By Alexis Carr, Editor in Chief
After the recent election, it is evident that different views have collided here at Indian Trail High School. Various announcements have aired to remind students to keep offensive and aggressive behaviors to themselves.
The issue doesn’t stop at Indian Trial, but is occurring all over the world.
In today’s society, people have a hard time finding common ground regarding different opinions. However, many people also struggle with establishing what an opinion is. An opinion is defined as: a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.
Recently staff and students at Indian Trail commented on this topic and how to properly handle heated situations.
Glenn Summers, a Kenosha Military Academy sophomore, believes people have a hard time agreeing to disagree because they have an unwillingness to listen to ideas other than their own.
“A lot of people are simply stubborn. They don’t want to know the facts, they just want to listen to their own opinions,” he said.
However, other students such as Felipe Berumen, a KMA freshman, believes people want to avoid offending others and want to hear what they believe is the “right” answer.
“I think people have a hard time agreeing to disagree because there are some people who actually think ‘how will this help’ and others who think ‘this will hurt these people and that doesn’t feel right,’” Berumen said. “ People rely too much on whether or not things feel good to them rather than does this actually work for the people involved.”
Some IT students say the recent rise in disagreements and aggression are because of the 2016 election. In fact a large body of research shows that liberals and conservatives tend to self-segregate into ideological silos, consume different news, associate only with like-minded others, and even choose to lives in different places. Studies also show that liberals and conservatives — Democrats and Republicans — hold more negative views of one another than in the past. Some even avoid friendships and dating across these political divides.
Although there have been rising tension here at Indian Trail, students such as Caleb Murray, a KMA freshman, always tries to find the proper solution to deal with disagreements in a rational manner and prevent them from escalating.
“I often have general disagreements with certain topics regarding the recent election with my friends who like who got elected but I don’t,” said Murray. “But instead of saying I hate them and not being friends with them, I accept their beliefs.”
Another example of a student who handled a situation maturely is Glenn Summers.
“There was an instance in which I was walking in the hallway and one guy called me the n-word,” Summers said. “I almost acted in an aggressive way, but instead, I told him there is no reason to call me that. If you know my name, address me by that,” and continued walking.
Students provided advice on how to handle opposing viewpoints. Be mindful before commenting in a political debate, class discussion, or even a simple conversation with friends. Take time to listen and let people speak before making assumptions or speaking over them.
“To handle a debate maturely out of a way of respect, is to have the other person speak first and then you can rebuttal with that in a polite way and watch certain words that you use,” said Karlee De-Jesus, another KMA freshman. “Once they have made their point, act in a mature manner to make yours. If things get out of hand, walk away.”
With the rising tension that has been occurring here at Indian Trail, the staff pushes to make IT a safe space for everyone and vocalize that offensive behavior is not tolerable. Indian Trail officials say IT should be a safe space for everyone regardless of your ethnicity, religion, income, national origin, etc.
“As a school our job is to educate people and to help people critically think,” said IT Principal Maria Kotz. “So I think it’s very important for us to remind students that it’s good to have a viewpoint, but I hope that viewpoint is based on some solid fact and experiences.”