I am liberal – very liberal. However, as liberal as I am, I can’t help but notice my school administration’s failure to acknowledge any other political ideas than ones like my own. In the editorial section of my school’s newspaper two weeks ago, students contended that the school tends to push liberal ideas so far that conservatives feel as though they can't share their ideas without being immediately shut down. I completely agree, but there lies far more implications to this issue than the obvious — that being the inhibition to students’ reign of free expression.
I do not mean to say that my school does not encourage discussion because it certainly does. But what my school does not value is dissent. Yes, it values dissent in the classroom, but as soon as you step away and move into any sort of political discussion, disagreement is no longer embraced.
For a school that seems strictly liberal, it expects its students to be the same, refusing to even acknowledge that there exist other political views on campus. For example, whenever a political debate occurs at our school, students debate Hillary versus Bernie, never Trump. But that is not to say there are not any Trump supporters on campus. Nonetheless, these particular students and all their ideas are silenced because they scare other students, including me — yes, Trump’s proposals scare me. And this is fine for me and many other students at my school. It does not affect us; in fact, I have grown to ignore it and all its implications.
What exactly are those implications? One is that the administration forges the notion that there is great tolerance and acceptance on this campus. Obviously, many political views, including the ones of those who support Trump, aim to suppress many people. You’re probably thinking, “but if the school suppresses these political views, then shouldn’t there be acceptance and tolerance on campus?”
No, in fact, suppressing such ideas is a double negative. If their ideas are never addressed by the community, than they, however scary, lie untouched. And, if left untouched, they can never be debated, let alone challenged.
