Keep propaganda out of the classroom
ONE of the most disturbing trends of our time, with profoundly worrying implications for the country’s future, is the influence of the Left in the education Establishment entrusted with teaching our children how to think.
Indeed, in the run-up to this month’s election, an extraordinary 68 per cent of teachers questioned online by the respected TES magazine (formerly the Times Educational Supplement) said they intended to vote Labour, with only 8 per cent backing the Conservatives.
As countless parents will attest, this overwhelming bias inevitably filters down to pupils, with too many indoctrinated into believing there is only one respectable view on every issue – the Left-wing view.
Meanwhile small-C conservative ideas, on everything from the democratic arguments against EU membership to the dangers of statism and excesses of militant feminism, are raised in classrooms only to be mocked.
Leave aside that teachers are bound by the 1996 Education Act to offer a ‘balanced presentation of opposing views’.
Speaking for all who believe children should be exposed to a variety of opinions, a fair-minded Labour-supporting teacher complained in The Guardian: ‘My school is often an echo-chamber for the Left-wing views of its staff and its students’ parents.’
As the teacher pointed out, children are initiated into thinking the world is made up of ‘goodies’ – ‘Leftists, trade unions, Corbyn’ – while ‘baddies’ include ‘Tories, Brexiteers and anyone who uses the phrase “British values” without irony’.
This blatant partisanship, evident in schools all over the country, is not only bad for children’s educational development. It also risks brainwashing future voters.
Yet so entrenched is the bias, as the Mail reveals today, that schools now stand accused of trying to sway the election result by sending letters and social media posts attacking Tory funding policies.
In a clear breach of purdah rules, which ban the use of public resources to help any party’s campaign, headteachers contacted families warning of the ‘dreadful state’ of school funding under the Tories. Forget that core funding has been protected in real terms in recent years, while 1,300 headteachers now earn more than £100,000. How much longer can teachers abuse their position of trust, before they’re reminded of their duty to be impartial? The health of our democracy depends on it.