Just Before you Close the Book on Keegstra ... Does he Exist in Every Classroom?

Abstract

All teachers have emotions, indeed passions. However, a common assumption is that the biases of a teacher are left at the classroom door as he or she dons the mantle of neutrality. The realistic nature of this assumption bears investigation. The Keegstra case illustrates the potential impact of the role of teacher and, in this regard, rural Alberta is no different from the rest of Canada. It is vital to consider some of the factors which enabled such teaching to continue for so long. The issue here is how the power of the teacher's role can be abused with less attention, the extent to which reasoning processes in classroom investigations are sought, and the extent to which the authority figures of our children allow or encourage challenge. Far more work is required concerning how values can be handled in a classroom if such dogmatic teaching is to be prevented, and students are to be better equipped to deal with dogma when it does occur. The potential of such dogmatism must be acknowledged since to ignore it will not make it go away.