'In the classroom, the teacher is not a private citizen'
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Teacher, keep your views to yourself
Op-ed: In classroom, a teacher's job is to challenge opinions of all sides – not to be one of them
In the State of Israel
it's hard to engage in a public discussion about principles. If a question of principle is raised, it is immediately examined through the scared criterion: "Is he in favor of us or of our rivals?" Who is the speaker – is he a Jew or an Arab, a man or a woman, Ashkenazi or Sephardic, a rightist or a leftist?
If it's not a discussion within the camp (and such discussions are held privately many times, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice), the principle identification is enough to make a decision. Regardless of what the question is, "we" are always right and "you" are always wrong. And in the Israeli version – we are always the victims and you are always the instigators.
A Jew is always a land robber, an Arab – a fifth column; a man is always a chauvinist and exploiter, a woman always uses flowery language to justify small benefits; an Ashkenazi is always patronizing and racist, a Sephardic person always lacks qualifications and is a professional whiner; a leftist is always a bleeding heart, an enemy of Israel and a hypocrite, a rightist is always racist, fascist and fond of apartheid.
Different View
Nitzan Horowitz
Op-ed: As long as they don't incite hatred or racism, teachers have every right to voice political opinions in school
The other person's problem is not what he says, but who he is. He can only be forgiven for this flaw by submissively accepting the stance of the opposite camp. Any other stance generates the Israeli variation of an argument – exchanges of blasphemous words and curses: Traitor, chauvinist, racist, fascist, Nazi. This exchange of words usually ends in mutual ostracism and a declaration that opinions like the other side's opinions will eventually lead to the State's destruction (because opinions which are different from ours will lead to destruction – there is a general agreement about that).
I am raising this issue in the wake of the public row over teacher Adam Verta, who teaches in the philosophy and Jewish thought department at the ORT school in Kiryat Tivon. Verta was summoned to a hearing following a letter of complaint filed by one of his students, Sapir Sabah, in which she not only claims that the teacher voices radical leftist opinions in the classroom, but also that he belittles and disregards people with different opinions. Verta and other students denied the claims.
Unfair position of power
This affair should probably have not gone beyond the school boundaries. Clearly, the suggestion that Verta resign voluntarily "for his own good and for the good of the system" was foolish. But the harsh words on both sides – Verta is corrupting the minds of our innocent children with leftist venom; Verta is Dreyfus, the victim of a blood libel; he is the last line of defense before the collapse of democracy – fail to encourage a real debate.The fundamental question swallowed into the general hustle is not whether a teacher who dared deviate from the consensus should be fired (of course not). Neither is it whether a teacher should deal with controversial issues (a philosophy and Jewish thought teacher? Of course he should, what else will he talk about – Leibniz's metaphysics?) The question is whether it is appropriate for a teacher to present his political opinions in the classroom. I believe it is not.
This doesn't stem from a desire to sterilize the classroom of political disagreement; political disagreement is the air democracy breathes. It stems from the fear that a teacher has an unfair position of power in the classroom. He or she doesn't only participate in the discussion, but also determines its rules. A student who is unsure of himself will find it difficult to firmly present opinions which a charismatic teacher (rightist as much as leftist) doesn’t agree with.
Outside the classroom, it is every teacher's civil right to express an opinion on every issue, but in the classroom the teacher is not a private citizen. His job is to raise controversial issues as well, provide information and present firm stances from all sides of the divide. His job is to teach his students to examine them with a critical eye and present a reasoned argument. In the classroom, his job is to challenge the opinions of all sides and not to be one of them.
