The 2012 Presidential election is near and SLA students are talking about it — but that doesn’t mean they’re doing a good job.
SLA prides itself on an environment that allows for diverse students, but when a student speaks out with Republican views, there’s some surprised faces. It’s assumed that the community is predominantly liberal.
This is troubling for a number of reasons. As adolescents, we know the candidates, but we don’t always learn their ideas, goals, and views. And due to ignorance, once again we have a distorted perception of the election and its candidates.
The Internet and social media in particular — so critical to SLA’s culture — reinforce this “liberal bubble” we live in. Facebook News Feeds carry a lot of mockery pertaining to the main candidates. To Obama’s advantage, he’s more invested in the social media scene, which gives avid Internet users, like us, a skewed view of potential nominees.
Another example is Googling “completely wrong” and in the images section, there are a plethora amount of images presenting Republican candidate Mitt Romney.
Social media is not the only influence on teen views. One’s parents and community all affect how interested young people are in the elections. Because the majority of the community is liberal, it is perceived to be 100% liberal. This is what leads to the “bubble” at SLA.
One way to burst the bubble is to take a closer look at the policies of who you support. For example, take Obama’s “Race to the Top” program. According to the U.S. Department of Education, “Awards in Race to the Top will go to States that are leading the way with ambitious yet achievable plans for implementing coherent, compelling, and comprehensive education reform.” [Via here]
This means that states with the highest test scores will be funded more than those who don’t. This program is likely to increase education inequity–not something at SLA believes in, but something most of us don’t know about.
So, what can SLA students do to pop the “liberal bubble”? Here are some suggestions:
- Tear away from Facebook News Feeds and search for unbiased information from Committee of 70, League of Women Voters, or FactCheck.org
- Read both liberal and conservative sources; If you’re going to watch Fox News, watch MSNBC as well, or if you’re going to read The New York Times, read The Wall Street Journal too.
- Be more open to conservative voices, especially Republicans at SLA.
- Decide what issues matter to you personally, and then get the facts.
Unsigned editorials are written and approved by the SLAMedia Editorial Staff. They do not reflect the opinion of Science Leadership Academy and its employees.
Bravo, SLA Media. This is thoughtfully conceived and much needed as we look at what Tuesday may bring. I appreciate your suggestions and am taking some of these bulleted points to heart.
I feel as though this was a very well written piece about how the election can become very one sided for many people. From what they see on TV, they can be blindsided by one party. However I feel that every one has a right to voice their opinion and If they aren’t open minded enough to change that, it’s their problem. It isn’t about what the country gives them, it’s about what they want to find and what resources they want to use.
I think this bubble exists, if you pay attention to in class debates, or in class political discussion. The liberal side is usually taught as the “right view” and the republican is the “wrong”. While I am not a republican myself, I have a friend who is and he often feels like his argument is said for him before he can say otherwise.
This article may be controversial to some. Although there are some of us that just go with the politic rumors we hear, some of do our own fact check. This is a well written article.
This was awesome. I think everyone should really take a closer look at the policies of who they support. This is one of the main causes of arguments between people. More people should read this! 🙂
I feel as though this is almost putting students and teachers that are liberal down. Yes you need to be open to understanding people. And yes I am for learning about the other side of things but if you wanted people to know more then why not put some facts about conservatives and what the really feel. However this is well written and nicely organized.
The different sides of the bubble in sla political partys will never change because each person will always think different things.
I undersand where this is coming from, but I feel as though this is going against everything that is being said. I agree that most liberals in this school need to be more open minded and whatnot, but so should most of the republicans. We live in a world where people cannot agree to disagree and accept it. I dunno, I feel like this was more attacking liberals then trying to get liberals to understand.
I find that the suggestions were well presented and I did not know about the unbiased sites until I read this article.
SLA, creates a “liberal bubble” because it is constantly preaching, maintaining, encouraging, and growing a filter of liberalism.
Therefore students naturally become dogmatic, and alienating towards ideas or points of view that are radical, right wing, or even feminist.
Liberal ideas such as value of diversity, individualism, moralism, and determinism are subliminally programmed into our minds in every classroom as the right answer or the alternative.
Plus we never study through lenses that aren’t liberal, democratic, or inner leftist.
I think this article brings up a lot of great points about any community. If we want to see SLA become a more accepting political community, we need to step away from the idea that we need to “change” or “fix” someone who doesn’t share our views and work towards learning why they have different opinions. We need to see the person behind the generalized opinion.
This op/ed is very good. I feel as though this is a very common theme in which I have both observed and been apart of. I feel like our differences make us better, and it would be better for me and others to try and find common ground with people they disagree with on political issues.
I feel like this article pigeon holes all liberals. I respect the fact that the author tried to get everyone to think in a different way and to understand each other’s views but I don’t like the way they went about it. If the author really wanted to give a strong point and make a change I believe they should have also gave us some info about each sides views.
After reading this blog it gets me to think that we should every once in a while get away from the the Facebook feeds. The Facebook feed is not the only source to get information from. It is important that we become more open minded to other things. We must learn how to use other sources in order to find out curtain information. Other than that I believe that the bubble exist’s here at SLA. There are many liberals in this school and they need to be opened minded to things and I also believe that there are also some republicans that need to be open minded to other things also. So instead of the liberals needing improvement with using others sources and being open minded, republicans need to demonstrate these things also.