While I agree that we have no right to impose our beliefs on others, we also
know that a teacher's deeply held belief can have a major impact on students.
If this belief is that certain students have limited potential to learn, the
ways in which this message is communicated are subtle yet devastating to the
student. I do think that we have an obligation to do what we can to bring such
teachers to a more inclusive understanding of the potential of their students.
Certainly, such subtle (and usually unintentional) messages are not a matter for
"punishment." At least from my perspective, changing attitudes is a respectful
and caring process which can bring a teacher's unspoken messages into line with
the values which they profess at an verbal level.
Margaret Davis
mdavis@doe.mass.edu
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
11:10 AM 5/8/96, MaryWrite@aol.com wrote:
-<snip>-
> ......
>The hardest thing about the
>work now is that we're down to changing attitudes and that's not quite as
>easy as changing pictures in a brochure.
-<snip>-
Here's a comment that may just get some discussion going. ;-)
Do you really feel you have the *right* to change attitudes? I'm not
sure that's our job. We can specify how we want teachers -- actually
any employee -- to act. That's what the laws say. But do we have the
right to specify what they believe?
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