To survive as a Tory teacher, you have to keep quiet

[Guest MattP]

http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/02/to-survive-as-a-tory-teacher-you-have-to-keep-quiet/

 

 

I thought it was part of our job to promote tolerance and challenge orthodoxy. I was wrong

According to my former colleagues, history teachers in an urban English state school, anyone who votes for the Conservative party is ‘thick’, the British Empire was ‘unambiguously evil’ and capitalism leads to ‘mass inequality and misery for the vast majority of working people’. The only answer was, you guessed it, socialism. Yes, the cliché of the Little Red Book-carrying schoolteacher is alive and well.

 

As the only right-of-centre teacher in the history department, I found lunchtime particularly galling. My colleagues would sit around denouncing the British empire, Michael Gove’s changes to the national curriculum and the government’s ‘ideologically driven’ attempts to cut the nation’s deficit. But what worried me more was their willingness to indoctrinate their pupils with the same world-view. On one occasion, I overheard three of them discussing the delivery of a unit provocatively titled ‘Should we be proud of the British empire?’ As you can probably imagine, there was one answer they considered right: ‘No! We should be ashamed. Look at Amritsar, what we did to the Native American Indians and our involvement in the Middle East,’ said one, shaking his head.

In history class, pupils discussed a litany of British atrocities, from forcing widespread opium addiction upon a benighted, infantilised Chinese population to massacres in India and Africa and ethnic cleansing in North America and Australia. There was only one task asking pupils to consider the question: ‘How did the British Empire improve lives?’ and this was homework. There was no classroom discussion about the spread of capitalism, parliamentary democracy and the rule of law; the propagation of ideas, literature, technological and medical advances; or even the abolition of the slave trade.

 

Mostly, on this subject, I held my tongue. I was a supply teacher on a zero-hours contract and was worried about being sacked.

 

If only I had stuck to this resolution. After keeping schtum for two months, I finally challenged a colleague’s view of the Tories. ‘Why are Tory voters thick?’ I asked. ‘Is it just because they happen to disagree with you?’

 

‘No,’ he replied. ‘Because they voted for cuts’.

‘Perhaps they saw the cuts as necessary,’ I said. ‘Surely it’s better to make savings now, rather than keep spending money we don’t have, go bankrupt and, like the Labour government of 1976, be forced to make even deeper cuts after going cap in hand to the IMF.’

‘That’s rubbish!’ said another colleague. And so it continued, though no one actually raised their voices, until they brushed off my argument with a blasé ‘yeah, yeah, yeah’ before gesturing towards the office door as if dismissing a recalcitrant child.

Two days later, I defended the new national curriculum and the government’s commitment to traditional teaching methods against the head of department’s venomous and sustained criticism.

I said, we do too much for the children we teach; we should give them more responsibility and more freedom to think independently. She said: ‘I don’t want to talk to you any more!’ Before leaving — I had to go to my lesson — I asked why she was being so rude. ‘It’s only a debate,’ I said. ‘Isn’t it a good idea to listen to the views of others, even if you find them hard to stomach?’

 

My answer came on Friday — two days later. I was called into the head’s office and told that, after a complaint from colleagues in my department, the school would no longer require my services. So I was effectively being dismissed for holding the wrong views, though of course the head dressed it up in a different garb: it was my manner rather than my opinions. Apparently I was ‘too assertive’.

As I remember it, my interlocutors were both red-faced and angry, and more than willing to use inflammatory language. I was told, at one point, that I was unfit to teach.

 

Interestingly, the head of department who refused to work with me — effectively calling for my dismissal — had several weeks previously decried the cruelty of zero-hours contracts. Where was her left-wing compassion when it came to sacking me, a married man with two children to support?

I suppose I’ve only got myself to blame. For a brief moment, I deluded myself into believing that schools actually encouraged tolerance and the questioning of orthodoxies through intellectual exploration, freedom of thought and speech. How silly of me.

 

 

Quite interesting for me this as it's almost word for word what I've been told by a Conservative teaching friend I have, any thoughts from the teachers on here? How do you treat the Tory teachers in the staff room?

