ELT News Think Tank

This Month's Think Tank Panel

Marc Helgesen

Peter Viney

Curtis Kelly

Chuck Sandy

Chris Hunt

Panelists: Chuck | Peter | Marc | Curtis | Chris
Date: April 2005

Topic: "Should a teacher bring his or her politics and religion into the classroom?"

Marc Helgesen

Chuck said, "I do consciously choose materials and activities that reflect my values." Actually, I think we all choose materials and activities that reflect our values. If we teach, "talking about shopping" and "free time activities", those reflect values. If we bring in beliefs, world issues, reactions to the tsunami and the like, those are values, too. The point is, Chuck is doing it consciously. I think that is important.

“If we teach, "talking about shopping" and "free time activities", those reflect values. If we bring in beliefs, world issues, reactions to the tsunami and the like, those are values, too.”

Like Chuck, no one has ever signed up for any of my classes to hear my political or religious views (though the political views are pretty transparent from cartoons on my door, comments in my informal lunch groups, etc.) And I don't avoid "light topics" like shopping in my classes or textbooks -- I teach mostly 18 to 23 year olds. These are important aspects of their lives. Naturally, as a middle-aged American, I would be naïve to think that what is interesting and important to me is interesting to my students. And the class material has to be interesting.

However, it would also be naïve of me to think that my students are only interested in the "light and fluffy" topics. So I also try to include weightier issues, generally as an option: We are learning ways to give opinions. Here are some possible topics. Which are interesting to you? If they want to choose "dating" or "movies", fine. If they opt for "gay marriage" or "freedom vs. safety", those options should be there, too.

Unfortunately, there is a lot of pressure for textbooks and classroom materials to be sanitized ­ void of anything that might possibly upset or offend anyone anywhere. In a project I was working on until recently, we had a multi-cultural unit that included holidays around the world. Two that got edited out were "Christmas in Australia" and "Ramadan."

Both got the boot because "you can't include religion in a textbook." (Never mind that nearly every culture has holidays that are somehow connected to belief systems). Christmas in Australia was mostly about Santa Claus on Bondi Beach ­ a religious icon only to Surfies.

Ramadan being bounced was a shame. Most of us know next to nothing about Islam ­ this in a time we really should find out more. What little we do know is often based on partial knowledge. ("They don't eat during Ramadan. No wonder they are so crabby" -- not realizing Ramadan is actually a time of feasting. It is just those feasts happen at night). My co-authors and I thought it was a chance to inform and share something interesting. We lost. (We did, however, get Bob Marley Day ­ a holiday in Jamaica ­ included. No mention of Rastafarian sacraments.)

I met a British ELT author once who told me she had been told to "avoid PARSNIPS" in any textbook.
"Parsnips? Is there some kind of a vegetable rights thing that I don't know about?"
No, PARSNIPS stood for:

Politics
Alcohol
Race
Sex
Nudity
Israel
Pork
Smoking

I can appreciate editors and publishers not wanting to be offensive, but when topics are eliminated by rigid rules rather than careful consideration, we often end up with superficial pablum: It's the bland leading the bland.

I don't want to tell my students what to think, but I do want to give them opportunities to take issues to as deep a level as they want. Sometimes it is overt: I did give out George W. Bush's email address (president@whitehouse.gov) and Junichiro Koizumi's (jpm@kantei.go.jp) before the Iraq war. I did tell them that I didn't actually care if they sent letters. And it certainly is none of my business which side of the issue they are on. But it was an issue many had strong opinions about. I wanted to give them the option of stating them. When there was a sexual harassment trial involving the school, we gave students the option of attending class or attending the trial. If part of my job as a teacher is creating possibilities, I think that can take many forms.

Panelists: Chuck | Peter | Marc | Curtis | Chris

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Marc Helgesen, Miyagi Gakuin Women's College

Co-author of English Firsthand and Active Listening

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