What does it mean to be 'nonpartisan' or 'neutral'? Certainly, there's an inherent conservativism (small c) in being non-partisan. And there is the sense that "many who embrace it seem oblivious to how a self-imposed insulation from political expression is in itself an ideological viewpoint." Roy Peter Clark calls this 'zero' on the measuring stick and says it "falls outside the boundary of neutrality." The characterization of 'neutral', though, suffers many of the same flaws, suggesting "some interest in diversity, with expectations that everyone, in spite of differences, would operate with the same news judgment." To me, fully 'neutral' means fully diverse. To me, the most 'neutral' stance in the scale is what he calls 'engaged', which included "heavy fact-checking, especially on the powerful... labels designed to make opinion transparent... evidence is weighed and presented proportionally." The same holds true, I would argue, for teaching. Zero is too far on one direction; five is too far in the other. But it is up to the individual teacher, I think, to make the call (especially at higher levels).
Today: 3 Total: 116 [Direct link] [Share]