[Merging Cultures]

http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/02/to-survive-as-a-tory-teacher-you-have-to-keep-quiet/

Quite interesting for me this as it's almost word for word what I've been told by a Conservative teaching friend I have, any thoughts from the teachers on here? How do you treat the Tory teachers in the staff room?

I guess it is how the market works. The teaching sector is dominated by Labour supporters.

I think most people go through phases, young and idealistic, then they get a job and don't want to be taxed and wish people would get off their arse and work. So I am not too concerned what kids think, and 'Tory teachers' probably should suck it up and accept it is a cost of working in that sector.

I must admit though, I'm glad my economics teacher was a fan of Thatcher.

[David Guiza]

I was in Sixth Form around the 2010 general election and, from memory, those teachers that were willing to digress on who they supported were mainly a split between the three. This was of course prior to Nick Clegg getting into bed with Cameron and based on promises of cuts to education fees etc. Generally speaking the more 'old school' teachers were Tory and the recent graduates/ newly qualified were Labour.

 

On the other hand, I'm pretty much the only 'leftie' in the solicitors firm that I work. Doesn't bother me one bit.

[Saxondale]

Disgusting, but not at all surprising.

 

Of course teachers are mainly leftists - like all public sector workers, they're going to vote for the party who will, ostensibly, pay them more money. I don't actually blame them for this.

 

What is so galling, however, is that this greed is hidden under a transparent veneer of compassionate altruism. 

 

The scenario quoted above typifies the arrogance, blinkeredness and hypocrisy of many dyed-in-the-wool leftists. The idea that 'all tories are thick' is not only patronising and stupid, but totally converse to the very reasonable assertion that the only people who could possibly oppose budget cuts are those who don't actually understand economics.  

 

I'm married to a teacher and several of my best friends are teachers. One thing they ALL - without exception - have in common is that they don't know how to manage money and they don't understand anything vaguely business related. They live in a scholastic bubble, from which it's very easy to be blinkered from the real world outside.

[Finnaldo]

I was in Sixth Form around the 2010 general election and, from memory, those teachers that were willing to digress on who they supported were mainly a split between the three. This was of course prior to Nick Clegg getting into bed with Cameron and based on promises of cuts to education fees etc. Generally speaking the more 'old school' teachers were Tory and the recent graduates/ newly qualified were Labour.

 

On the other hand, I'm pretty much the only 'leftie' in the solicitors firm that I work. Doesn't bother me one bit.

 

I was in Sixth Form and a left bias was quite obvious in some teachers. There were a group of Labour supporters from what you'd consider the cool group who would go round in the Study area in the run up to the election quizzing you on who you were going to vote for, obviously you'd get scorned for anything other than Labour. 

 

Even as someone who leans left (but agrees with some Tory stances) you can tell there's a fairly scary trend of supporting Labour/Left Wing parties or being socially outcast for not being caring or compassionate enough, the narcissistic effect of social media is quite obvious in this respect as you can get judged on your political standing without people truly understanding your social beliefs. It's a quick way to look socially superior in front of peers without much effort.   

[leicsmac]

Teachers tend to be idealists: that's why they work where they do and the suicide rate for the job isn't much much higher that it otherwise would be. Idealism and left-wing thinking tend to go hand in hand, as do right-wing thinking and pragmatism. I think it's the ideology that picks the job, not the other way round.

 

Disgusting, but not at all surprising.

 

Of course teachers are mainly leftists - like all public sector workers, they're going to vote for the party who will, ostensibly, pay them more money. I don't actually blame them for this.

 

What is so galling, however, is that this greed is hidden under a transparent veneer of compassionate altruism. 

 

The scenario quoted above typifies the arrogance, blinkeredness and hypocrisy of many dyed-in-the-wool leftists. The idea that 'all tories are thick' is not only patronising and stupid, but totally converse to the very reasonable assertion that the only people who could possibly oppose budget cuts are those who don't actually understand economics.  

 

I'm married to a teacher and several of my best friends are teachers. One thing they ALL - without exception - have in common is that they don't know how to manage money and they don't understand anything vaguely business related. They live in a scholastic bubble, from which it's very easy to be blinkered from the real world outside.

