You’re listening to the student across from you scream insults at your group. You haven’t talked yet, but at this point, you’re starting to wonder if the grade is worth the hate that may come from your classmates. The teacher is watching the whole thing play out, so why don’t they stop this? How much longer will you have to sit in this debate that has become a screaming match?
With the country being more divided than ever, it can be hard to maintain a comfortable and open discussion about politics in the classroom. Biases are everywhere, whether they’re in the format of a TikTok video, or an outlandish opinion from your classmate. This may cause students to feel unable to share their true thoughts.
“Some people can be really mean about politics, and I think sometimes they take their stances too far,” junior Kaitlin McElligott said. “One time a person who didn’t agree with me got very angry and yelled at me very loudly. Everyone should be allowed to have different opinions.”
Pressure from your peers is something that many people consider before they say or post something. If you have a different opinion from your friends, there may be concerns about being an outsider, or damaging your reputation.
“I think sometimes teachers forget that students may feel pressured to conform with their friends’ ideas,” social studies teacher Dennis Rogala said. “We should have friends that disagree with us because that’s how we learn from each other; but I think there is pressure to associate with people that have similar beliefs to you. One year, I witnessed two of my students break up during a debate, because they didn’t know that their political views were different.”
Social media can be especially revealing about people’s values. The internet is an amazing place to share your thoughts and express yourself, but when do those freedoms become damaging?
“I don’t think you should ever separate yourself from someone, just because they have different views than you,” junior Nora Karam said. “Especially with this past presidential election, people were reposting a lot from different sides. A lot of people have said, ‘I’m not going to be friends with you because of what you believe,’ and it’s sad that people feel that way. People shouldn’t judge you based on what you’ve liked on Instagram.”
Along with the student struggles that come with controversial debates, there are also stresses for teachers. Staying unbiased and informative on such sensitive topics can be challenging, and grading students on ideology is unethical.
“If a student asks what my opinion on a topic is, and it’s something I don’t feel comfortable talking about, I’ll just tell them that ‘one side says this and the other side says that,’ so they can make up their own mind about it,” Rogala said. “But sometimes in a debate, a student might say something factually inaccurate. Should you correct them? I think that’s where it can get a little messy.”
After all, it is a teacher’s job to help students learn. While there isn’t a correct way to hold discussions in the classroom, students benefit from having freedom in these situations.
“If a teacher goes in and says, ‘we’re going to debate this,’ but there’s a right answer, then it’s not really a debate,” Rogala said. “It’s really important to stay neutral and make sure that students are well informed in their opinion. In one debate, I grade students on their explanations of both sides, but not everybody can do that super well.”
