Go left, Go right, or Go straight down the middle?
How not to handle politics in the classroom.
Okay so my decision to title this with a football reference is calculated, you see right now I feel like my political knowledge rather matches my football trivia ability in ability — confused and probably wrong. However, I think that this void in understanding has become all to familiar place for a lot of people, and its easy to see why.
What has become apparent, is that amongst all the madness of the modern world, how intent everybody is on making you see things their way - something I have personal considered a social crutch for as long as time.
I hold no disillusion to the fact that this topic may span for almost un-measurable metrics — religion, up-bringing, class, experience etc… In-fact there are that many individual components that come together to construct one’s beliefs, so should it come as no surprise that we will differ all considerably.
Is it strange then however that I feel compelled to state than when it comes to most political talking points, I personally sit right down the middle – the fact that I feel the need to make that known is mildly concerning.
But, unfortunately in an era where “gender and diversity” has fallen from hot topic and politics is in vogue these have now become my given pronouns.
I hear some of the bigger voices talk about the fear of being called “far-right,” the terms Nazi and fascist getting thrown about as if they have little meaning. Unfortunately, as it sits now, I understand where that fear comes from. Personally, I like the middle, it often feels like a position common sense, a place of empathy where a fair assessment of both sides can be considered – I fear this area is getting rather murky as late.
I do my best to remain neutral in what I write, I make sure that my opinions are highlighted within my reflective works, and I will always draw attention to bias. However as of late the building pressure to choose a side has become apparent.
It would be wrong for me to say that these past couple of weeks have been easy, for anybody who either operates or even just pays close attention to the world of current affairs and global politics will probably agree the world is looking for rather confusing right now.
Wars across the planet rage whilst foreign actors play chess on the world stage. The credibility of mainstream media is coming under question constantly due to the rise of independent journalism. Podcasts are moving it to the space where radio once sat, and the internet age has given us access to a plethora of information at lightning speed. Quite honestly it feels like a tinderbox of crazy that is ready to be lit with a firework.
Now I’m not saying that this is something that’s necessarily new as I’m sure it’s not, and yes, I will agree that it is somewhat amplified with the rise of the internet, but it feels like this was just something that wasn’t as forefront in the life of the regular Joe.
Yes, I like most have offered my referendum, in the pub after a few Sherberts to my mates – and have been known to get quite passionate about my viewpoints. But this has occurred when by chance I have stumbled across another outlier who shares an interest in the political arena — A rare thing in our little village.
This mainly due to the fact that I’m from a little rural village and the politics focuses more at the parish level due to our agricultural ties, also the fact that migrant workforces have been a staple to village life for as long as I can remember may soften the impact of recent headlines. A friendly little village where most arguments fall over the flock of wild peacocks that have resided her for thirty or so years, and the order of this year’s maypole.
As close friends, kids, and well actually anybody who’s willing to listen to me will tell you, I hold the claim that I was one of the first people on the internet. For context this was not because I hold myself as some kind of pioneer, far from it if I am honest. My father was simply working in a role that used the technology, and we were lucky enough to have him bring his laptop home – this being the size of a small family car at the time.
I still remembering him plugging it in, my older brother Ben and I looked on in awe as he explained the concept. Our minds blown even more upon receiving a “hi” all the way from the USA – a timely two-hour response to our optimistic and naïve “hello.”
I have witnessed, and used the internet throughout the ages, something I feel blessed to have been educated and a part of. The early days of 4chan sites, the rise of the meme, and then meme coin. From getting caught out as a teen because I did not know how to delete my history, to building my own websites I have seen it all – the good and the bad.
I cannot help but wonder if my father could have ever expected what he was introducing us to back then would wield so much authority as it does today.
Now my decision to keep my political beliefs separate from this platform is simple, I just do not believe there is any place for it within the psychotherapeutic environment. That is not saying that views and beliefs themselves, especially those of a client are not important. It is quite the opposite, however as my role in that relationship is one of a professional nature it is paramount that it comes from a place of neutrality, an aim I seek to replicate in my writing.
My reasons for typing this scenario out are somewhat for myself, as I am currently sat here trying to formulate my point whilst processing my peculiar day. As the night slips away and morning approaches I am still sat here, annoyed, frustrated, and well down right angry. Having spent the evening pacing back and forth sound boarding things to my partner, as I quite often do. Kelly generously awarding me the space to do so, and gently validating my concerns where she agreed – offering the voice of reason where she didn’t. Following this and a text message conversation with a trusted friend it was still niggling away at me. There was only one thing to do — write about it.
Am I fully aware of the political landscape circulating the online world at the moment – yes. Did I think I would return from my first day back at university after the summer brake questing if I were “right wing,” certainly not.
I am studying a psychotherapy degree, and I am certainly not naïve enough to think that this is an environment that is going to attract a large cohort of politically right leaning candidates. Universities have increasingly been referenced as breeding grounds for liberalism, and if I’m honest that is often on display in full force on collage grounds across the western world, a quick look to the Atlantic and we can see this amplified right across campuses stateside too.