 

I don't think Tories are thick. I think a lot of them are extremely smart - particularly from a business perspective. I just disagree with most of them regarding self-interest being the critically important societal factor, that's all.

 

Oh, and regarding the 'real world' - everyone has a different perception of that, your might not necessarily be the right one.

[Footballwipe]

...Except the conservative district councillor whose a teacher in my district

[inckley fox]

I think there was a survey a couple of years ago which suggested less than 50% support for Labour among teachers, and around 30% for the Tories, so perhaps the numbers are rising.

 

Personally I think it's unwise for a teacher to share their political beliefs. If you're teaching literature it's impossible not to talk about politics - with a few exceptions, like Evelyn Waugh, most of the great post-Marxism literature is socialist, or at least shares significant socialist ideals - but I think you can discuss it quite neutrally.

 

I worked with a teacher who used to hand out copies of the Daily Mail in the morning in the staff room. Quite how she came to do so I don't know, but she clearly felt confident enough to do it. If you work in international schools overseas, as I have for much of the past ten years, then the balance is probably much more even, but I suppose it's a difficult environment to push right wing ideals.

 

I mean, to be an effective and successful teacher you need to have a belief that the most appallingly behaved kids, from the most appalling backgrounds, can be as valuable to the classroom as those from more privileged backgrounds, so in that respect the profession probably lends itself more to left wing sympathies. 

 

As for a 'scholastic bubble' - well, I'd like a lot of the teachers I've worked with to focus a bit more on doing their jobs well, rather than treating it like any other opportunity to make money (good results don't tend to correspond to good pay, for example). In much the same way, I'd like a lot of politicians to focus on doing their jobs well, for the money it earns them, before worrying about second incomes and pay rises. So a 'scholastic bubble' might not be a bad thing for some teachers.

[Thracian]

Sadly while preaching their diatribe, Labour supporters constantly pour piss on the idea of free speech, free thinking and open debate. No wonder they appeal to so many incomers. They make an art-form of brainwashing given chance.

The Marxists of the teaching profession are like the Marxists of labour councils all over the country - they don't like you thinking for yourself and take over at every turn, constantly instilling the feeling of reliance on others...the commune outlook... and to hell with individual thinking cos it's dangerous and can't be controlled so easily

Get the foot-soldiers working for and within the state and its satellites....it's basically a call to controlled slavery and mental conditioning - plus philosophical and economic bad practice on top!

"Those who can, do, those who can't teach"....where teachers are concerned that oft-quoted wisdom is all-to-often true.

The biggest problem with teachers is that, just like too many politicians, too few have insufficient real experience outside the doubtful philosophies they heard in the comfort of the universities they graduated in.

They've never worked in industry, never run their own company, never slept rough for any period of time, never lived in the old Soviet Union so many seem to revere, nor in China during the administration of chariman Mao.

They are so busy telling others what to do and think, they stop doing it for themselves and never have the courtesy to listen properly to anyone else's views..at least not with any intentions of changing their minds or their thinking.

They even sit in their union meetings listening to self-serving, hypocritical, politically-fueled philosophical garbage and are gullible enough to take it in whether it's logical or not.

On that basis, how some of them dare consider themselves qualified to lead others I've no idea.

And I really am talking about "some" because there are also some excellent teachers out there, people whose great desire is to teach kids how to think and learn rather than what to think and learn.

Just as I don't believe in religious or political indoctrination of anyone I certainly don't believe it belongs in schools.

As I've suggested before, the Labour Party needs to reform itself into something worth defending. And the Conservatives could probably do the same.

We badly need better. But if teacher's would defend the merits of what we've currently got in terms of today's political philosophies, Labour or Conservative, it doesn't say much for their pupils chances of acquiring wisdom.

PS: Perhaps too much generalising in there but I find it appalling to imagine our schools riddled with political or religious flag-fliers of any kind.

[Nick]

Sadly while preaching their diatribe, Labour supporters constantly pour piss on the idea of free speech, free thinking and open debate. No wonder they appeal to so many incomers. They make an art-form of brainwashing given chance.

