There is a place for politics in every school and class, but there should be no room for partisanship, let alone entire classes dedicated to it.
With the current political climate, it is very important for students to be aware of what’s going on in Washington D.C., as well as the legislative changes that are happening within our own state.
Although, students should be removed from the pressures of partisan politics as much as possible in order to make their own decisions. Their minds shouldn’t be polluted by the opinions of their peers.
This is especially true in regards to current politicized events. Granted, students should be aware of current events, and they should be able to debate with fellow classmates, but they shouldn’t be trained to see issues through a specific lens.
This will only serve to taint the objective facts with partisan dogmas.
In an interview with National Public Radio, Diana Hess, Dean of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and co-author of “The Political Classroom: Evidence and Ethics in Democratic Education,” believes that while teachers should be allowed to share their opinions with the class, they should opt out of showing their partisan bias.
“The practice that we found most troubling, from the study, is what we referred to in the book as political seepage: teachers who make sarcastic comments, who use partisan humor,” Hess said. It’s these offhanded comments that are sort of biting and mean-spirited about the political climate that I think is problematic.”
Political classrooms will only serve as a hub for reinforcing old biases and partisanship.
Those who are genuinely interested in learning about a party’s stance on different issues will be outnumbered by those with preconceived notions of another party, and will ultimately reduce the class to something akin to a club for like-minded students.
In the end, there should be no need for a political class. Students should be informed on the current topics and choose for themselves on how to act about it. After all, this is a free country.
