Being a high school student, in the northeast, in the suburb of a large city, you are surrounded by a primarily homogenous political opinion. There's nothing wrong with that, you just face a little more opposition as a conservative. I am not one to ever suggest that one does not express their opinion, especially when it comes to politics. Quite frankly, I encourage it. There are certain limitations within society that need to be understood, however.

For example, when that opinion infiltrates public schools, that's a problem. I've experienced this liberal invasion of schools my entire childhood, but never as deep-rooted and intentional as the day following the 2016 presidential election.

There were words of consolation from my instructors. They wanted to make us comfortable in the wake of what they treated like a tragedy. We had nine class periods in a day. The majority of my teachers prefaced class with a speech. The demeanor was solemn. Their words were those of disappointment and consolation thinly veiled as a transition to class following the election.

I had only ever experienced one president during my adolescent period. I can't remember the reaction in the days following the election or re-election of former President Barack Obama. This tells me that it was not significant, or out of the ordinary enough for me to recall.

For most of my schooling, I felt like I was not allowed to have my opinion. Let me be clear, I was allowed to have AN opinion, but not MY opinion. There was no rule against it, but an unspoken societal pressure condemning it.

This assumption by the teachers and staff that everyone was upset, and in need of consolation was naive and plain wrong.

It's wrong when you are in an authority position, which grants you influence upon young minds and Its especially wrong when your job is paid for by taxpayers — who are entitled to whatever view they have.

The teaching profession is supposed to be objective, you put your own views aside when you walk through the doors of that school, except this isn't the case. ever. The liberal invasion of public schools is an issue in and of itself but that's an entirely different conversation that I'll address further in the future.

This is where I put my foot down. This post-election depression is where I say "enough." It's not right to invalidate young students' opinions by acting as though they don't even exist. School is supposed to be about learning and exploring thought. Apparently, the only thought that can be explored is that of the left. When students choose to engage in civic participation, you should be proud, regardless of their opinion.

My teachers failed me that day in high school. Don't let yours fail you.