The Marxists of the teaching profession are like the Marxists of labour councils all over the country - they don't like you thinking for yourself and take over at every turn, constantly instilling the feeling of reliance on others...the commune outlook... and to hell with individual thinking cos it's dangerous and can't be controlled so easily

Get the foot-soldiers working for and within the state and its satellites....it's basically a call to controlled slavery and mental conditioning - plus philosophical and economic bad practice on top!

"Those who can, do, those who can't teach"....where teachers are concerned that oft-quoted wisdom is all-to-often true.

The biggest problem with teachers is that, just like too many politicians, too few have insufficient real experience outside the doubtful philosophies they heard in the comfort of the universities they graduated in.

They've never worked in industry, never run their own company, never slept rough for any period of time, never lived in the old Soviet Union so many seem to revere, nor in China during the administration of chariman Mao.

They are so busy telling others what to do and think, they stop doing it for themselves and never have the courtesy to listen properly to anyone else's views..at least not with any intentions of changing their minds or their thinking.

They even sit in their union meetings listening to self-serving, hypocritical, politically-fueled philosophical garbage and are gullible enough to take it in whether it's logical or not.

On that basis, how some of them dare consider themselves qualified to lead others I've no idea.

And I really am talking about "some" because there are also some excellent teachers out there, people whose great desire is to teach kids how to think and learn rather than what to think and learn.

Just as I don't believe in religious or political indoctrination of anyone I certainly don't believe it belongs in schools.

As I've suggested before, the Labour Party needs to reform itself into something worth defending. And the Conservatives could probably do the same.

We badly need better. But if teacher's would defend the merits of what we've currently got in terms of today's political philosophies, Labour or Conservative, it doesn't say much for their pupils chances of acquiring wisdom.

PS: Perhaps too much generalising in there but I find it appalling to imagine our schools riddled with political or religious flag-fliers of any kind.

 

 

 

You think?

[inckley fox]

Sadly while preaching their diatribe, Labour supporters constantly pour piss on the idea of free speech, free thinking and open debate. No wonder they appeal to so many incomers. They make an art-form of brainwashing given chance.

The Marxists of the teaching profession are like the Marxists of labour councils all over the country - they don't like you thinking for yourself and take over at every turn, constantly instilling the feeling of reliance on others...the commune outlook... and to hell with individual thinking cos it's dangerous and can't be controlled so easily

Get the foot-soldiers working for and within the state and its satellites....it's basically a call to controlled slavery and mental conditioning - plus philosophical and economic bad practice on top!

"Those who can, do, those who can't teach"....where teachers are concerned that oft-quoted wisdom is all-to-often true.

The biggest problem with teachers is that, just like too many politicians, too few have insufficient real experience outside the doubtful philosophies they heard in the comfort of the universities they graduated in.

They've never worked in industry, never run their own company, never slept rough for any period of time, never lived in the old Soviet Union so many seem to revere, nor in China during the administration of chariman Mao.

They are so busy telling others what to do and think, they stop doing it for themselves and never have the courtesy to listen properly to anyone else's views..at least not with any intentions of changing their minds or their thinking.

They even sit in their union meetings listening to self-serving, hypocritical, politically-fueled philosophical garbage and are gullible enough to take it in whether it's logical or not.

On that basis, how some of them dare consider themselves qualified to lead others I've no idea.

And I really am talking about "some" because there are also some excellent teachers out there, people whose great desire is to teach kids how to think and learn rather than what to think and learn.

Just as I don't believe in religious or political indoctrination of anyone I certainly don't believe it belongs in schools.

As I've suggested before, the Labour Party needs to reform itself into something worth defending. And the Conservatives could probably do the same.

We badly need better. But if teacher's would defend the merits of what we've currently got in terms of today's political philosophies, Labour or Conservative, it doesn't say much for their pupils chances of acquiring wisdom.

PS: Perhaps too much generalising in there but I find it appalling to imagine our schools riddled with political or religious flag-fliers of any kind.

