by Jacob Reis

Created on: March 06, 2010

Bias in the Classroom

Teacher bias can arise in three equally harming forms in the high-school level classroom.  The first is bias that involves preference of a certain student or students over others.  The second is political bias for one side of the proverbial aisle or the other.  The third and final is bias to teaching one interpretation of events and not the other.

The first bias, bias towards certain students, may lead to inaccurate evaluation of a student's abilities at the end of a semester or year.  A teacher who has a preference to a certain student is more likely to grade subjective evaluations such as essays and art-related material less strictly.  They will grade with an open mind but a blind eye to mistakes.  Students who are the victims of teacher preference often exhibit poor performance and lack of motivation.  I have encountered teachers throughout my life who develop certain relationships with students that lead to these issues.  When confronted about their preference, the teacher will deny, often because he or she does not believe that they are being biased.  This however, is an unfortunate side-effect of the human race and of the subjective-evaluation system that we use.  The fact that it can be subconscious, however, is not an excuse for intentional preference.

The second bias, political bias, undermines a student's ability to think for themselves or speak their mind at a very important time when a student should be beginning to develop his/her own political beliefs.  A teacher who aligns with one side of the political spectrum may intimidate other students who have different thoughts from speaking their minds.  Also, students who have not yet developed an opinion may be unnecessarily swayed in the direction of the teacher just because that person of authority has that certain view.  High school students often rebel from their parents' values, and if they find a teacher they can identify with, often they will adopt any political values that the teacher displays.  This is one bias that can be controlled, assuming teachers can abide by their code of conduct.  In my opinion, high school teachers should not be permitted to share their political views with the students at large.  The reasoning is so that students are not unduly exposed to bias towards one political party or another by their teachers.  Students who have been exposed to this bias often find themselves

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