Grist to the Mill

This article in the Grudian says it all. A Labour supporter teaching in a London school is worried about the 'echo chamber' his school is developing with lefty teachers in a lefty area incapable of representing other views as required.

The key passage for our purposes is this: 

Views that fall outside the accepted liberal-left spectrum get short shrift in my staffroom. I have watched teachers react incredulously – almost to the point of tears – when colleagues have tried floating a reasonable case for Brexit. This would be harmless enough if it did not put in doubt their ability empathise with views opposed to their own.

and, echoing (sic) my own teaching philosophy pretty much:

I see evidence for this every week when I hear otherwise bright and articulate students justify their political opinions with vague, lazy arguments. As John Stuart Mill foresaw, since they have never learned to defend value judgments that seem entirely natural to them, they will struggle to respond to their opponents beyond the school gates.

I have had to mention more than once this argument that JS Mill is much needed in current debate -- especially by lefties whether teachers or journos. 

While I'm here,I might also mention Max Weber's arguments for 'value neutral teaching' (or substitute 'journalism'), or, if we must only consider those of a marxist disposition, Theodor Adorno on activism:

'For the sake of political commitment, political reality is trivialized: which then reduces the political effect' (Adorno in Arato and Gebhardt 1978: 308)