 

It's hard to know where to begin here. There are quite a few wild assumptions. I know plenty of Tory and Labour-supporting teachers who have done plenty of other jobs over the course of their lives. Personally, I'm not sure whether this makes them better than the teachers who have devoted their entire working careers to their professions, though it probably adds an extra dimension to their teaching, and their ability to relate to students. I, for instance, worked on building sites, in bars, restaurants, supermarkets, an estate agency and more besides. Come to think of it, all of the teachers who work for me had similar experiences on their CVs.

 

As for relating Labour supporters in the teaching profession to those who 'pour piss on free speech', I think that might be quite offensive to a lot of people who do a great deal to encourage their students to develop their social consciousness. I'm all for improving the quality of teachers - the recent OECD findings suggest that we have some problems in education right now, and there's little denying the decline since 2002/03 - but the criticism has to be constructive, rather than hysterical.

 

Personally - and this is a huge simplification of a very complex issue - I'd like to see the teachers who achieve success (and it's easiest to measure success by results, so long as we don't look at them in isolation), who go beyond the call of duty for their students, who value their profession as a priority in their lives, rewarded more. Why? Because the balance is, right now, tipped in favour of people who treat it purely as 'just another job'; and most of the people I have known (and I'll conveniently except myself here) who have gone into management have done so because they have devoted less time to their classroom role, and more to their career-building role.

 

I honestly see little reason to believe that falling educational standards can be related to too many moaning lefties harping on about redistribution of wealth and Clement Attlee, and preventing kids from growing good capitalist minds of their own. In fact, if teachers took a more proactive role in dispelling religious or racist bigotry we might deal with many of our social problems later in life. It's far too easy now to turn a blind eye, and if you want an easy life, that's what you do. And if we consider that standards are falling but Tory teachers are on the rise, it's hard to conclude that 'left wing philosophical garbage' is the primary concern in teaching right now.

 

In this respect, from my experience, the exact opposite of what you're suggesting is actually the truth.

[ousefox]

I finished sixth form at the same school where I had my secondary education in 2012 and nearly all the teachers, and 90% of the students were left wing. It was obvious they were but they never told the students who they voted for and encouraged debate from both sides during classes - you usually had to argue a point you disagreed with to improve your skills.

 

From my experience they were certainly very professional about this and were not pushing their views on to us. This is a particularly good school - had the best GCSE results in York including private schools so I don't know if this is reflected nationally.

[Webbo]

While there probably are Tory teachers they're not easy to spot whereas leftwing teachers are always happy to let us know where they stand, whether we're interested or not.

[Bellend Sebastian]

Isn't it a bit like being a vegan bullfighter?

[Alf Bentley]

While there probably are Tory teachers they're not easy to spot whereas leftwing teachers are always happy to let us know where they stand, whether we're interested or not.

 

 

Probably works both ways, depending on what is perceived to be the dominant group.

 

A mate of mine was a Labour Party member who worked as an investment analyst for a pension fund, advising on which shares to buy etc. Everyone he worked with assumed everybody else there was a Tory and he never let on that he wasn't. 

 

It's a shame when people feel they can't express themselves. I went to a school where 95% of the boys came from Tory-voting families and it didn't stop me mouthing off, you'll be surprised to hear. 

[ScouseFox]

if the word teacher wasnt in the title the world would be a better place

[Thracian]

It's hard to know where to begin here. There are quite a few wild assumptions. I know plenty of Tory and Labour-supporting teachers who have done plenty of other jobs over the course of their lives. Personally, I'm not sure whether this makes them better than the teachers who have devoted their entire working careers to their professions, though it probably adds an extra dimension to their teaching, and their ability to relate to students. I, for instance, worked on building sites, in bars, restaurants, supermarkets, an estate agency and more besides. Come to think of it, all of the teachers who work for me had similar experiences on their CVs.

 

As for relating Labour supporters in the teaching profession to those who 'pour piss on free speech', I think that might be quite offensive to a lot of people who do a great deal to encourage their students to develop their social consciousness. I'm all for improving the quality of teachers - the recent OECD findings suggest that we have some problems in education right now, and there's little denying the decline since 2002/03 - but the criticism has to be constructive, rather than hysterical.

