Riverdale’s curriculum pushes students to apply what they are learning about to real-world issues, as opposed to simply reviewing abstract concepts. Particularly in humanities courses, teachers often ask students“Why does this matter?” To adequately respond to the question, students must connect the concept they learned about to a historical or current event. This subjective question can require students to give an individual response that somehow incorporates their worldview, which can implicate students’ political views on hot-button issues. At the same time, we live in a political environment in which people are quick to characterize ideas they disagree with as “dangerous,” such that others fear for their reputations if they are to articulate their honest beliefs.

Engaging in political discussions can be tricky at any dinner table, but talking about their political views in class can be a similarly turbulent experience for students to navigate. Intending to create a safe space for Riverdale students to express their political beliefs, Riverdale’s Open Society activity is a student-led discussion group that promotes civil discourse. Junior Leo Nir, a leader of the Open Society club, describes that they create this judgment-free zone by “making clear and setting as a parameter for all of their discussions that students are entitled to their views and should be respectful of different opinions.” The group’s discussion topics span everything from taxes to voting laws. Senior Luke Durkin, another leader of Riverdale’s Open Society, detailed the importance of not making disagreements personal. He explains, “what is so cool about Open Society is that students can have intense political debates at one moment and then walk out of the room as friends laughing about how badly the Giants played their last game.”

The classroom is a different story. As Durkin explains, “Students often self- censor themselves because they do not want to go against what they know their teacher thinks.” Durkin thinks that since students feel this way, they simply regurgitate what they grasp is the teacher’s view, instead of articulating their original contributions in class discussions. Nir elaborated that since “most Riverdale [community members] lean to the left, students often feel like any right-of-center opinion is not welcome in the classroom.” Though those views tend to reflect the minority of the Riverdale student body, Durkin still views them as very important. “If students do not know the other side of an issue, how can they know if they really agree with their view?” he remarked. Sophomore Joel Grayson, a member of the Student Faculty Council, agrees that “to exclude one side's opinion is misrepresenting the issue.”

Fear of sharing one’s political beliefs when they are in the minority leads to a cycle where students become entrenched in their views and never hear the other side of the argument, which Nir says “reduces their critical thinking.” Nir explained, “teachers should explain that there is more than one view [of], or approach, to a certain issue, especially if they are simultaneously sharing their own view with the class, since this lets students know that there is no ‘correct’ view.” Acknowledging that there are multiple perspectives on polarizing issues and describing them, as occurs in Open Society discussions, can empower students to speak their minds. “This prevents students from feeling like they are on the fringe,” as Durkin put it. 

Outside of the classroom, Nir thinks that peers are more likely to share their real views with their classmates instead of in front of a teacher, since “true friends try to understand each other and should not have to worry about their friend implying that their view on a particular issue means that they are a bad person.” Despite the worry students feel in expressing themselves inside the classroom, Grayson describes, “[Riverdale’s Statement on] Campus Discourse… protects those with differing opinions and encourages students and teachers to listen to and respect their beliefs.” As expressed by Riverdale’s policy on Campus Discourse, classrooms are supposed to be hubs for critical thinking, not places where students fear self-expression.