The fact that most, even in the UK host one of the commercial coffee chains I find rather ironic, this means I am awarded the grace of an opinionated barrister promote sustainability and talk to me about the dangers of capitalism – all whilst supporting the uniform and collecting the pay check.
I welcome this openness amongst the halls, thus allowing me to build and assess my own views and opinions on the world. However, much like mine and my practice there is an element of responsibility on the people operating at professional capacity to keep their political agenda from the sanctity of the classroom.
If I’m honest I thought this was something I witnessed on the extreme end of the algorithms, parents stood up in PTA meetings pleading for the removal of ideologies, drag queens teaching at schools with angry fathers tacking security guards, but I am starting to feel like the more I wake up to it, the more I see.
Although the talking points have moved on from gender somewhat, with the focus now being drawn to another bloody spectrum – left to right, with the bookended term of “extremists” to hold it all together.
For some reason I returned home from my first day back at university today, to play on my earlier football reference, feeling like I am twelve again — stood against the wall waiting to get picked.
To explain my day, it started of like most Uni mornings. My clothes meticulously selected the night before and laid out downstairs so as not to wake the house with my early departure, alarm set, and bag by the door. I leave the house at 6.30am to catch the bus into town, where weather permitting, I often walk the second leg as it awards me more opportunity to experience, well, the world. I arrived as usual early to campus, a habit I made early in the first year as the collage tends to be quiet and I get a good 30 minutes to settle my mind before my peers arrive.
Now it is evident to me that this topic has been sitting on my mind – this further cemented by the fact I set the title of this post out in this moment. Little did I know how the day would unfold; I did not think I would still be sat here writing an article about it.
The morning trickled away, we discussed the year ahead, laid out our agreed timetable, and recorded our dates in our various ways. This was preceded by a short comfort break, to which most of us toped up our “commercial” coffees, the others turning to the collage’s coffee machine – their sustainability commitments must be bigger. Upon re-caffeination we returned for supervision, this again uneventful.
Following this was a short break for lunch, a welcomed break from a slow morning, we returned however and that is where, for me at least, the day seemed to take a different angle. We were presented with a slideshow titled Capitalism and Mental Health to which we were then informed that this was curated by a friend of the lecturers – a PHD graduate in psychology.
The slide show itself was well put together, a little slim regarding what I was expecting from the title but that is beside the point. You see it is not the PowerPoint that concerned me – more the delivery of it.
The first question posed to the class “who believes in capitalism?” the visceral reaction to this question from the room was unexpected, more so was the reaction to me pointing out that universities themselves are product of a capitalist society. The conversation turned to inflation, the cost of living. Once again, I pointed out that we do not simply pay for the product, but the development, the transport, the production has gone up. So has the requirement to tick all the boxes. The legislation and laws, the introduction of more workers rights, insurances, and costs to employing the growing workforce has all increased.
This went down like a carbon neutral balloon!
I enjoy this level of discussion though; you can see elements of a peer’s beliefs whilst keeping the conversation fact driven.
Click, the next slide lands on “neo-liberalism.” This one is a funny one as it societal meaning can often waiver from its political connotations, and in fact Neo-liberalism is considered right wing – apparently.
Considering this is the foundation to which most western societies are built on nowadays does that make us all raving Nazis?
The conversation drifts briefly to the doors of responsibility and accountability, I was challenged when I stated I take responsibility for myself, something I’ve done from a young age, and believe it’s my responsibility to make the relevant steps to make sure I’m not a burden to the wider society. For me the idea of accountability is something I strongly believe delivers power for an individual, so much so we do our upmost to instil it as a message to the children.
My views were challenged at every stage, to the point where one of my peers leaned over and whispered, “you’re trying to get him to call you privileged again aren’t you”, this being a familiar debate I’m all too willing to take on.
I initially laughed it off, but I could not help but sense a little subtle undertone, something I have not noticed before.
Now its no secret that the relationship I share with the tutor can be tense at times, and I like to think he enjoys the back and forth just as much as I do, but I cannot help but question why we discussed, at length ,the merging of universities due to a change in immigration policy. Yet when the recent tragic event in the USA lands on the table its quickly brushed passed, the lecture failing to even use his name – something I personally pointed out and rectified “Can we please have the decency to use the guy’s name, you mean Charlie Kirk!.
The next slide introduced anarchy, even a quick google of the word and your met with “chaos,” now although the build-up had been catalytic in nature as the day evolved, this is where I hit a little tipping point. Let me point out that I can appreciate that this may come across as an offhand comment and trust me I do not think it was made with and malice, however it well and truly hit the spot. Reminiscing on old protests he finishes his sentence with “and if I can give a copper a little punch on the way past, all the better… oh I guess I should exclude the last part — well just a little one” as the rest of the group laughed. Upon reflection that was the moment that I should have excused myself from the lesson, but I did not do that, nope I decided to sit there and stew on it.
