Teacher With Respect to Social

¶ … Teacher With Respect to Social Order

The Teacher's Role in Defining Social Order -- With Power Comes Responsibility

In primitive human societies children were socialized into their communities through a natural process of encountering and relating to adults in their culture (Einstein in Rooney, 2006; Russell, 1961). In modern society, a substantial portion of the early socialization process takes place in the context of formal education, elevating teachers automatically into positions of power and authority both generally and also with respect to the way that young students develop perceptions about various aspects of society, including the social order (Einstein in Rooney, 2006; Russell, 1961). In that regard, teachers may often be the most direct influence, second only to parents, on the way that children learn to view and think about their society (Mooney, 2005; Sagan, 1997). That power can be used to promote socially beneficial and productive concepts and perspectives but it can just as easily be corrupted to infect young minds with immoral and pathological ideas, beliefs, and values (Einstein, 1954; Sagan, 1997).

A classic example of the socially beneficial and productive use of the teacher's role in defining the social order would be the way that fundamental changes in American society in the second half of the 20th century are reflected in contemporary values as expressed, taught, and reinforced throughout education today. Specifically, American social values with respect to civil rights, (especially in connection with race and ethnicity) have changed radically with racial and ethnic equality and mutual respect having been elevated to the highest level of priority in society. Teachers play a tremendous role in promoting those values within education (Feldman, 2005).

The opposite is also true: namely, teachers can misuse their role to promote destructive ideas. Pacifists like Albert Einstein (1954; in Rooney, 2006) wrote passionately about the use of formal educational institutions to inculcate young people with ideas imposed by the state. During the First World War, the European powers (particularly in Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire) succeeded in glorifying nationalism and manipulating young minds toward self-sacrifice for nationalistic ideals. A short two decades later Germany again demonstrated even more convincingly how powerful a role educators play in shaping young minds. The Nazi phenomenon that absorbed German society in the decade preceding the outbreak of World War Two provides an even more dramatic and horrible illustration of both the power of educators and the reason that this power comes with a profound ethical responsibility (Einstein, 1954; Einstein in Rooney, 2006; Russell, 1961).

Ethical Considerations