Black OR White: Issues in Grayscale

HARMONY PALMER AND EVELYN KACPRYZNSKI

Student voice is of utmost importance. Just prior to spring break, The Howler asked students to reflect and respond to questions relating to the topic: “Do Opinions Belong in School?” The following passage is an opinion piece based on the feedback received from the survey.

Today, there is a deep divide between those of opposing views. Disagreements exist about guns, abortion, immigration, etc., and the respective presidential candidates or religions that reflect those values. These issues are tremendously controversial, causing tension, arguments, and extensive forms of protest. The news surrounds us with

Now you have an hour to do whatever you want before bed. According to an earlier article done by Aryana Saedi, we have determined that students need more sleep. Take into consideration that you need 8-10 hours of sleep a night. So you get to bed by 8-10 at night if you need to catch the bus in the morning at 6:00. The hour you get before bed is all the time you have to do homework. Taking the minimum of five classes, this means that you will have work to do for all classes. Doing 20 minutes of work for each class is one hour and 40 minutes of time. Looking at this schedule you see you have no time for your Netflix or hanging out with your friends. Teachers should then give us time in class to let us do our work. Then we would sleep more and perform better in class. • twisted opinions, attempting to sway us one way or the other without any nuance. Social platforms act as a place to spew hate, creating immense cancellation on a large scale. We can’t help but wonder, would America be more united if we could discuss or debate in a respectful manner? How are we supposed to have civil discourse if we are never taught how? So the questions remain: do discussions about controversial topics belong in school settings, and when do those opinions go too far?

The results of the survey are quite interesting. Surprisingly, almost 70% of our student body feels unsafe sharing their personal opinions in school despite over 85% of students believing that opinions belong in school. When asked why they felt unsafe sharing their opinions, multiple students accounted for times they were berated or turned away by students, and sometimes even teachers, because of their personal views. Students reflected on the fear of being shut down and rejected, pushing them into