Wow. Thirteen and a half hours ago I was just getting out of bed. I've been on the net for a bit, gone to work, done some grocery shopping, and made it back home. At that other place I used to spend more than that at my desk a lot of the time. It's such a nice feeling, having time to spare, to chill out and do nothing before/after work. The only problem with the late shift is that I have zero motivation to go to the gym in the morning, and it's closed by the time I get home.

So. I wanna ask y'all a question. I've been thinking about how government policy and the general attitude of contemporary Australian is geared towards economic growth and achieving high financial status. I strongly believe that both should be more balanced with more concern for the welfare of others and the 'greater good' of humanity/mankind. When I become a teacher there'll be an fantastic opportunity to impart this belief on my students and do my bit for developing a future generation with a more humanitarian view on life and society.

My question is, do you think this is ethical? Do you think the role of a teacher should be purely to educate, to show their students what directions are available to them, and to assist them in reaching their own goals, or should a teacher be permitted to directly influence the beliefs of their students? The reason I ask is that none of the teachers I've ever had have stepped outside of the bounds of pure education. This is not to say that I disagree with the way they taught - I really enjoyed the way most of my teachers carried on their classes. We just never discussed ethics in society, purely social evolution and history (though that's probably 'cause I didn't finish school :P).