Do liberal teachers produce violent and xenophobic students? An empirical study of German ninth graders and their teachers

Abstract

A study of 96 teachers and 598 of their students from East and West Berlin is reported, testing a hypothesis that emerged in media coverage of right-wing youth violence in Germany, namely that liberal teachers are 'producing’ right-wing youth, primarily due to their permissive teaching style. LISREL models show that neither do left teachers, in general, have violent and/or right-wing students, nor do permissive teachers have such students. It was, however, found that teachers who emphasize a universalistic and humanistic political value conviction, but at the same time favor an authoritarian teaching style, do indeed have more violent, right-wing extremist students.