Changing the Narrative of Politics in the Classroom

Picture this: It’s a Monday afternoon, and you are heading to your final class of the day. You are looking forward to it, since it is heavily discussion based which never fails to pique your interest. You sit down, ready to input your opinions, but the conversation takes a heated turn. Now, you decide to keep your mouth shut for fear of getting verbally attacked by someone who disagrees with you or to prevent potential embarrassment of not knowing all of the facts. 

If this has been you, you aren’t alone. 

It’s no secret that the political climate in the United States is wildly polarizing and it has only continued to intensify. While political ideology is not black and white and is often looked at on a spectrum, the two main parties in the U.S., the Democrats and the Republicans, have become vicious towards each other.

Unfortunately, this distaste for one another has made its way into classrooms of all levels and has caused intimidation rather than propelled learning.

Senior, Daniel Dorociak, experienced a tough crowd when voicing his opinion during his strategic writing class.

“Last year in my strategic writing course I spoke my mind during an analysis on the Democratic primary presidential debate when Amy Klobuchar didn’t know the name of the president of Mexico. I said that a president's best interest was and always should be the American people and so it didn’t matter that she didn’t know the name of the Mexican president since she wasn’t in any position of authority where she needed to know that,” Dorociak said. “I got booed out loud by some of my classmates.”

Dorociak added that his teacher defended him and said that his opinion was important, but that interaction potentially kept other students from speaking up. 

Sophomore, Whitney McDonnell, added to this by saying that when classes that aren’t meant to get political become that way, it can cause students to freeze up and not know how to react. 

“I’ve had experiences where a class that doesn’t usually concern politics turns to the topic and everyone in the room freezes because they don’t know how the rest of the group is feeling,” McDonnell said. “It can feel really vulnerable to voice a political opinion amongst your peers if the professor hasn’t established a safe environment for doing so. College is supposed to be about discourse in a controlled environment, so it feels counterproductive when anyone in the room is afraid to voice an opinion.”

While some understand this all too well, others have managed to navigate around this issue. 

For freshman political science major, Bryana Riordan, she knew she’d have to talk about some difficult subject matters, but has loved learning from others’ opinions.  

“With my intended major, I knew some of the things that I would have to talk about would be uncomfortable in a classroom full of students, but luckily, so far, Elon has fostered a safe environment where I feel like I can share my beliefs and not be judged by my professors or my peers,” Riordan said. “I think it is also important to hear other peoples’ opinions, especially in classes like comparative politics, which I’m currently taking, where we talk a lot about current events and have to give our take on real world matters.” 

Senior, Sophie Gerth, spoke on her experiences in the classroom as a woman of color. 

“I think that for the most part I’ve felt comfortable voicing my political opinions in class, but if there are times that I don’t, it’s usually because a conversation or idea affects me personally as a woman of color,” Gerth said. “It’s a very unique experience to be discussing social justice issues in a classroom setting–many of my peers are learning about these things through text, but there are times that I’ve learned things through experience.” 

These instances have given Gerth a unique perspective on things and they have allowed her to cultivate her own opinions based off of herself. Though, she continued to mention that she has been able to switch gears when she enters a classroom.

“I think that when I get into the classroom, I put on my “political scientist” hat and always try to be informed, balanced, and evaluative when I speak,” she said. “I think many professors here do a great job of helping cultivate this environment.”

Students of all different ages, political ideologies, and backgrounds have had wildly different instances when learning. Regardless, it is vital to remember that everyone’s opinion matters. So, let's change the narrative and let EVERYONE’S voices be heard.

Photo from Unsplash.