Twenty-eight years ago, I interviewed for a teaching position at a public high school in Maryland.  After getting the good news from the principal that he would hire me, he gave me a warning.  Seeing that I had earned a Master of Divinity degree in 1983, he cautioned me not to proselytize my students.  Basically, he was telling me that I was hired to teach English to my students and not to try to convert them to Christianity.

I served as a public-school teacher for 23 years with Mr. Buchanan's stern warning ringing in my ears.  During the 23 years I served as a teacher, I had the opportunity to observe my fellow teachers' religious and political inclinations.  I often wondered if they too were warned not to proselytize.

Last week, James O'Keefe and his Project Veritas organization released a video of a California A.P. History teacher proudly admitting that he was proselytizing.  He said, "I have 180 days to revolutionize my students."  As a result of O'Keefe's work, the School Board employing this leftist has begun the process to fire the teacher.

The fired teacher was not doing the job he was hired to do.  I agree with the school board's actions, but I do wonder how many other leftists there are in our public schools and universities proselytizing.

By and large, teachers, professors, and educrats in this country lean to the left side of America's political spectrum.  I was one of the exceptions.  For all my teaching career, I felt like "a stranger in a strange land."

As I think back on my teaching interview, I think my principal was right.  Proselytizing has no place in education.  If we allow proselytizing, we encourage indoctrination, not education of our students.

American Public Education (APE) is a monopoly that has long been unwilling to admit its leftist agenda.  If change is to happen, it will have to be imposed from the grassroots.

I am not calling for reparations.  I do not want students previously indoctrinated by leftists now to be indoctrinated by right-wing educators.  I call simply for politically neutral public education.  Just as I was warned not to proselytize, I think the time has come to give that warning to all public educators.  If educators choose to step outside politically neutral teaching, let what happened to the A.P. History teacher in California happen to them.

Image: Teach.  Royalty-free photo from Pxfuel.

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