Hired speech

There are those who believe those of us who teach in higher education are too liberal. While I would accept that college profs are more likely liberal than conservative, I have always attributed this "lean" to the topics covered and the personal motives for pursuing these careers. As a psychologist, I did not deviate from the topics I would normally cover to offer political observations, but if a topic, say digital equity, had a political aspect I also did not shy away from making what I felt were accurate observations.

K-12 educators work in a different world. I would assume that as educators they have similar values to college educators, but I know they feel greater pressure not to offer personal opinions even when such comments would be relevant to the topics being considered. This is not a topic I understand as an area of expertise, but I am curious. So, I found this post from the Fordham Institute of some interest. I have no information on the political leanings of the Fordham Institute, but I place some value in the designation of specific legal cases.

I have not encountered the expression "hired speech" before, but this is a phrase used to describe the interaction of teachers and their students. As I understand the phrase it implies that K12 educators are expected to stick to the designated curriculum while in their classrooms. The example in the article describes the political activism of a math teacher online and I got the feeling in his classroom. Despite the strong feelings of the instructor, the article argues his online behavior was appropriate, but any similar classroom behavior was not. I encourage your reading of the content I link. I have been trying to decide when comments some might regard as political would be defensible. For example, what about climate change? This topic would certainly be consistent with topics taught in several high school classes. I cannot imagine a class in which the resistance of some politicians to the findings of the great majority of scientists would not come up. How about topics related to the meaning of the Constitution of Bill of Rights? How about some of the literature selected for English classes?

I encourage educators to participate in public online discussions. This communication is not directed specifically at their students and there are topics that educators view from a different perspective not necessarily appreciated by citizens with other backgrounds.