Yes, I can decern that it was delivered in humour – just a little joke. Yet its not funny, its dangerous. For me it glorifies the act of violence, something that should not be softened, or indeed hidden by humour.
I have family members who put on that uniform daily, in fact those same family members are the ones currently deployed daily up and down the country tasked with keeping us ALL safe. Those same family members have not only witnessed the” chaos” but have had hospital visits as a direct result of a protester reaching in for a cheeky punch.
When will we learn that off hand comments hold ramifications, and more so when delivered from a position of authority.
No, I do not think the faculty are off cop bashing at the weekend but quite frankly, even in humour this type of rhetoric, in my opinion is nothing but a pollutant on society.
I sat the rest of the lecture out, it was clear that I had checked out in my head, my peers drawing attention to it in private conversation. Admittedly get involved in most topics without losing my cool, however it is a rarity that I simply go quiet – this did not go missed.
You would have thought that it would end there, nope next on the agenda — flag gate.
This inevitably took form of the union jack being offensive, an expected response in today’s climate for some reason, yet one I do not understand. There is something quite nice about seeing people take pride in their nations flag, but I am careful of where I admit that in fear of being branded “far right.” And although I am not out there tying them to lampposts myself it does make me smile when I think about the unity it represents.
I often feel that people miss the point of what this actually represents, for some reason this has been misrepresented and a sign of dare I say it “racism”, yet to my knowledge this movement was raised because individuals were angered by seeing there nations flag removed from government buildings, due to pressure from activist groups in fear of offence – where does that fit in on our scale?
The next statement was the final straw; in fact, it is my reaction in this moment that has caused me to question a lot more than was expected on a Monday morning. “The university has instructed me that I can not mention Palestine or Israel.” But you just did!
I also fear that this has been forwarded on the same joint email that had instructed the staff not to mention “Charlie Kirk,” admittedly that is my speculation, yet sick of listening to buzz word talking points I’d had enough. I threw on my headphones and walked out the lesson without even saying goodbye.
When challenged at the door I responded with “I need to get out of here before I say something!” to which my dramatic exit was briefly halted by the fact I set all the alarms of due to a stray library book. However, a quick scan for the other exits and I was out of there.
As I sit here hashing this out still, a task that has seen the fall, and subsequent rise of the sun I am left wondering if my reaction tells me more about where I fall on the political scale, than I truly knew about myself.
I know this will be questioned next week and by God I am ready for it, but had I of tried to explain my point in the moment then I fear, I may have lost all credibility.
This mainly due to the fact that I was in a heightened state of emotion and it would of inevitable ending up in my answering in frustration – never a good idea.
My timing admittedly couldn’t of been any worse unfortunately, as one of my peers had just finished up explaining their views regarding the Unite the Kingdom event “it just makes me sad all this flag stuff – like what its doing to the other people” Now there is no surprise to this peers views, and quite honestly by holding them, I think no more or less of them. I am actually slightly annoyed and concerned that they may feel that my upset was of their doing, something I will definitely aim to explain should this be the case. I fully support them in their right to hold any view – as I do anybody.
The difference in all this being myself and my peers enter that room in a personal capacity, none of us, although we may act it at times, are present at a professional capacity. We are therefor free to explore, define, and indeed if so wished, project those views to a wider audience. Sadly, when I recognise it in the individuals tasked with managing that environment, I cannot help to feel like it is a direct attack on my education.
My decision to return to studies at this later stage in life was not an easy one. Its taken a serious toll on my family for financial reasons, I’ve closed down a decorating company that I spent the last ten years building, and I worked dam hard to challenge an awful lot of self-imposed barriers, that I had built up over the decades regarding my own ability’s – I’m not going to allow that to be hijacked.
The classroom is a place where views are formed, and ideas meet paper; this environment needs to be managed with scrutiny.
For some people, like me, these studies come at a great cost. For others this will go on to become one of the biggest parts of that individual’s identity.
I see all too often positions of authority taking advantage, in-fact it becomes normalised to the point that it does not even shock me. The language is vague, to the point you may even miss it, the message subtle – but its there. Personally, I see it as an abuse, capitalist/Neo-liberalist/anarchist slide shows hold no benefit when a tedious attempt to link them to mental health is made simply to suit a narrative.
For me, the people we trust in our classrooms have one responsibility, which is to guide us, not lead you by the hand.
Do I support people right to live their life to their choosing – yes. Do I stand by and keep quite when my child is forced to wear a particular colour in school so as she fits in with whatever flag there trying to represent in a drone shot for the website – Fuck no!
I do not believe that any educational environment should be politicised!
Do classrooms have a place for views and beliefs – yes.
Do I believe there a place of agenda – most definitely not.
Yes, there are talking points that will cross the line, and yes emotions will always be in the room that is the nature of the game. However, this is psychotherapy not social economics, and in an environment where we focus on eradicating external views to encourage congruence of self, we must concentrate on how we introject our own as there is little place for this rhetoric.
And just like that I have written my first 3500+ word assignment of the academic year – sadly, I wish it were on the topics I am PAYING to learn.