How to tell a teacher in the most polite way possible that he is projecting his views on us?

Pre-College Topics High School Cafe
1

I have an English teacher that purposely does not let others express their opinions. There have been multiple times this year where he has told people to rewrite their essay, not let people speak in a discussion because of their views, or just completely shuts their ideas down. It has happened to so many people. Basically, he is the type of teacher that only accepts his interpretation of things. However, it also has happened to me multiple times as well, but most recently, I feel like he crossed the line way too much.

We are reading a book that brings up a lot of controversial topics like religious beliefs, government power, the meaning of life, scientific theory, ect.
In my point of view, the book is pretty biased. The author has obvious views, and I tried to explain that to him in a discussion that involved the whole class. He asked me to provide examples, I did not provide specific ones because I did not feel comfortable sharing them (as they were controversial), but just explained the whole book was biased and wasn’t showing the two sides of the story. He went on to say that we are all biased, and I agreed. But here’s the thing-after saying that, he basically told me I was wrong about my interpretation of the book, and only used people who agreed with him to back up his statement, completely ignoring the thoughts of us who had different opinions than him. After that, he ended the discussion promptly.

Is this appropriate behavior? Or am I just coming from an inexperienced view? I am honestly at a loss of words. Especially for English, prospective and personal experience are important. This has happened to so many people this year, but I felt like today was worse than usual.

I am hoping to email this teacher to tell him how I feel. However, I do not want to sound unprofessional. I also do not want to bring up the other’s incidents, just so I don’t kickstart a whole mess. I go to a small school of about 100 people per class in this program I am in, so getting off on a bad note with a teacher is NOT going to end well.

Have any of you of you ever experienced this? How do I go about writing to him about this subject? Lastly, am I just being unjustified and inexperienced, and that I am wrong in this situation?

2

You need to be more specific in your discussions with the teacher. He asked you for specific examples to support your view and you chose not to give any. For you to say, “the whole book is biased” without being able to give examples isn’t that helpful.

3

^ I also would not email him to complain that he is unprofessional or biased until you can see how he responds to your well-supported argument.

4

@CheddarcheeseMN Someone did give an example, but I did not give any specifics, yes, because it would have turned into a pretty controversial topic. I felt like that was not the best idea to do that in front of the whole class, which is why I was going to email him specific points in the book. I was wondering if that was appropriate way to follow up such a discussion.

5

@CheddarcheeseMN I was not going to email him that. I was saying I didn’t want to come off as unprofessional. I don’t want to complain to him either, I just want to show him that there are multiple ways to see things instead of just in one way.

6

We would need to know more specifics…it could be that the students have unfounded views that they can not defend with examples, or it could be that he just wants to control the situation.

7

The students did have examples for their view on the topics. Multiple, actually. @bopper

8

THen I would talk to a favorite teacher or a Guidance counselor and ask for advice on how they would suggest you deal with a teacher (don’t name names) that behaves as you describe. They can let you know if the kids are in the wrong or if the teacher needs to let the kids explore other viewpoints.

9

Doesn’t sound much different than my daughter’s current 10th grade English teacher. Or an English teacher I had back in 11th grade.
My advice to my daughter is to learn what she can from this teacher, get as good a grade as possible and then don’t take any English electives with her if possible in the future.

10

@bopper Unfortunately, like I said earlier, the program I am in is very small. Therefore, all of the teachers are pretty good friends with each other–including my favorite teacher. Thankfully, I do also go to my original HS as well, and have a guidance counselor I can go to there.

@mom2twogirls This program has two English teachers, so not much wiggle room there. Thankfully, for upperclassmen there have the option of two tracks- and I am doing the one where the other English teacher is in charge. (In either track, you are required to take that certain English classes, because it correlates with your other classes.)

I do want to point out that even the administrator for the program I am in noticed he was telling students their viewpoints were wrong. They happened to be evaluating the class that day and saw it in the discussion which also was pretty controversial. She had to take him out of the class and give him a big discussion on how he is not allowed to do that. However, he still continues to do it.

11

How did you come to know about what the administrator discussed with the teacher outside of the class? That may be the way to let the administrator know it is still happening. Administration knows about it.