 

Personally - and this is a huge simplification of a very complex issue - I'd like to see the teachers who achieve success (and it's easiest to measure success by results, so long as we don't look at them in isolation), who go beyond the call of duty for their students, who value their profession as a priority in their lives, rewarded more. Why? Because the balance is, right now, tipped in favour of people who treat it purely as 'just another job'; and most of the people I have known (and I'll conveniently except myself here) who have gone into management have done so because they have devoted less time to their classroom role, and more to their career-building role.

 

I honestly see little reason to believe that falling educational standards can be related to too many moaning lefties harping on about redistribution of wealth and Clement Attlee, and preventing kids from growing good capitalist minds of their own. In fact, if teachers took a more proactive role in dispelling religious or racist bigotry we might deal with many of our social problems later in life. It's far too easy now to turn a blind eye, and if you want an easy life, that's what you do. And if we consider that standards are falling but Tory teachers are on the rise, it's hard to conclude that 'left wing philosophical garbage' is the primary concern in teaching right now.

 

In this respect, from my experience, the exact opposite of what you're suggesting is actually the truth.

Seems like a sincere and considered argument for all that we see things so differently. Maybe we're all shaded according to our own experiences. Mine was of so much hypocrisy. As for pay I'd have no objection to the best teachers getting the best pay (and the worst teachers getting the wost pay or due notice), but the teachers' union would. Which somehow suggests they don't mind a school having bad teachers so long as they're kept in their posts. Makes me glad it doesn't apply to football and our first team!

[Rincewind]

But the 'best' players are paid the most or at least they are valued higher so can demand more. 

Don't teachers at private schools get paid more? And university lecturers? Although I somewhat agree, teachers that work in deprived areas teaching disadvantage kids are well worth their pay.

My brother was a teacher for a few years and taught down in London where the kids thought school was a waste of time because they expected to end up in dead end jobs. By the time he left they were stopping behind for extra lessons because he made the lessons interesting. He taught maths and physics.

He still sometimes treats people like students after being away from teaching for 30 years.

[Thracian]

But the 'best' players are paid the most or at least they are valued higher so can demand more. 

Don't teachers at private schools get paid more? And university lecturers? Although I somewhat agree, teachers that work in deprived areas teaching disadvantage kids are well worth their pay.

My brother was a teacher for a few years and taught down in London where the kids thought school was a waste of time because they expected to end up in dead end jobs. By the time he left they were stopping behind for extra lessons because he made the lessons interesting. He taught maths and physics.

He still sometimes treats people like students after being away from teaching for 30 years.

The sentence referring to the teachers' union should have ended in the word "wouldn't" not "would". I tried to change it but by the time I got back to it the facility was closed. Your brother sounds admirable!

[Charl91]

NB: Just to explain my political leanings; I don't particularly have a political allegiance. I voted Tory the election before last, voted Lib Dem last time (I quite wanted another coalition), and have never voted Labour, but would have no problem voting for almost any party, depending on how much I agree/disagree with their policies. 

 

As a teacher, I can say that there's nothing of the sort at our school, though we're a small primary school, so it may be different in others or secondary. We don't tend to regularly have political conversations, but I can't see anyone being attacked for who they voted for, and it's certainly nothing that I've ever heard of. However I don't know whether it would be different in a secondary school environment; I can certainly imagine in a history or politics department in secondary (like the article mentions above) it certainly may be different. That being said, as someone said above, you always get people in any walk of life who try and push their political points of view onto others. I imagine it would happen in most professions - even teaching. With Labour being the most prominent choice among teachers, it's not a surprise that there may be a few individuals that do try and chastise others for their voting preferences, but, at least in my experience, it's not a common problem in the primary schools I have been in. 

 

I disagree with a few points the article makes though. Michael Goves changes to the national curriculum were stupid, no matter your political leanings; most Tory and Labour supporters alike that I speak to agree with that (not that Labour did a great job either, but Gove brought in a new level of bad). That being said, a teacher shouldn't be attacked for voting for the Tories on that basis alone, as there is a lot more to running a country then the education side to it, even if that's what effects teachers the most on a day to day basis. 

