Without a doubt, politics are one of the more sensitive topics for people, and they’re also the center of a lot of heated arguments. However, there are times when political beliefs go unnoticed.

For example, I’m almost positive that at least once in your high school experience you’ve more than likely been in a class with someone with differing political views or walked past someone in the hallway, or stood in front of or behind someone in the lunch line with different views than you. You could even be related to someone with different political views.

On the other hand, when school brings political beliefs into school aspects such as clubs or sports, it can be potentially harmful. Because if a school district approved having a school-sponsored club for something political, it would imprint the fair assumption that the school supports that idea.

While there are political views that aren’t harmful – for example, athletes praying before a sports game – if a student feels uncomfortable doing that they should be allowed to sit out of it without fear of being punished for not participating.

In my opinion, some political views should be allowed; for example, I like the club LBTQ+ club that BD has because that doesn’t oppose the opportunity for students to be physically or mentally hurt, it does the opposite. It gives students that are a part of the LGBTQ+ community a place to feel safe and meet friends that are also a part of the community.

The way I look at it, school, and things related are for learning and unbiased or neutral opinions. If you have a political view different from someone else it shouldn’t be discussed in school or during something school sanctioned unless it was the content topic.

While there are many different things to have political views, a lot of them can be not particularly appropriate for middle and high school-aged students because ages 12 through 18 is the time when people are most impressionable about things.

So high school is the time to question things, to look at all sides, to research a topic, and to form your own opinion.

While you could think your political opinions are facts, that doesn’t mean other people think that too. For example, I think abortion should be legal because if a woman is getting an abortion she’s definitely weighed the consequences of getting an abortion. But just because I think that way doesn’t mean everyone does.

And my biggest issue with people trying to force their political views on other people is that the people doing pushing the political view refuse to accept their opinions are, in fact, an opinion, and not the cold hard truth.

It pays to have an open mind and be willing to engage in intelligent discussions.