Fill their minds with a liberal lefty woke agenda and turn them against democracy and capitalism!
I mean, you can try. Good luck with that.
Brainwashing?
There is a narrative among some politicians and media outlets that some (all?) teachers have a “woke liberal agenda”. Teachers insidiously try to infiltrate the pure and innocent minds of the students with the aim of corrupting them and making them become leftist shills.
This article from the Times Education Supplement Magazine – Are we indoctrinating our pupils? – is a tongue in cheek summary of just how ridiculous that premise is.
If you are so inclined, you can try to brainwash the little vessels, but you definitely will not succeed.
Contrary for contrary’s sake
My inability to even get a foothold in my mission to influence minds has been demonstrated many times.
One perfectly illustrative example of this was when I was teaching a Year 8 (age 12 to 13) class. The topic was viscosity (how thick and gloopy liquids are). I wanted to make sure that they knew what it was.
I asked the whole class if they had ever seen maple syrup being poured and three students had not. I then asked if they had ever seen honey being poured and two of the three students said no. Suspecting mischief I asked them both if they had ever seen vegetable oil being poured. They both said no.
They could tell that I needed a consensus on the class’s knowledge of a substances viscosity. It suited them to be contrary little monsters.
Gaslighting for gaslighting’s sake
They will sometimes even tell you an outright lie. It can become a sport for them to gaslight you.
I was teaching the concept of friction to a different class. I needed them to confirm that they had walked on various surfaces. We needed discuss how slippery they were in comparison to each other. The surfaces were a concrete pavement, a linoleum floor, a wooden floor and a carpeted floor. Three boys claimed to have never walked on a carpeted floor.
Rather than scold or sanction them, I informed the class that future discussions required that the pupils had knowledge of shared experiences. I told the class that only the pupils that knew what we were referencing could speak or contribute. The mischief makers soon got back on board.
Indoctrination for dummies
Indoctrinating a child takes more than the occasional negative reference to Brexit or joke about the prime ministerial revolving door. The people that believe brainwashing by teachers is possible (and easy) have not spent any time of substance engaging with secondary school pupils.
It is difficult enough for teachers to find the time to teach the core National Curriculum comprehensively, let alone shoe horning in discussions of The Communist Manifesto in lesson time.
No harm in trying?
If you do try to indoctrinate children with your agenda (left, right, or whatever) – the pupils will see through you.
Some will gleefully parrot back whatever you say. They will be grateful to have found a way in which you can be easily manipulated – and diverted from teaching a lesson. Some will grudgingly agree with you hoping that if they concur you will hurry up and shut up about whatever it is. The rest will sense your passion for your propaganda and actively and aggressively disagree with you just to watch you get more and more angry.
You will have only succeeded in losing their respect. They will see that you are treating them as intellectual equals and / or you need them to validate your opinions. From that point on they will then treat you with the lack of respect that you will have now earned. They will no longer regard you as a teacher and leader but a peer who has been put in their place – beneath them.
You will spend every future lesson managing disrespectful behaviour and teaching nothing.
This has been your guide on how to indoctrinate children. Good luck with that.
