Our Left-leaning teachers must learn to advocate Conservative values, too

Of all the things parents worry about in the first week back at school – not least the integrity of the exam system – the politics of teachers is unlikely to be among them. Perhaps it should be. With free schools and academies, we’re pulling down an ideological educational bureaucracy to give power to heads and their staff. It would be a scandal if they used it to fill young minds with socialism.

There have been disturbing reports of “Left-wing brainwashing” in schools. Mercifully, even though polls suggest a majority vote Labour, most teachers are also professionals so this is likely a minority pursuit. More insidious is the possibility of what one described in The Guardian as a general “lack of empathy” for Right-wing views manifesting itself in the slanted presentation of Conservative values.

If common, this is a tragedy. If schools don’t teach the validity of the following Tory virtues, not only will pupils grow up without the capacity to function outside classroom echo-chambers, but the future of our civilisation is at stake.

First is a healthy attitude to risk and consequent ability to manage failure. Leftist dogma notoriously has it that all must have prizes, an attempt to shield children from their differing abilities. We can partially fix this by ensuring that everyone gets the results they deserve. But just as important is for the young to recognise that poor performance is not a reason to crumble or rage against the system, but to work harder or try something different. This is the mantra of our most successful entrepreneurs and a good preparation for the working world, which today runs on more Darwinian lines than schools.

Second is deferred gratification. This might be a hard one for austerity-rejecting teachers to stomach, but whatever financial education schools do impart is pointless unless children realise that prudence’s rewards do not come immediately. This obviously applies beyond money, to everything from diet to work itself.

Third is self-knowledge. There are good reasons for the young to be angry at the state of the world, but it’s hard not to conclude that many have made zero attempt to put their experiences in the context of their peers or previous generations. Do those demanding student fees be scrapped or free trade be dismantled not realise how absurd that appears to non-graduates who would then have to subsidise university education, or the millions who have been raised out of poverty by selling us things we need?

Fourth is respect for wealth creation and personal responsibility. Excellent schemes like Young Enterprise lift the curtain on practical aspects of business, but have a moral purpose too. If capitalism is only talked about as a necessary evil – a means of funding public services – its extraordinary ability to empower and create is overlooked.

The last is empathy – not just for the victims of injustice, but for those who hold unfashionable opinions. What future do we have if we scorn reasoned debate and enlightened disagreement because we can’t fathom why anyone would think differently to us?

‘There are good reasons for the young to be angry, but it’s hard not to conclude that many have made zero attempt to put their experiences in context’