A much needed revelation about teaching and teachers.

I will preface this by letting everyone know that I am a teacher with 18 years of experience. I teach HS English and 101 and 102 at a community college.

There seems to be a general idea that teachers are primarily progressive and are attempting to indoctrinate children into Marxist and Socialist ideologies. In my experience, most teachers are representative of their local communities. I live in a rural area of Alabama where most people are clearly conservative; therefore, most of the teachers I know are conservative. There are a couple of progressive types at my school, but they are very low-key and not outspoken at all. I have not witnessed any teacher attempting to indoctrinate pupils, although I have questioned curriculum choices.

Many of my colleagues and I are fully capable of safely maintaining and using firearms. While many teachers would not be comfortable possessing firearms in school, there are enough willing, intelligent, and resourceful teachers who would gladly use them to protect our workplaces. I am NRA certified and have shot competitively. I probably have more hours of range time than the average police officer. I would not want to open carry or concealed carry while teaching, but have a handgun or AR-15 locked up within easy reach while in my classroom. I would provide my own weapon and submit to any required training to have the right to protect the students and myself.

The primary stronghold of progressive thought is at the collegiate level, and even that is moderate depending on the college or university. I can assure you, children are far more susceptible to indoctrination by parents and peers than they are to being indoctrinated by educators.