12

@TQfromtheU We know because she took him out of the class right after he said that, and others were in the hallway when she talked to him.

That’s a good idea. She is very inviting about discussing problems, but, like I stated before, the school is small and word gets around…so I think I may just got to my HS guidance department.

To be really honest, I’m not sure why he likes to be this way…he’s a nice guy but he is just not accepting of others viewpoints. Whenever he doesn’t agree with you, he just becomes defensive and tries to shut down whatever you say. It’s really disappointing.

13

Maybe the teacher’s goal is to discuss the book, not critique it. Is it possible comments about "bias " miss the point? Want to name the book?

There are many books for wich disagreeing with the theme or perspective isn’t analysis.

14

Yes, what is the name of the book?

15

@lookingforward @TQfromtheU The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It was published in 1979. Apparently, it’s supposed to be comedy fiction, but no one sees it that way. It brings up a lot of controversial topics, as noted before.

@lookingforward We did discuss the book, and that’s how it came up. In our discussion, we spoke about the author’s choices of style and tone, and what we thought the theme was so far. That’s what we talked about in small groups, and then spoke in a huge class discussion.

16

Do you know how your teacher reacts when someone makes an argument against his own views where he can’t make a rebuttal?

17

You have two issues here. The first one is a personal one and involves how you are feeling when someone disagrees with your viewpoint. If the teacher is doing this in an aggressive manner, I think it is perfectly appropriate for you to meet with the teacher privately and explain that you feel that the way he is disagreeing with you makes you uncomfortable and/or disrespected. You can start your part of the conversation with and " I feel " comment.

The other issue and one which is quite common in school and in life is simply dealing with someone who disagrees with you. In that case you really need to think through your arguments and how to support them well . You need to do that in an unemotional, factual way. This is a life skill. It often helps if you can find some part of the other person’s argument that you can agree with. It is difficult to know in the situation that you have described whether the teacher is focused on an academic position or whether this is about personal values.

Sticking up for your point of view, yet being open to the views of others and being willing to change a position are all important skills in school and in life.

18

@moosicnerd He gets frustrated with you, or shuts down the discussion right away.

@gardenstategal Yes, I understand that. I am open to his views. If people disagree with me, I am understanding. However, when you tell someone they are wrong and do not acknowledge any other viewpoint besides your own is when it becomes an issue. One of the main topics that came up was religion, which is a really touchy topic. However, this has happened multiple different times and different settings besides this book, which is why it has become concerning to me and other students.

19

Gather the group of students who share your concerns and present them to the teacher in written format. If you get nowhere escalate to teacher’s supervisor. Then see what happens…you may never get satisfaction but you should share your concerns AS A GROUP with the program. Don’t take it on as a solo project.

20

@equationlover

If you can’t provide any examples after he asked you to do so, how is he supposed to agree or acknowledge your viewpoint?

Ironically enough, you need to see the situation from his point of view (ironic because this entire issue is with viewpoints).

From his perspective, he is a college educated and experienced teacher, who is being challenged by a student who can’t provide any evidence or back up his/her statement when asked to do so. He literally has no reason to acknowledge your view, because frankly, you haven’t presented it to him.

He isn’t a magician who reads your mind. In your head, you have this fantastic argument about how this teacher is wrong. Yet you don’t openly express this, meaning from his perspective, you have no argument.

In all honesty, with no offense intended to you, he is correct in his statement. To him, you are wrong about your interpretation because you did not provide any examples or proof when asked to do so. If a scientist claims to have made a discovery, but won’t discuss any proof or evidence of his discovery, naturally he would be dismissed as a fraud or phony.

The same applies in this case. If you can’t back up your interpretation, then that interpretation is wrong. Any person on the street will tell you that your argument is wrong if you cannot provide them with examples.

You said that you are uncomfortable with stating your views. Either way, you will be uncomfortable. Either choose to speak up in class, or endure being uncomfortable as he dismisses your view.

As a final side note, I recommend speaking up in class versus emailing the teacher. He might respect you for speaking up and being brave (as long as you can present an argument), compared to him getting possibly upset that you are criticizing him privately.