As a teacher I am very careful not to sway or influence the minds of those students in my classroom. Other teachers do not feel the same. Recently there was a posting on Edutopia about the influence of teachers in the classroom and do they have the right to express their opinions and inform the students of their choices.
I feel the teachers should keep their opinions out to the classroom. Teachers can be facilitators to debates between students but they should not be expressing their opinions in order to do win over students.
I had a situation in the classroom where students were debating the mosque at ground zero and if that was ok or not. It became so heated between sides that I tabled the conversation and told them to write a persuasive essay to express their opinion on the topic. It was very interesting what the students came up with as far as their essays and none of them never knew what my stand was on the topic.
I disagree a little bit with your opinion. I think you can give your opinion in the classroom on controversial topics without trying to sway or "win over" your students. In my psychology class my students ask me what I believe all the time. I don't offer unless they ask. I'm honest with them, but in no way infer that they have to agree with me. We actually had a discussion on the mosque topic as well and it too became somewhat heated, but not out of control. I often try to be devil's advocate no matter what stance a student takes to make them think about why they believe what they do and so they can see the counterpoint. I also always make sure they are making decisions based on accurate data. The mosque issue, for example, was full of misinformation when the students argued for or against it, so I had to set some facts straight, but I would never tell a student that their opinion is wrong.
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