With the midterm elections just behind us, candidates and volunteers have spent recent months campaigning, passing out fliers, and encouraging people to vote. It seems like political messages are everywhere, including on school campuses. At our school, the benefits of exposure to political campaigning certainly outweigh any potential harms. 

Schools, especially high schools, exist to teach us about the world and prepare us for adult life. In order to be functional adults in America we need to be able to engage with political issues adeptly, and interacting with campaigns is a good way to begin that process. Seeing political activity so close to our school gives us opportunities to engage in discussions, learn our peers’ points of view, and understand politics both locally and on a wider scale. Having access to political campaigning also teaches students how to form opinions outside of parental influences, making us better prepared for later encounters in politics. 

At the same time, we can’t ignore the debate about academic freedom. It’s difficult to determine the right balance between the preservation of our First Amendment rights and the implementation of school protections and limits. Some would argue that the goal of a school is to be an educational sanctuary where students can be shielded from potentially upsetting content, including the stressful political controversies of the outside world. However, in the current national climate, apoliticism is not really an option. With politics becoming increasingly polarized (and with human rights hanging in the balance), we will all have to learn to formulate, express, and defend our opinions. 

Living in DC, politics is something that we grow up with. Unlike many places in the U.S., this city will always have a connection to politics, and students should take advantage of this relationship to become more politically informed. Campaigning on school grounds exposes more students to political content, allowing for a new generation of people to grow interested and involved in the happenings of the world around us. •