The Zurich Governing Council does not believe that students in vocational and secondary schools in the canton do not dare to freely express their political views, fearing that this will offend teachers who are politically more left-leaning. This is evident from a response from the governing council published on Thursday to an urgent postulate of the SVP.
The postulate called on the canton of Zurich to participate in a study planned in the canton of Aargau on preserving political neutrality in secondary schools. The board rejects this. He also does not consider it necessary to have a separate study made for the canton of Zurich.
The reason for the negative attitude is the feedback from the High School Directors Conference and the Vocational School Headmasters’ Conference in the Canton of Zurich. These would not support fears of a lack of political neutrality in the schools.
Matura work gave an impulse
Nevertheless, should individual cases arise in which young people feel disadvantaged in the classroom by the political orientation of the teacher, they can provide appropriate feedback to the teacher or the school board. Obvious violations would be penalized.
The governing council also sees no problem with political neutrality when it comes to the content of the lessons. These would be recorded in the curricula and teaching materials. A party political orientation is not recognizable.
In addition, the discussion culture in a classroom is influenced by various factors and not only by the teacher. Political movements such as the “Climate Youth” could also play a role.
The background of the SVP’s initiative is a study of political neutrality in secondary schools in the canton of Aargau. This was commissioned after a high school thesis caused a stir.
According to the postulate of the SVP in the Zurich cantonal council, there are many indications that the situation in secondary schools in Zurich is no better than in Aargau. The first to sign the initiative is the cantonal councilor and secondary teacher Matthias Hauser (SVP, Hüntwangen).
«No better than in Aargau»
Three high school students from the Kantonsschule Baden AG investigated whether the school lessons in the high schools in Aargau have a left-wing turn. To do this, they interviewed about 530 school children.
As a result, a third of students considered classes more left-wing, especially in history, geography, German, and English. Two-thirds of those surveyed had also identified the teachers as “rather on the left.” Aargau FDP councilor Adrian Schoop (36) found the results of the investigation “terrifying” and “frightening”. He then demanded that the canton conduct its own representative survey on the subject.
The cantonal council will decide how to proceed with the Zurich initiative at one of its upcoming meetings. If he refuses the postulate, the deal is over. If he hands it over to the board of directors, it has to deal with it again. (SDA)
Source:Blick
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