Perspective with Ryan Bridge: Aren't children allowed their own political views?

Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

So the teacher's union is warning about a rising tide of extremism in our schools.

I've read the story - what's the actual problem? That's what I'm trying to figure out here today.

Apparently, some kids say they're 'Trump Boys' - i.e. like a majority of Americans, a few kids here support the Republican party or MAGA movement.

The other problem apparently is some school girls saying they want to be trad-wives, or traditional wives - to have children and stay at home to raise them.

Now, that's about as much detail as I could get from this particular story. And the moral of this was - the Government needs to take action on this, according to the unions.

Here's the problem - children are allowed to have political views and societal views of their own and teachers are not there to police politics.

Your job is apolitical, and we need to encourage critical thinking, not legislate against it.

There will be people who read that story and think: here we go again with the brainwashing thing. Your job is education, not indoctrination.

The reality is, not all girls will go on to be Reserve Bank Governors and not all boys will grow up to Reserve Bank Governors, either.

Not all boys will grow up to marry women… hello!

Everyone's different, that's my point.

But you can’t embrace kids changing genders with gay abandon then demand state intervention when a girl says she wants to get married and have kids.

I'm no conservative. Far from it. But I do hear a lot from parents who've lost faith in the education system, or at least some teachers within it.

If a girl wants to grow up to be a mum, is that radical? Or is that her choice? And if a kid wants to support Donald Trump, is that radical, or is that a choice?

Should they be branded an extremist for holding those views, or should those views be used as a springboard for a healthy debate about society?

Could this not be an opportunity to introduce and encourage critical thinking in young people?

Obviously, if there are specific misogynistic comments being made, then they should be dealt with through a disciplinary process.

But the problem with today's story is that they don't appear to be any examples of that actually happening.

I do not agree with the views these kids hold, but does that mean they shouldn't be able to hold them?

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