Teachers in Aargau should not be left-wing

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Aren’t the teachers at the Aargauer Kantonsschule politically neutral? Three young people from Kanti Baden made this accusation in their Matura work. The commotion was great, not only in the canton of Aargau.

The canton had to react and had its own study carried out. This cost CHF 65,740. The result: the vast majority of Aargau schoolchildren enjoy going to Kanti. The government is satisfied: “In general, based on the results, the government council sees no systemic shortcomings in dealing with political neutrality in the canton schools,” the press release said. But there are also deviations.

Wrong questions?

The high school graduates had concluded that a third of the students viewed the lessons as more left-wing, especially in history, geography, German and English. Two-thirds of those surveyed had also identified the teachers as “rather left-wing”.

However, in the canton study, the lessons were not asked about individual subjects nor did the teachers have to reveal their political stance – unlike the students, who had to describe themselves on a scale from left to right.

Political attitude of the teachers was not an issue

“The research conducted was clearly not intended to evaluate the teaching methods of the teachers,” says Sotomo researcher Sarah Bütikofer. Moreover, an educational topic as such cannot be assigned to a political position. “Security policy, agricultural policy, social policy etc. are viewed very differently from different political perspectives.”

The Matura work of the three Kanti students sparked valuable political discussion, Bütikofer continued. However, it cannot serve as a basis or basis for comparison for a social science study. Sotomo had been concerned with how the required political and religious neutrality of teachers would be defined. “The teachers unanimously indicate that they think it is important that different opinions and perspectives are expressed in the classroom.”

“The aim was to get an overall picture of whether the lessons are politically neutral and whether freedom of expression is guaranteed,” explains the canton through media spokeswoman Simone Strub Larcher. That the representatives of Sotomo asked other questions is not a problem for them. “If there were problems with the neutrality of teaching in individual subjects, that would also have become known in this research design.” In addition, the teachers are not hired according to the party book. “Therefore, a question about the political self-assessment would have yielded nothing.”

Big differences between teachers and students

Both teachers and students describe the political debates as ‘educational’, according to the survey. But: 65 percent of teachers think political debates in class are tolerant – only 35 percent of students share this view.

Students who position themselves politically right are decisive for this difference. They experience the debates as less instructive, less involved, less tolerant. But the debates are more exclusive, they say, compared to young people who opt for the left. Students who position themselves on the political right more often suffer from peer pressure in political discussions.

«The political attitude of the teachers is not really interesting»

Only half of the students surveyed can position themselves politically on the left-right axis, the study shows. Nearly 30 percent are on the left, two-thirds in the political center and five percent on the right.

It is important for the students that the teachers behave honestly and correctly. “The political attitude of the teachers, on the other hand, does not really interest the students,” the study says.

management satisfied

The government council is satisfied and sees no need for action. However, the research should be used to tackle the debate culture at school, says director of education Alex Hürzeler (57). The big differences between students and teachers are “striking”. “Dealing with minorities should be relevant to a school and the research provides important information about which groups of people feel disadvantaged and why.”

It sounds different with the young SVP of the canton of Aargau. “Middle class students are discriminated against and bullied,” says party leader Samuel Hasler. “The canton must act!” (brother/SDA)

Source:Blick