The Effect of Politics on Community and Classroom Experience

How do you feel politics affect the connection between the community and classrooms of Ohio Wesleyan University? Students and faculty were asked that very question to understand how politics affects the world around us.

“As a PG major, politics are everything,” said MiKayla Boyd, a junior student at Ohio Wesleyan University. “Very few things that can’t be considered political.”

Boyd feels politics should be involved in OWU classrooms, saying it would help with the heavy misinformation happening all over the world because of social media.

 When asked about politics in the classroom, Boyd said that even if people have different perspectives, it is important to acknowledge and respect it. However, she feels that when acknowledging them, we need to be careful when those same perspectives preach intolerance.

“I think the big problem with allowing politics in the classroom is that it gets too opinionated and too many people are afraid to share their own beliefs because of how people will feel about them,” says Josh Gates, a senior psychology major.

Gates feels that even though having conversations about politics in the classroom is important, it can become a problem. Gates said people nowadays have become so opinionated about what side they choose when discussing politics that it breeds fear in people to not fully express how they feel about the topic, which he thinks can apply to Ohio Wesleyan’s campus.

“Politics, whether we like it or not, will affect interrelationships,” says Dr. Brianna Mack of the Political Science Department at Ohio Wesleyan University.

Dr. Mack said politics should be in OWU classrooms and that would help with achieving bipartisanship between the political parties. When asked about current policies being pushed about politics in classrooms, she said, “You’re (politicians) trying to push your policies through the guise of apoliticism.” 

Overall, it seems as though OWU students and faculty feel as though politics are crucial when it comes to teaching and learning. Regardless of political affiliation, people around campus feel that discussing politics could eventually lead to understanding others’ perspectives and striving toward bipartisanship.