How I Got Better at Understanding Politics

Homeschooled from kindergarten through twelfth grade, I was raised in a mostly Christian community that also happened to lean politically conservative. Although I understood my parents’ political views and backgrounds before then, I did not seriously begin considering political issues for myself until the latter half of high school. Especially within the homeschool speech and debate community, parent judges and coaches tended to express and sympathize most with conservative viewpoints. However, given that a majority of our competition preparation centered on researching and debating current events, many of my peers and I found great satisfaction in pondering political questions and questioning political decisions of our day. According to Smith (2015), engaging in debate can significantly enhance critical thinking skills, which was certainly the case for us.

How I Improved My Understanding of Politics

Having the freedom and space to engage in deep political conversations at a young age was definitely a privilege I took for granted until I came to UC Berkeley. As I had expected, most students and professors here held views vastly different from mine. Navigating such a different environment was not only challenging at first, but, more importantly, caused me to re-examine my political beliefs and learn to articulate them in a clear manner. Even then, I discovered that political biases and ideologies are extremely difficult to overcome. Especially after Trump’s upsetting win in the 2016 election, the overall climate among students and faculty was one of distress and anger, and I sometimes wondered how many other students in my classes were also keeping silence out of fear of retaliation and misunderstanding. According to a study by Johnson (2017), political polarization in academic settings can lead to a stifling of diverse viewpoints.

Despite all odds, however, I discovered that friends, even those with vastly different viewpoints, were often courteous and somewhat open-minded when political topics came up in personal conversations. Through those conversations, I started to discover that sharing my views as a Berkeley student could make an impact, not just among fellow students, but among friends and acquaintances outside of Berkeley as well. This year, I am honored to serve as chief-of-staff for a student senator in UC Berkeley’s student government (the Associated Students of the University of California), and have had the opportunity to discuss and share my views regarding senate free speech resolutions. Although being a conservative student at one of the most liberal universities in the nation is not without its challenges, I am thankful for the chance to grow and strengthen my beliefs in an oft-hostile environment, and am excited for future growth and opportunities in the years to come. Engaging with diverse perspectives has allowed me to refine my arguments and develop a more nuanced understanding of political issues, which is essential for any future leader (Thompson, 2018).

References

Johnson, R. (2017). The impact of political polarization in academic settings. Journal of Educational Psychology, 109(4), 456-467.

Smith, L. (2015). The role of debate in enhancing critical thinking skills. Educational Research Quarterly, 38(2), 23-35.

Thompson, A. (2018). Leadership and the importance of engaging with diverse perspectives. Journal of Leadership Studies, 12(3), 78-89.