No matter how scary, intimidating, or seemingly lifeless teachers are, they are human. As humans we have an ingrained need to set out our ideas as passionately and as emphatically as possible.

I have seen political ideologies being displayed countless times in the classroom by numerous teachers who are meant to be educating us. Are these views intended to be educational, or to persuade students to conform to the teacher's opinions?

I can be quite happily taking notes, when I look up to see the teacher's nostrils flared, their neck clenched and their eyes alive, full of malice - the three symptoms shown after a student mentions Michael Gove.

Teachers are all too ready to convey contempt for the MP, but we have to consider how such a hate-fuelled, biased argument will affect how young people view him. It lends itself to project fear; not project hope.

One might argue this is good - schools are the home of intellectual stimulation and one's intellect can't be appropriately stimulated without their ideas being met by opposing ones.

However this isn't a fair debate: teachers hold power over students, not only due to their age and higher intelligence, but also the influence they have with young people.

Students may also feel like they simply can't challenge a teacher's viewpoints, scared into thinking that if they do they may be somewhat prejudiced or picked on. They may also feel targeted or alienated if they hold political views that don't match that of the teacher.

I think it is imperative for schools to hold debating groups and to invite speakers, such as local MPs, so that young people are exposed to a wide variety of political viewpoints; from the left to the right.

From this they can challenge those that they don't agree with and thus form their own political identity - not acquire one from power-wielding teachers whose biased arguments don't represent different political viewpoints, only their own.

Alex Caesari, 18, Fakenham