Tories blame TEACHERS for youth vote turning to Labour
Nonsense: It’s possible pupils are taught about Marxism in History or Politics lessons, but nobody is indoctrinating them to be ‘lefty’.
That’s right – the latest target for the Tory ‘divide and rule’ tactic is your friendly neighbourhood schoolteacher.
Right-wing newsrags like The Times and the Daily Mail have seized on an article by Calvin Robinson, himself a teacher, published on the Conservatives for Liberty website last August, if you can believe it.
“Our young people are being indoctrinated to a left-wing mentality from a very young age,” writes Mr Robinson.
“Pretty much throughout their entire educational career, young people are being trained into a lefty way of thinking. I’ve seen this first hand on too many occasions and it leaves me constantly concerned. Some of the behaviour I’ve seen from teachers is outright disgusting – a very evident bias not only in their teaching practices, but in the way they present their arguments.
“Most teachers take [an] approach along the lines of tolerance being a good thing, so long as you agree with their way of thinking.”
So tolerance is a bad thing according to Tory teachers like Mr Robinson, is it? That’s telling.
He went on to say that he had heard teachers agreeing with pupils that the possibility of ‘Leave’ winning the referendum was a bad thing – which tends to corroborate the interpretation that Mr Robinson is preaching intolerance. But a “lefty way of thinking”? No. The referendum decision was not split on political lines.
And on the day of the EU referendum result, he says he was told not to mention it because teachers were angry about the situation and many pupils were from Europe. He claims that this showed a lack of understanding of the ‘Leave’ argument – his ‘Leave’ argument at least – because he didn’t think it was about immigration. But that’s not the point. The point is that these kids were probably scared they were going to be uprooted from their homes and sent packing. As a teacher, perhaps Mr Robinson should have thought of that.
He writes: “What’s concerning is the censorship around any right-wing arguments and the evident bias towards left-wing arguments in schools, thus confirming the left=good, right=bad agenda. There is no balance.” But he has not provided any evidence of this, as the EU debate was not about left-wing or right-wing arguments.
“And schools will talk about (see: preach) how important tolerance is, but the moment you express an opinion that isn’t in line with their thinking, you’ll see how short lived their tolerance truly is.” Well, yes – but that only applies to their tolerance of intolerant views, from the evidence available.
Of course the right-wing press is trying to say that this perceived (but actually fictitious) bias towards the left then transferred itself from the EU referendum to the 2017 general election – that lefty teachers brainwashed their pupils (who were old enough to vote) into voting for Labour.
Is this borne out by the evidence?
No.
Being influenced by a teacher wasn’t mentioned (unless it was in the ‘other’ category, in which case it was negligible).
This is just an attempt by Tories to deny the fact that they lost the trust of young people all by themselves, with their selfish policies and their greed.
Here are four ways to be sure you’re among the first to know what’s going on.
1) Make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
2) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
3) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
4) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (in the left margin). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
The Livingstone Presumption is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
The Tories trying their best to not have another general Election because they know they will lose. It started with the scapegoating of the disabled that put the UK & banks into world crisis. Mow it`s the teachers getting the blame for a triple dip recession.
The Tory Denial Factory in full swing.
Perhaps the schools should only teach neoliberalism with a asbestos & toxic cladding building !!!
If the pupils thought they were going to be uprooted and sent home, something leave never said they would do, where did they get that idea from?
Have a little think.
OMG. how far will they go to blame others. if a teacher like this Calvin Robinson were to have taught the conservative way of thinking to my kids i would have withdrawn them from that school. conservatives are the intolerant ones. they dont tolerate anyone if they arent in their “class”. it is the parents who teach their kids how to think when it comes to politics. not down to the teachers. we too have a role to play in our kids lives. (which is why i soon had a go at one teacher when my 5 yr old came home one day saying miss so n so says we have to do as SHE tells us not you.,,,parents are the ones who should teach them to care(or should do) for others worse off than themselves first and foremost. then those who do have a bit more but still need more help/ lastly to care no matter who they are if they fall on hard times. though the way this lot have carried on,. i wouldnt blame anyone for dancing on their graves to tamp the soil down and make sure they stay there.
This beats everything. Almost everything happening in our society has a political connection to it. It was always risky for a teacher to even question the right in a lesson, even 25 years ago, but since then we’ve had Michael Gove trying to politicise education, particularly, History where he wanted it to be taught as an anodyne, non – critical account of Our Island Story. And, to add to the irony, as we know, never miss an opportunity to rubbish anything vaguely left of centre. Hypocrisy rules.
One big reason why many people voted Labour was due to all the campaigning done by Corbyn’s supporters.
If children are going hungry it stands to reason that they will pick up the reason why, children are Not stupid and will form their own ideas about what is really going on. The internet has made news easier to access and to read. If they are lacking food that won’t be the only need not met.
Come to think of it, the tories should blame themselves for the youth vote going to Labour.