Teacher Rights?

I've had it put to me that a teacher is the person with the fewest rights. Teachers are not allowed to express their own opinions, but rather are only allowed to say and teach what is in the text/curriculum. This is not, however, entirely true. Teachers are allowed to talk about what they believe. They are allowed to express opinions. They just aren't allowed to require that the students agree with them or learn that information for a test or grade. If a student asks a teacher a question about his beliefs, the teacher has the right to answer it (or not answer it).

I think that this is, actually, a good thing. Teachers have an enormous amount of influence over their students. Elementary teachers see their students for 7 hours a day, and it is not uncommon for a youngster to disregard mom and dad's knowledge because "my teacher told me...". Once students hit the secondary levels, teachers become less cool, but they still hold influence because students are a captive audience. They have to listen. And, in a lot of cases, they may actually like their teachers, which gives them the desire to listen. (and, let's face it. Anyone is cooler than mom and dad). I think it is important, then, that teachers are careful to only teach fact as fact (let's not get into the creation/evolution argument right now, ok? cough cough: both are religions! cough cough) and opinion as opinion, making sure to stress that people are allowed to have their own opinions.

As a teacher, I am always aware that I have different morals and convictions than do the parents of my students, and as I am not the parent of those students, I do not have the right nor obligation to pass those morals on to them. As a future parent, I would be madder than all get-out if a teacher tried to usurp my role as parent and tell my child that they believed incorrectly.

All that being said, I had a very hard time keeping my mouth shut today. A couple of my students were talking as I was repairing an instrument. I didn't hear the whole thing, but I tuned in when a student said
"I think they should be allowed to have abortions. After all, they're not even alive yet!"
Other students jumped in and disagreed. Comments like "no, that's murder!" and "that's not right" got all jumbled up in their eagerness to have their opinions heard. One student even remarked "what if you'd been aborted?" And I wanted to join in with them. I had an almost overwhelming urge to take this kid by the shoulders, look him square in the eye and talk to him until I had convinced him of the error of his ways. My first thought was horror. How can a parent allow their child - their precious, wonderful gift from God - to believe it would have been ok if they had decided to murder him? My second thought was the practical me telling myself to keep my mouth shut because they hadn't asked my opinion, he was already outnumbered, he is allowed to believe what he wants to believe and I am not allowed to force my beliefs on a student. My third thought was but I've got influence. I could say just a few things and maybe get him to thinking. My fourth mirrored the second and I just kept vascillating between the two.

Ultimately I kept my mouth shut. I let the conversation continue for maybe 3 minutes all told before I just quietly said "We need to end this conversation. Please understand that you are allowed to believe what you want to, and you don't always have to agree. If you want to have a conversation about this, you need to go in with the attitude of learning about the other person's opinion rather than trying to convince them they're wrong. And you need to do it on your own time."

I didn't add any of my opinions. Not a single one. But I really wanted to. I wanted to look at him and just cry. How can parents allow their children to think murder is ok? How can a person say "I have a right to do what I want with my body" in order to justify murdering another human being? Don't they understand that the instant that life comes into being, their decisions about "their body" affect another person? How do people justify these things to themselves? How do they sleep at night knowing that murders are being committed and it's 100% legal? How?


How?