My thoughts on politics in schools

There is an unspoken rule (or is it official? I'm not sure) that teachers shouldn't share their opinions on politics with their students. It's so that kids don't get influenced in any 'wrong' way - although I should hope that anyone who is employed as a teacher doesn't have any crazy extremist views. 

If they did, obviously that could be detrimental to the local general public's voting for the coming years that those children grow up in. Most kids would go home and say "My chemistry teacher said that all gay people don't deserve rights" or "My art teacher said we should all not vote because politics is a waste of time" - at least, hopefully they would. It's crazy how some people I know just don't talk to their parents about anything important. 

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, shouldn't we just make sure that teachers are generally good people? And by 'good' person, I mean someone who is accepting of new ideas even if they are different, supports rights for everyone, and isn't extremist on any level. That way, if a teacher did share their views with a class, it could be productive. 

While the teacher may believe that voting for a different political party to the student/'s parents is right, the belief would just be different. Not wrong. And this would encourage interest in politics, which we definitely need, because I'm friends with people whose parents don't vote, people who have no idea what Labour or Conservative means, and I know that many people think that politics makes no change to our world. 

Interest in politics from a young age is what I think these people need. If their parents weren't raised with that interest and so they can't teach their kids about it, what is the next circle of people who can? Teachers. 

Maybe sharing personal views isn't a great idea, because biased ideas are very easy to warp into something they're not - and the last thing we need is more lies in the world. However, I do think that students need to be taught about these things. What each political party stands for, what general elections and bi-elections are, how things in this country could change if the government changes… the list goes on.

To circle back to my first thought: the only way this could work is if teachers are properly checked. Online checks about social media are all good and well, but what if someone employed is an extremist? I don't think any extremist, no matter what they are 'extreme' about or whether it aligns with the school's views, should be allowed to be a teacher. Some people like that - some, not all - can be dangerous, so do we really want them influencing and 'educating' the future generations?