{"id":78641,"date":"2025-10-21T00:59:39","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T04:59:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=78641"},"modified":"2025-10-21T00:59:39","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T04:59:39","slug":"how-to-distinguish-the-fine-line-between-educating-and-indoctrinating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-to-distinguish-the-fine-line-between-educating-and-indoctrinating\/","title":{"rendered":"How to distinguish the fine line between educating and indoctrinating"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Teachers wearing Palestinian headscarves in class in\u00a0<\/span>Alcorc\u00f3n<\/span><\/a>\u00a0(Madrid) or wearing yellow ribbons in\u00a0<\/span>Catalonia<\/span><\/a>\u00a0, schools inciting their students to strike\u00a0<\/span>against an education law<\/span><\/a>\u00a0or encouraging them to participate in\u00a0<\/span>marches<\/span><\/a>\u00a0against it… Is this educational? Or is it indoctrination?<\/span><\/p>\n

Educating involves seeking to develop the fullest possible development of each person. This includes being able to critically reflect on the social and political problems surrounding us. Indoctrination, on the other hand, is imposing a specific view of those problems\u2014the one held by the teacher or the school. This distinction, which seems very broad, can sometimes seem very thin.<\/span><\/p>\n

Students live in a reality that, like adults, challenges them: it invites and demands them to take positions and even political decisions related to social activism (the wars in Ukraine, Gaza, and so many others, the radicalization of positions on highly sensitive issues such as euthanasia, abortion, gender violence, transsexuality, etc.).<\/span><\/p>\n

What should they do if they want to express their political positions within the center? To what extent should the center encourage specific political positions?<\/span><\/p>\n

What the law says<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

The European Union\u00a0<\/span>Council Recommendation<\/span><\/a>\u00a0proposes competency-based learning that goes beyond mere knowledge and must include skills and, very significantly, attitudes. This includes critical thinking as an essential component: it is essential for evaluating information, making informed decisions, and solving problems independently; for understanding today’s social, political, and economic systems and actively participating in society; for using digital technology critically; and for identifying opportunities, assessing risks, and making innovative decisions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Critical thinking and freedom of teaching<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

This legislation applies to all curricula in European Union countries. For example,\u00a0<\/span>Spanish law<\/span><\/a>\u00a0incorporates critical thinking as part of its educational approach, promoting its development from the earliest stages of school. Teachers must encourage analysis, argumentation, debate, and reflection in all areas.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Freedom of education (on the one hand, the creation of educational centers within the respect of democratic principles; and, on the other, the guarantee that parents can choose an education for their children in accordance with their religious, philosophical or pedagogical convictions) is guaranteed both\u00a0<\/span>in the treaties of the European Union<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>in the Western democracies around us<\/span><\/a>\u00a0, whose constitutions so reflect.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, the\u00a0<\/span>Spanish Constitution<\/span><\/a>\u00a0is no exception (Article 27), and, furthermore, our schools have the capacity to establish\u00a0<\/span>a school-wide educational project<\/span><\/a>\u00a0that establishes the values, goals, and principles that guide their actions within their context. Legislatively, the autonomy of educational centers is also established in the\u00a0<\/span>Royal Decrees<\/span><\/a>\u00a0that establish the basic education curriculum in each autonomous community.<\/span><\/p>\n

From freedom to indoctrination<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

However, neither fostering critical thinking nor freedom of education are excuses for indoctrination in schools (through their management structures, their management teams, or their teachers). Quite the opposite: fostering critical thinking is the best defense against indoctrination, and freedom of education is key to social diversity.<\/span><\/p>\n

How, then, can we define this fine line? There’s a classic text from the 1980s by Jos\u00e9 Manuel Esteve: “The Concept of Education and its Nomological Network” (published in the book\u00a0<\/span>Theory of Education. I<\/span><\/em>\u00a0, edited by J.L. Castillejo). Its author proposes applying three criteria: use, form, and content. To these, we could add those of meaning and purpose. The following table compares these criteria to distinguish between the two terms:<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, to educate would be to teach a historical fact by showing the (true) facts\u2014based on reliable and diverse sources\u2014and their different interpretations\u2014according to different actors involved in those events\u2014fostering one’s own interpretive judgment based on the critical analysis of the sources; while to indoctrinate would be to teach that historical fact from a single perspective, presenting it as an authentic and exclusive interpretation and disqualifying any other possible interpretation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Detect indoctrination<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

At this point, we can conclude that indoctrination practices in a center are revealed in the following cases:<\/span><\/p>\n

1) Ideological or political imposition:<\/span><\/p>\n