Yesterday, my teacher was teaching about the "Australian lifestyle" and how we are all equal etc. What really got me was that he told me to shut up when I asked about women, gays, asylum seekers, and religious minorities. He was telling us that we are all equal, but he only was thinking of white, middle class, heterosexual males, and got really angry when I challenged the idea that there is only one Australian way of life, and that we haven't got any injustices. There's also a build up of him teaching us stereotypes of foreign countries (by continent, not remotely correct), and his general hatred of intellectualism. Am I over-reacting, or is this actually as bad as I think?
That sounds like a bold claim, but not an unrealistic one. It is a high crime for a teacher to be so destructive to students' thoughts about the world though, intentional or not. You can't really do anything about it though, as he has the authority and the clout to override anything you might say about him. Although, if you got the whole class together to complain to the administration about him, you might have a case for some sort of discipline for him.
Whenever a teacher is not even open to another student's ideas and tells them to shut up, there is usually something wrong there. If he's also teaching you offensive stereotypes, you could tell a counselor/principal/etc. Or tell him that you don't feel comfortable when he makes those stereotypes.
I never feared my teachers if I felt they were wrong I told them and I would confront them in front of everyone. Don't be scared to correct him if he has an issue talk to his superior the principal or head school board leader and file a complaint even threaten to go publicly about this. That's what I would have done.
What a racist, sexist, classist, homophobic bigot. I'd confront him about it, or contact someone higher up in the school. As far as I can tell, he had no right to shut you up, you asked an honest question. Report the stupid man. Anyway, hello fellow Australian!!
That's just wrong! I'm not sure how the law is in Australia, but in the US such hate speech would get the teacher fired. Have you contacted a principal or superintendent about it? Does Australia have some kind of anti-defamation league that could get involved?
