Politics, It’s Not Just for Social Studies
With a presidential election just a few days away, this felt like the right time to continue the discussion of politics in the classroom. According to Webster’s, politics is “competition between competing interest groups or individuals for power and leadership.” Our jobs, whether we believe it or not, are political by their nature. The decisions, interactions and examples we set in the classroom, regardless of content area, are political, as they influence an individual’s ideas about power structures and their ability to display leadership. While I have no problem sharing my point of view when asked, it is not our job to impose our political views on our students and try to influence their decisions. However, it is of the utmost importance that we provide our students with the critical thinking abilities, communication skills and the confidence to engage in public debates rooted in evidence, if they choose to do so. Which side of the aisle, if any, a student chooses to fall on should be a result of the conclusions they themselves made based on an analysis of complete and accurate information.
Complete and Accurate Information
I’m relatively new to social media. It wasn’t until after the last election cycle (not because of the election) that I actually created an account. It was an interesting experience because I was hearing all of the “fake news” second hand from my students, family, or friends. The way I process news, which was very different from their method, is to read multiple slants on the same story from multiple established news outlets and come to my own conclusions, rather than relying on social media to provide a headline. I recall our conversations falling into some pattern of “Where did you see that? I haven’t seen that anywhere.” followed by a dissection of the articles they were providing as “evidence.” It became abundantly clear that they were not vetting the information on which they were basing their conclusions, trusting or not even considering whether the information had been verified. If students are not getting the complete and accurate information needed to create an informed opinion, they can’t honestly engage in political debate. Therefore, whether or not we choose to teach students what a fact is and how to identify if things are indeed factual, WE have made a political decision. A fact, by definition, is “an observation that for all practical purposes is accepted as true.” While it is often the case that an individual doesn’t have all of the facts necessary or relevant to their case and interpretation of these facts vary, facts themselves can’t be competing. For example, the sun rises in the east. That is a fact. If someone argues that they believe the sun rises in the west, calling that an alternate fact, either through ignorance or intent, they have made a false and misleading statement. If an observation is not accepted as true by the majority of experts, it is not a fact. The presentation and interpretation of the facts or information is where we see the disconnect. With a 24-hour news cycle and the abundance of political commentary on social media, space has been filled with opinion and interpretation of the facts. For this reason, it is imperative that we equip students with the ability to sift through these opinions and misleading information to get to the facts necessary for them to make an informed decision. By extension, this means that we should be evaluating our curricula and ensuring that what we are teaching is a complete and accurate representation of each topic. When we decide to only teach a portion of the topic because it is either deemed too complex for our students to comprehend or controversial and not appropriate for the classroom, we have made a political decision by limiting student access to that complete and accurate information.
Power
Another area where we have a tremendous amount of influence is in a student’s perception of power. We are currently seeing a shift in the method in which many teachers engage their students. However, traditionally and still all to commonly, teachers set rules with punishments such as point penalties, detention, etc., that make it clear they are in charge. You are in their space and must act accordingly. While I’m not suggesting we allow our classrooms to become a free-for-all, I am suggesting we make our students feel like it is a shared space and that students are not merely guests. The authoritarian model of classroom management sets up a power structure that trains students to obey without question. Do as you’re told and you will be deemed a good student and rewarded with good grades. Question authority or disobey and you will be labeled a troublemaker (I highly recommend reading Carla Shalaby’s “Troublemakers”). Rather than empowering and rewarding students for identifying and voicing their concerns over inequities and inefficiencies, this model excludes and silences them. This, in turn, can cause some students to feel powerless, which can lead to them excepting the results of a situation as inevitable and out of their control. They have removed themselves from the competition of representing their best interests. The other thing that has become clear to me over the course of my career is that this power dynamic also interferes with some students’ ability to assimilate the course content. This further limits their access to complete and accurate information. I know the concept of relinquishing power in the classroom is difficult to wrap one’s head around. I had a very difficult time with this at first. However, as I empowered students to challenge me, voice their concerns without repercussions and view our classroom as our shared space, my classroom became more enjoyable and students were more receptive to learning. This also opened the opportunity to discuss how to productively disagree, argue from evidence and defend their perspectives, all qualities necessary to participate in political arguments and advocate for one’s own best interests.
How do we move forward?
A lot of the conflict we are witnessing today is the result of emotional arguments. We are caught in a cycle of each side trying to convince the other of the validity of their beliefs. The way people feel and what they believe is personal to them. When these beliefs are questioned, it can feel like a personal attack, and it is very difficult to change hearts and minds. To create a more productive political discourse, we need to recenter our arguments on true facts over feelings. I, unfortunately, do not hold out much hope that the “adults” will be able to right this ship. This is another burden we are placing on our children. We, as teachers, have the opportunity in front of us to create free thinkers that can critically analyze any information presented to them. We can empower them to speak up when they see something that doesn’t seem fair, even if we are the ones committing the unfairness. Provide them with the tools to construct coherent arguments that convey their interpretation of this information, the ability to be critical of the facts of an argument not the person making the argument, and the confidence to understand a critique of their interpretation is not a critique on them personally. However, none of this can happen if we make political decisions to shield them from complete and accurate information and silence their voice.
