Political Correctness in Schools

Schools in Canada have recently become the battleground for the fight over how much political correctness should be allowed  to infiltrate grade school classrooms. One can take two sides when dealing with such issues as violent toys, "good clean fun", the benefits and disadvantages of political correctness.

 There is much controversy about violent toys which are far from being considered politically correct. The toys that enter many grade school classrooms throughout the country may also seem offensive to people who try to be as politically correct as possible. I can remember an incident involving myself, a water gun and a teacher back in grade four. What had happened was that I pondered onto school grounds with a tiny plastic watergun. As I proceeded down the hallway a teacher took notice of my "water-squirting" device. She approached me and ceased the toy from my hands . Many elementary school educators believe that violent toys can lead, and often do lead to violence if the children are allowed to play with the toys in an unsupervised environment.

Something that used to be considered good clean fun has become a constant frustration to teachers and parents everywhere. Many educators on recess duty who have observed children at play have come to believe that rough play which might look innocent can and often does lead to real violence. The goodness of teaching political correctness in the classroom is its ability to protect our children from violence, discrimination, and the unfairness that exist in this world.

Political correctness is a good thing for kids to learn. I think that being politically correct is just being polite and considerate for the feelings of others. I encourage parents and teachers to teach children about the fairness and equality that political correctness implies. However If teachers and parents allow political correctness to dictate the educational process, schools will no longer work toward educating, but instead will shift their focus towards altering the attitudes and minds of students.

It's not always beneficial for a teacher to over-emphasize political correctness in the classroom because it limits the students' ability to learn. It's not right to isolate children from the books, toys, and games that let them learn and have fun for the sake of being considered politically correct. Nearly all of us grew up and experienced political incorrectness; with dolls such as Barbie, fairy tales such as Little Red Riding Hood or Cinderella, toy guns and cartoons. This is especially evident since the vast majority of adults grew up to be decent human beings who can form their own opinions.

In our multicultural, racially diverse, opinionated nation we, as teachers, parents and students need to adjust the grade school curriculum in order to keep up with the changes that are taking place every day. Main goal for the educators and teachers it to challenge students to think, reason and to consider the views of others and eventually come to their own conclusions on political correctness.