5.1 Principle of non-indoctrination

The teacher must not attempt to indoctrinate the students in any way to make them adopt a desired opinion, for example in terms of political correctness. Therefore the teacher should not silence or “overwhelm” any student by superior arguing. Rather, the students should judge freely without any interference or obstruction. Any attempt by the teacher to indoctrinate her or his students is incompatible with EDC/HRE and its objective of educating citizens who are capable and willing to participate in an open society and a free, pluralist democracy.

5.1.1 Practical implications

The teacher should therefore chair discussions in EDC/HRE classes, but not take part in them. On the other hand, if students ask their teacher for his or her view on a matter, we advise the teacher to express it. The students know that as a citizen, the teacher has a personal political standpoint like any other citizen, and quite often they are interested to hear it. Then the teacher should make clear that he or she is speaking not in a professional role, but as a citizen. Indeed the student may consider it somewhat strange if their EDC/HRE teacher remained a kind of political neuter, while the students are permanently expected to express their views.

A teacher committed to human rights may well suffer if a student expresses views that show leanings to racism, nationalism or any kind of fundamentalism. The teacher should refrain from overwhelming such students by superior argument, but rather try to understand why a young person has adopted such a line of thought and find ways to challenge the students to think differently and in non-conventional ways.