Recent history has provided moment for the American people that are new and challenging. Ten years ago, Barack Obama made history. He was the first African-American to be elected president of the United States. Two years ago, Donald Trump made history. He was the oldest president to take office, as well as the first president to do so without any political experience.
Throughout these ten years, there has been an array of emotions sweeping the United States. Some people believe President Obama was the greatest thing to happen to the U.S Government. Others, however, feel that Donald Trump and his new approach to leadership is the sort of change this country needed. It has divided our country. Regardless of how anyone feels, it's okay that there exist different opinions. That is part of life. Not everyone sees eye to eye on things.
Imagine for a moment a world where everyone had the same ideology as one another. That's impossible. And for the most part, unhealthy. A perfect world doesn't exist. What does exist is the opportunity for young people to learn and formulate their own opinions. That is why we shouldn't discuss politics in the classroom. When politics are discussed in the classroom, brainwashing can occur. Since we do not live in a perfect world, people will never agree. And if we will never agree, there is no valid reason to discuss the political world as it becomes counterproductive to education.
Why counterproductive? Because we don't listen to each other. Today, everyone thinks they are right. They don't want to hear what the other side has to say because it's not what they like to hear. They don't want to know that someone is pro-life, and they don't want to hear someone say "let's have open borders". Regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum, you should be open to conversation, and open to learning about the opposing side's views. We should try not to be so arrogant and maybe be more accepting of other people's views. But most people cannot.
Unfortunately, I experienced this first hand. I had a teacher who I did not see eye to eye with. A teacher who I believe graded unfairly based on of my political views, and not my academic performance. A teacher who informed the class only of news that benefitted her political party. But where was the teacher when something benefitted the opposing party? Not only did she fail to extol the merits of that, she made a concerted effort to criticize those ideas. If I could go back in time, I'd ask that teacher this. Why did you refuse to teach us about both viewpoints? You're a teacher. Shouldn't you be teaching us everything we need to know about life? So that we could make an informed decision for ourselves?
Isn't it sad that I couldn't express myself in a place where I deserve to feel safe because I was worried about getting a poor grade on my report card? Isn't it sad that we are encouraged to go out and vote at such a young age, but we don't know who to vote for because the people we are taught from are bias? Isn't it sad that talking politics in classrooms the right way has become a thing people don't want to do? Isn't it sad that people are being penalized for expressing themselves if the opinions they express is antithetical to those of the teacher?
Not everyone had the ability to do the research I had done prior to Election Day. Some people voted on what they heard around them. Monkey see, monkey do. And that's what people like the teacher I had wanted. She wanted to impart her party's views and nothing else. Indoctrination. She wanted everyone to think and believe as she did.
If we didn't live in such a biased world, we wouldn't be such a divided country. Maybe if we weren't so arrogant and narcissistic we would be living in a safer place, with more accepting people. Maybe if we didn't bring politics into the classroom, I wouldn't have failed that class by one point. Just maybe.
My teacher would always talk about how we needed to be more accepting of diversity in this world, and be more accepting of our peers in the classroom. But it started with her. She was the one who needed to be more accepting of views that were unlike her own.
