rare to walk into a class at Tucson High and not experience some type of liberal bias.
As a junior there, I have yet to do so.
Ashlee Maez is a junior at Tucson Magnet High School. E-mail: kailachi@yahoo.com
An inconvenient truth: Liberal opinions, such as those concerning global warming and espoused by Al Gore, are championed by many teachers.