As a high schooler, I want political discussion in the classroom—so the next generation of voters will be less polarized.
Last year’s New York City mayoral election didn’t just approach voter turnout “not seen in half a century,” but also set the stage for several months of all-encompassing debates. As a New Yorker, I witnessed some of these discussions myself: Family members were weighing the pros and cons of the starkly contrasting candidates and classmates were discussing which candidates they thought were better with friends. Our school newspaper even ran op-eds of individual students sharing their opinions on different candidates. The one place those debates weren’t taking place was in my classroom. As with other highly debated political events, like the Israel-Palestine conflict and the latest presidential election, no teacher broached the subject in class.
I believe the classroom, though, is where those debates most belong. In order to increase our capacity for civil discourse as a country, it’s critical to practice discussing opinions in a peaceful manner from a young age. As a ninth grader, living in a world where politics are increasingly polarized and extreme, I think doing so would help the next generation of voters respectfully engage with a variety of perspectives, including those that deviate from their own. The result would be a future with less radicalization, more respectful engagement, and, hopefully, more middle ground.
The polarization of American politics is evident far beyond the heated mayoral election campaign in New York. Last year, the government was shut down for the longest period in U.S. history, with both parties incapable of agreeing or compromising. Also in the past year, we have seen several politically motivated assassinations and assasination attempts. By now, a majority of Americans see both parties as too extreme: 61% believe that the Republican party is too extreme and 57% believe that the Democratic party is too extreme, according to a Pew Research Center study. One of the reasons is the break-down in respectful dialogue: In a survey of young Americans co-led by American University, 69% of respondents said the United States’s current level of civic discourse was “a crisis” or “a serious problem.” At the same time, a study performed by University of Wisconsin’s April Bleske-Rechek found that students often don’t participate in civil discourse unless it is compulsory, likely due, in part, to fear.
Making space for political debates in the classroom would help alleviate many of those concerns and bring about various benefits. Firstly, it would help promote discussion skills such as active listening and trying to better understand and respect the views of others. Especially for quieter students who are typically less vocal in classroom engagement, discussing their opinions would also help them practice advocating for what they believe in. These discussions would further help students see issues from various perspectives and not exclusively their own—which is especially true for views that might not be the “mainstream” opinion of the school demographic. The point would not be to convince others that you’re right. But students could discover that certain aspects of different views make sense, or are just trying to address a problem they’re worried about in a different way. This would allow students to connect over shared concerns and perhaps even find some middle ground.
Some teachers might be nervous about bringing political debate into their classrooms, fearing that doing so might make them seem biased. However, rather than actively participating in the debates, I think teachers’ role should be to mediate and facilitate the discussion with a few ground rules, such as respecting people’s opinions and avoiding insults. A teacher’s role in moderating should also be to ensure that everyone has a chance to speak equally, as well as correcting any information that’s factually incorrect.
I believe that these debates could be incorporated especially well into History classes. Part of the point of learning about history is to learn about what happened in the past, including how people debated their current events at the time, to understand how it shapes both the present and the future. By looking at civic discourse throughout history, students could learn discussion skills as well as context for what’s happening today. For example, the British debated heavily about the government’s military intervention in China leading up to the Opium Wars, similar to how there’s much debate today about Trump’s military intervention in Venezuela and his capture of President Maduro. Learning about the discussion surrounding and the differing viewpoints regarding past events might help students better understand the range of views people hold today.
Many schools already have debate clubs where students learn these skills—but civil discourse shouldn’t be a voluntary, extracurricular activity. It should be taught to the broader school because the skills learned from these debates are useful and critical to everyone. They prepare students like me, the next generation of voters, to be less polarized and more respectful with each other. Now is the time. Mamdani has just taken office, but considering how heated his election was, there is sure to be more debate–a great opportunity to practice civil discourse in the classroom.