Christian Public School Teachers Aren’t Allowed to Have Opinions

As far as controversies in the classroom go, the story of British teacher Anita Meston was relatively tame. She was giving a lesson on the “Allied bombing of Dresden during World War II,” which led to a discussion about the morality of war and the current conflict in the Holy Land. She was then asked if she supported abortion and responded that she was a pro-life Christian and knew many women who regretted having an abortion. A student who disagreed said she knew women who had no such regrets, and Meston replied, “Fair enough,” concluding the discussion and returning to her lesson.

But the story does not end there. Meston was later called in by the school administrator, who told her that “a complaint had been made about the lesson” and that “she could not express personal views in the classroom and that her contract would be terminated.” It made no difference that she did not initiate the discussion and said nothing offensive, nor did it matter that she had been teaching for 28 years and that her contract had been renewed the previous week.

Moreover, everyone knows that this only happened because Meston was Christian and politically conservative. Had she told the students that she supported Hamas and a woman’s right to an abortion, no one would even think to complain. Instead, she was singled out, accused of committing wrongthink, and promptly dismissed.

Fortunately, the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International has come to Meston’s defense, basing its case on the United Kingdom’s Equality Act 2010, which bars discrimination on the basis of religion or belief. Even if the school leaders insist that they were “protecting” their students, it is clear that they unfairly targeted Meston and thought nothing would happen.

Although most Americans might shrug at this story—this is the U.K., after all—they should know that this type of crackdown on Christians and conservatives is very common in American public schools as well. As a rule, teachers are told to keep their political and religious views to themselves, avoid all controversial topics, and ignore problematic questions from students. In practice, this usually means that conservative or Christian teachers will nervously dance around these issues while administrators stand ready to pounce on otherwise effective educators when an incident occurs.

As a public school English teacher, I have witnessed this dynamic constantly. Just this past month, a former colleague went through something similar to Anita Meston. He was giving a history lesson, and a student asked him if he supported Donald Trump. He said that he did—just as he supported all American presidents. Rather than take the bait and express his political opinion, he turned the question into a lesson, highlighting the expectations of citizenship.

Nevertheless, one of his students used this moment to loudly berate him as an idiotic “MAGA supporter” who has no business teaching history. Refusing to react to the outburst, he calmly told the student to leave the classroom to cool down. Disregarding this request, the student bolted for the principal’s office to complain about her Trump-loving teacher brainwashing his students. Apparently, the administrators did not punish this student at any point, but only called home to reassure the mother that everything was fine and that they would talk to the teacher about the proper way to have these conversations.

As for the teacher, he was forced to defend himself and warned to be more careful. He was also told to call the student’s mother and apologize for triggering her child. The student has since returned to class, and everyone has moved on.

While this may seem like a small matter, it’s important to understand what is being communicated here. Without provocation, this student disrupted class and insulted her teacher, and she was rewarded with validation from the principal and allowed to return to class. Although he did nothing wrong, the teacher was reprimanded for disturbing the peace and creating more work for others. Moreover, both he and the administrators likely spent hours having conversations about the incident, documenting each conversation, and revisiting school policy. Even though the teacher was not fired, he can be sure that this story will come up at his end-of-year conference and affect his eligibility for merit pay.

The final takeaway from all this? Students will see that they can get certain teachers in trouble while teachers can expect zero support from parents or administrators. More generally, Christian and conservative perspectives will be silenced and erased on K-12 campuses, and certain issues will never be discussed in any class, resulting in a school culture that is far more secular, leftist, and narrow-minded. Worse still, many quality teachers who happen to be Christian or conservative will leave the profession while mediocre teachers with leftist opinions will be encouraged and promoted.

Despite all this, school leaders will continue scratching their heads at the declining enrollment, declining academic performance, and growing demand for school choice all across the country. They choose to ignore the heavy pressure on teachers to limit their effectiveness by keeping a low profile, following a script, and passing on failing students. They pretend that public schools are inclusive, welcoming, value-neutral institutions fostering achievement, not miniature police states pushing mindless compliance on everyone.

True, allowing teachers to occasionally share their personal beliefs and opinions may not fix all these problems, but it would be a good start. A good, solid education cannot emerge from a culture of censorship and conformity. It must be honest, tolerant, and supportive. As Anita Meston put it, “In a free and just society, teachers should not be fired for honestly expressing their deeply-held beliefs in response to questions in the classroom.” This means the chilling of speech and quiet marginalization of Christian and conservative teachers need to finally end, both in the U.K. and here in the U.S.