Conniving Mind Manipulator or Just a Teacher?

 
Today we wrapped up our unit on The Importance of Being Earnest. We talked a lot about materialism and examined the cyclical nature of advertising and consumerism in Western culture. As students presented their projects today, I realized my words resonated within the various projects they presented. That's one of the coolest things about teaching: when you hear something that you feel is important echoed back to you through the voice of a young, developing mind. But I'm beginning to wonder if my teaching and lessons are too calculated, too one sided.

One of my main objectives as an English teacher is to provide my students with the tools for self growth. Literature has been the catalyst for much of my growth as a person, and it is for this reason that I deeply love literature. I feel that my passion for literature comes before my passion for teaching; in fact, I don't think I could really say that I have a passion for teaching. It's my desire to show others how essential reading can be in developing our ability to think critically and analytically that spurs my desire to teach. I enjoy teaching immensely but I don't love it like I love my subject. At least at this juncture, I have a much deeper intense love for my subject than my profession. Anyway, this was a very circumlocutious way of explaining why what I teach is very personal to me and therefore, often very biased. 

Reading has provided me with a deeper sense of identity, purpose and strength than I had prior to my infatuation with literature, and I want my students to be able to have that same opportunity if they want it; therefore, I often present material in class that challenges our society's hegemonic thinking: I ask students to become very aware of the various messages (and the motivation behind such messages) that they receive on a daily basis. I want them to try and find a part of themselves, that inherently good and beautiful part, that is somebody without a Coach purse, iPod, cell phone, or Hollister wardrobe. Inherently, asking them to do this, asks them to look critically at things like big business, consumerism and capitalism. We frequently talk about student loans, systematically privileged groups, advertising, media conglomerates and what are typically considered "liberal" agendas. I'm not really interested in politics all that much and I don't know all that much about the topic, which helps me reaffirm to myself that I am not intentionally pushing any political agenda; I simply want to teach my students how to understand the world from multiple view points and in the process, become a bit more tolerant and unafraid of exploring unconventional modes of thinking. I hope that by doing this they will have the tools to identify a part of themselves that is so much more than all that surface stuff that is so important to high schoolers, and let's face it, most people in our contemporary society.

I know others would see some of the topics that we discuss in class as typically "liberal," and I'm just beginning to wonder is there a line and have I crossed it? I honestly feel like I am trying to teach students to become more responsible, self-educated individuals, but I know my gun-owning co-worker a few doors down probably wouldn't see my classes in such a positive light. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm having a personal conflict with my job. Do teachers have a responsibility to be completely objective? And does objectivity require us to sacrifice some of our passions? I think the simple answer is probably "Yes," but I have trouble believing that is actually the correct answer.