No more PARSNIPs

Look in any ESL textbook and I guarantee you won't find any current affairs, religion, or history. Why? Because of an acronym called PARSNIPs which stands for politics, alcohol, religion, sex, narcotics, isms, and pork. The acronym was created by well meaning people who wanted to avoid controversy in the classroom for legal, moral, and/or personal reasons.

Although the rationale makes sense, topics such as religion, politics, and isms allow us to understand our complicated world. Likewise being able to use the technical vocabulary for those topics is a sign of a high level. On another note I would like to address how using those topics correctly can open many doors to developing HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills). These skills and these topics are important to create students who are also 21st century citizens. Many people don't feel comfortable talking about issues due to taboos or fears of looking stupid, or even being verbally abused. Others take a different tone! Log onto social media, look at any news article, or any discussion and you will see entrenched people from across the political spectrum yelling at each other, hurling baseless insults, carrying out character assassinations, and refusing to compromise, listen, or question themselves and others. Open any  newspaper and read comfortable opinions doing the same with an intellectual disguise. Watch a politician and there's some catchy soundbites but not much else. We live in a world with conflict, and disagreement yet too few are addressing the big issues and questions respectfully. This cant go on, too many people across the world, across faiths, and across the political spectrum feel no one is listening, there is so much apathy and anger. We need to create global citizens who although they may never agree with each other will be able to address the issues and make an impact. You don't have to be a liberal, you don't have to be a conservative, you don't have to be a Christian, you don't have to be a Muslim, you don't have to be one thing or another. You just need to be able to question yourself and the world around you, to find the evidence to support your beliefs, respect others who vehemently disagree with you, and most importantly you have to know how to make a difference without a negative impact.

Now on the other hand, I will say this, opposing the rule isn't an excuse to force your opinion  on the class or indoctrinate students into a religion, or ideology. We have to be careful that our own biases don't hijack the discussions. We should always play devils advocate with our students and ourselves, we should set up class contracts which emphasize respect for adverse opinions and beliefs, and respect for questioning and investigating. An opinion is only wrong when there is no evidence to back it up, or is used to bully, harm or harass an individual for any and all characteristics including: Sex, Gender, Race, Culture, Religion, Disability, Sexuality, and Disability. All classrooms should be safe, but all ideas and ways of life including those above should be questioned. There are no two people with identical views even those who share an ideological belief. We should acknowledge this and encourage our classes to be a place for reflection on ourselves and our ideas, for questioning ideas, for active listening and respectful engagement.and being curious.

Whatever is the case we need more debate, and discovery in our classrooms using opposing viewpoints on the topics which define the world we live in.