In an educational environment, Camas High School (CHS) social studies teachers emphasize the importance of minimizing bias when teaching lessons regarding the current political climate. Teaching these lessons without bias is not an easy task, so they often develop certain tactics to help them achieve this. Kristi Bridges, a CHS social studies teacher, has come up with a creative strategy to properly teach the opinions of the Republican and Democratic party.
“I have really close friends and family who are on the complete opposite sides. So, I have one particular person I try to channel when I am doing the conservative side, and I have one particular person I try to channel when I do the liberal side,” Bridges said.
However, even with effective strategies, teachers state that teaching politics in our current political state has become very difficult.
“Teaching politics has really gotten difficult in the last ten years. I find a strong correlation to division in the country, party polarization, difficulty teaching this class, and the rise of phones and social media,” Greg Plitt, CHS social studies teacher, said.
Despite this growing challenge, the importance of teaching students about politics instead of persuading students to think a certain way has remained as necessary as always.
“I am focusing on the fact that I want people to understand how to vote for whoever best represents them. I don’t feel the need to convince anybody my way at all,” Bridges said.
Minimizing political bias is not just up to the teachers. The current teenage generation are soon to be the next voters of the country. So, it is vital to ensure they understand the importance of voting knowledgeably in a way that represents them. It is equally important to teach the future voters to be respectful of others’ opinions.
Bridges recommended the podcast Red Brain, Blue Brain by Shankar Vedantam with the hope of teaching others to respect opinions and have an open mind.
Bridges also emphasizes the importance of not getting all political news off of social media.
“Stay off social media when it comes to politics. Don’t get your news from there. Find a reputable news source and actually consume the news,” Bridges said.
This information is essential due to many teenagers already sensing political division in their lives.
“Not a ton in our school, but, outside of school I have noticed a lot of political division,” Avery Fisher, CHS senior, said.
“I think that realizing that we come to our politics from a specific world view is important. Realizing that real humans with real human wants, needs, and desires is behind a political position is crucial,” Plitt said.
