In high school, we see a lot of young folk beginning their journey into politics; however, how they get arrive at their beliefs can be questionable. Many young students arrive at their political opinions because of what their parents believe or what the political party they identify with believes. When students believe what they are told rather than doing actual research, their political beliefs are uneducated and they often end up offending others due to their nieve prejudgements and narrow minded thoughts.
In the current state of our country, with Donald Trump as our president, many republicans base their beliefs solely off of what our president says; however, President Trump has a tendency to speak on a whim and often out of hand. When President Trump selected Brett Kavanaugh, a man accused of sexual assault, to be elected onto the Supreme Court, radical republicans back him simply because Trump backs him. I have talked to many students about why they think that Kavanaugh was a good candidate to be elected to the Supreme Court and a consistent answer that I received was: “Donald Trump supports him, so I do too.”
While everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, without thorough research and discussion, one should not feel entitled to their specific opinion as it may not be backed my factual evidence. Often times, it feels as though both parties, whether republican or democrat, seem to not listen to each other. We are growing up in a society which tells us that our beliefs are valid, however it’s making our youth believe that only their beliefs are valid and that others are incorrect. Discussion is how progress happens, but in our society, we are growing up with arguments that end with one party hating the other party even more than they did before.
With the inability to listen comes with the inability to respect. Whether it be political parties not respecting political parties, candidates not respecting other candidates, or students not respecting other students. As a result of our generation’s inability to listen and hear others opinions, fewer and fewer people feel that they can actually speak out about their beliefs due to the fear of being disrespected or shamed for their belief. When someone, especially a young person, speaks out about something they believe in, they deserve respect and attention from those “listening” to them. Our generation has become one that cannot have civil discussions because we have become narrow minded, only thinking about ourselves and not wanting to even think that someone else’s ideas could also be meaningful.
While at times it can be difficult to hear and try to understand where another person’s viewpoints come from, it is essential to listen and communicate in order to make progress in our country. As the future generation of our country, we need to learn now how to listen, discuss, and respect each other. If our future leaders cannot agree or compromise, our country cannot make any progress. In order to be successful in the future, we need to establish respect as young adults and begin to discuss so that it is not a foreign concept in ten years.
While we are still young, we need to focus on educating young people on unbiased political facts in order for young adults to develop their own individual thoughts on a specific topic. While there will constantly be bias surrounding us, by having civil discussions and respectfully listening to others opinions, we can develop new ideas and form our own individual thoughts. Rather than being narrow-minded, we need to open up our eyes to others views in order to have a successful future.