Politics in high school is not completely different than politics in the real world, in fact it’s frighteningly similar. However unlike adults, in high school, you cannot choose who you spend time with, and you are often in class for hours on end with people who have completely different opinions than you. I’m currently a senior at Morristown High School, which happens to be one of the most diverse high schools in New Jersey. If anywhere is going to be a good example of politics in high school, it’s mine.
First we have the liberals. This bunch of people are most often outspoken democrats. There are of course the crazy liberal feminists who call out others any chance they get, however there is a smaller, quieter, often overlooked group of liberals in every high school. These are people like male Hillary supporters. These democrats are there, but they’re often harder to find.
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Next we have the conservatives. This is a different category than our Trump supporters. Many of the conservatives, like the liberals, are not afraid to speak out on their beliefs. Most often raised by a pair of Republicans, most conservatives are respectful and will democratically disagree with others in a class discussion. However, this is not the case 100% of the time.
The stereotypical white male Trump supporters are in a group of their own. In my high school, they attempt to edge on the crazy liberals and look for a rise in anyone. Most of them are not as well read on political and social issues, which is why they are in a different category than the conservative Republicans (who care much more about issues and their own beliefs). You can spot them from a mile away in their Trump gear, or even a specially made “Make Morristown Great Again” baseball hat or visor.
Then we have people who don’t care. They don’t care about conversations about politics and wish that all political convo would be removed from the classroom altogether. Most of them choose not to disclose their opinions to anyone, if they even have an opinion at all. They’re quiet and most often go unnoticed in a high school setting.
Finally, we have people who believe that high schoolers shouldn’t care about politics, a category slightly different than the previous. They believe that since most high schoolers are under 18 and therefore don’t get to vote and subsequently don’t get a say in government or the real world, what’s the point in caring? These people are arguably the most dangerous. When this passionate passiveness continues later on in life, we get people who don’t vote and don’t care about the current events in their country, which is not good.
High school, especially one as large and diverse as mine, is a perfect microcosm for America as a whole. We have different races and ethnicities interacting with one another, in addition to pretty much every political opinion or view you could come across. However the issue is when we encounter groups like the last one: people who believe we shouldn’t care about politics.
I had a girl tell me right before the election that since she misses the deadline to vote, it doesn’t actually matter who’s elected. I asked her when her birthday was, and she told me it was a few months after the election. This girl, and many high schoolers just like her, are going to be turning 18 when our president elected takes office. You should care who your president is, for they’re going to be president during an instrumental time in your life, your first few years of adulthood.
The passiveness that we see in both high school and adulthood is part of what kills American politics. As American citizens, we need to care about who is running our country, whether it be the mayor of a tiny New Jersey town, our supreme court justices, and of course our president.