 

Secondly, as impressive as the British Empire was, in terms of military might, I don't think it's something that we should be proud of (though I wouldn't go as far to say that we should be ashamed of it either - after all, we didn't participate in it, and it was a different time/culture back then) as subjugating and exploiting other cultures for our own gain isn't something we should be teaching as a good thing. Yeah, you can say that good things did come out of it (in the same way that the Nazi's brought a few benefits to Germany), but don't try and spin it as a positive thing.

 

On a slightly un-related notice, In terms of teaching politics (and again, here I'm talking secondary), I think it's important that teachers do mention what their own political leanings are, just like my history lecturers would always do, so you can work out from what standing they are arguing. However, they should make the greatest effort to try and teach from an unbiased perspective, even if it's not always possible.

 

 

TL;DR - People treated pretty equally here. Dunno about elsewhere.

[Charl91]

Also, I wish people would stop with the "lefties are always like this" and "right-wing people act like this" bullshit. It's puerile, generally inaccurate, and harmful to proper political discourse, and as someone who for the most part sits on the fence, I get pee'd off with both sides who do this.

 

When people come out with statements like "politically correct loony lefties who don't understand the real world"  or "Tories are mean and evil people who are out for themselves", I just automatically assume they are stupid and incapable of proper rational discussion. 

[Strokes]

Also, I wish people would stop with the "lefties are always like this" and "right-wing people act like this" bullshit. It's puerile, generally inaccurate, and harmful to proper political discourse, and as someone who for the most part sits on the fence, I get pee'd off with both sides who do this.

When people come out with statements like "politically correct loony lefties who don't understand the real world" or "Tories are mean and evil people who are out for themselves", I just automatically assume they are stupid and incapable of proper rational discussion.

The trouble is its always the loony ideas or the most 'evil' that make the headlines and that skews peoples veiwpoints. Over the past few years i think we have had some pretty good and respectful debates from both leanings. Its usually the same people that get abusive or offended.

I like reading posts from people of different veiw points, even if i dont always agree.

[Rincewind]

Exactly and also what char01 says. I do not think myself as a 'loony left'  We have had so many years of right thinking governments that people have forgotten what being a moderate means. I am more of a Liberal-secular-humanist than a socialist but I also agree with other partys on some issues. I just like to see fairness and equality as most people do but if anyone mentions that some things are not fair they are regarded as 'crazy lefties'  If a teacher was to raise awareness about certain issues they would immediately be regarded as Labour supporters. I feel this is unfair on those that do it because they want the pupils to think about others rather than themselves. That has nothing to do with politics. The majority of those on Foxes are good people as it has been proven in the past and we do not all share the same pov.

I think there are more than just left and right leanings.

[sdb]

I find it unbelievable when anyone working in the public sector is a Tory supporter. Whatever your political stance I see very little reason why anyone would dispute that. Most of my teaching colleagues are left wing. All my city-based friends working in more capitalist sectors are Tory supporters. I can understand why there too.

 

The line:

 

I said, we do too much for the children we teach; we should give them more responsibility and more freedom to think independently.

 

is bullshit though and makes me suspicious of the article. This Government has done far more to promote rote learning and memorising facts than anything else (although they have butchered almost everything). 

 

Also, making major cuts in schools is never a great idea. Especially when you look at those who could and should be contributing far more to decreasing any deficit. 

[Guest]

http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/02/to-survive-as-a-tory-teacher-you-have-to-keep-quiet/

 

 

 

 

Quite interesting for me this as it's almost word for word what I've been told by a Conservative teaching friend I have, any thoughts from the teachers on here? How do you treat the Tory teachers in the staff room?

 

Teachers tend to be more socially minded - believing in free education for all and the like - but I've never really noticed any anti-right wing colleague sentiment wherever I've taught. In the university quite often you find that different subjects taught are heavily left or right wing teacher based. For example the law department over here is almost entirely taught by right wingers. Maybe the writer of the article was a sensitive soul or maybe he was a mouthy shit.