OK.  I'll deal with this now.

At the risk of providing clues to who I am, I was a speech coach at an inner city high school.  As part of our work, my students and I would often discuss political issues and we would deal with both sides.  This happened mostly when we were preparing for student congresses, but it occurred at other times, as well.  I remember I was discussing an issue with a student one time and I happened to be presenting the conservative viewpoint. She expressed surprise because, apparently, I was presenting ideas she had never encountered in her classes.  I happened to mention that she did need to know that whatever she was being taught in her classes, there always was another side (an "Other Side"?).  Her reply stunned me.  She said she didn't know there was another side.

Soon after this incident, I would email a list of current and former speech students articles that I had encountered that  either showed the distinction between conservatives and liberals, or which would demonstrate a liberal bias either in the media or education. I am not sure if they were read, and I am not sure if I ever made a difference.  Teachers rarely know whether they make a difference or not.  It didn't matter.  I think this is an important issue not because I want to turn out class after class of conservative graduates, but just so that they know there is another side.  Perhaps some of the more intelligent ones by turn more conservative, but I just wanted them to be aware of the other side.  I wanted their political view to be a product of their intelligence, not their teacher's biases.

I did notice something about at least one of the students, a budding young journalist who would often be published in the local papers.  The last few of her articles that she sent me had acquired more of a red tint than they had had in the past.  It may have been my imagination. It may have been her maturing.  Or it may have been The Other Side.

I no longer coach speech, and it is a shame.  I don't mind having the Saturdays off, however.  In one sense it is just as well.  I used to take pride in being able to present both sides when discussing congress bills and not having the students be aware which side I personally believed.  It is important to be able to argue both sides.  This is true of advocates as well as speech coaches--if you can't argue your opponent's position, you'll have a hard time defending your own.  More recently, I began to have difficulty credibly expressing the liberal view point.  I could still mouth the arguments, but it was apparent I didn't really believe them.  I may have moved somewhat to the right, but I have a sneaking suspicion that that was not it.  The reason for my newly acquired inability to convincingly express the liberal viewpoint probably had more to do with the basic untenability of many of their positions.