For a school that strives to gather some of the brightest and most driven high schoolers across the country, campus is quiet when it comes to current affairs. Despite dramatic political developments such as the U.S. invasion of Venezuela and the apparent political polarization occurring in online discourse, conversations at Andover feel noticeably removed from the world around us. The fact is that most Andover students aren’t having open conversations about politics on campus, beyond perhaps a small circle of friends or trusted adults. As Andover students are about to enter “the real world,” understanding today’s issues and current affairs should be integral to our high school experience. This is especially true of a place that aims to instill in its students a “sense of responsibility toward the global community and natural world,” per Andover’s mission statement.
Why isn’t there enough political discourse on campus anyway? Working to be constantly knowledgeable about the ever-changing world today can get overwhelming and exhausting for anybody. In Andover’s academically rigorous environment, we dedicate most of our attention to immediate responsibilities and future goals. Consumed in daily worries, we are content not to publicly engage with one another on political affairs.
As much as these observations are about the student body, we can’t ignore that this is at least exacerbated by the example that the administration has implicitly set by avoiding political discourse. There is a lack of events and forums for students to engage with one another on campus. Despite frustration, educational programming on current events has yet to be implemented on a regular schedule. This past November, a student attempted to stage a demonstration over an absence of political discussion on campus — another indicator of attitudes regarding the state of discourse.
In an email announcing Andover’s approach to making statements on societal events, Head of School Raynard Kington wrote that “we teach students how to think, not what to think.” While we agree that students should be taught to form their own opinions and not simply force-fed information to memorize, independent thinking is a skill that has to be modeled for us by exposing us to all sides of social issues or political debates. Without guidance from sources we know we can trust, we are left exposed to unstructured self-learning platforms, such as social media. Even if we know better than to take everything we see on social media at face value, it’s hard to figure out what exactly to believe on our own.
This type of guidance should come from school-organized events — like Frank Tipton’s “Israel-Palestine 101” lecture that outlined the historical context of the Israel-Palestine conflict, or the moderated conversation with Professor Neil Siegel on the Constitution and Democracy preceding the 2024 Presidential Election. Debate-style events at settings like All-School Meeting (ASM) could illustrate to students the different sides of an argument, leading them to reflect more on the topics themselves, while demonstrating civil discourse in action.
While it is disappointing that the student body is not more proactively talking about political events, we know that Andover students are, above all, curious and eager to learn. We hope the school will formulate more opportunities to intentionally invite civil discourse on campus, promoting learning both in and out of the classroom.
