In the modern day, American politics sees a two-party system that is completely separate. Both Republicans and Democrats blame each other for every issue the nation faces, with constant failures to compromise. On top of this, many adults belonging to political parties make politics a main factor of their lives. This has had a profound effect on the youth that are exposed to these passionate adults projecting political opinions or information on them from such a young age. A child should not care what is happening in the world, and should be focused on making new friends and enjoying school.
Politicizing children stunts their development and subjects them to a world view that is not the brightest in current times, as they do not fully understand government functions. Children who have political ideas projected onto them from young ages tend to be less open-minded as they grow older. Children tend to think more black and white focused rather than shades, causing them to believe their side is good and the other side is bad, and they will trust the authority figures in their life, causing them to take the side of the authority figures. The lack of tolerance will therefore result in an inability of our nation to advance, as there will be no effort to compromise.
Politicizing children can also destroy their childhoods. Children should not care about politics, and it should not be any of their business. Allowing rhetoric like usage of biased language in history books will take away from the innocence most pre-adolescents have, and will force many to mature before they are of age. Constant exposure to political conflict will increase mental health challenges such as anxiety, which would contribute to taking away the light that many children have. A world with serious children will not be a colorful one.
While Miami-Dade County “dictates” that classrooms must be impartial, this is oftentimes not the case. Classrooms are not the only place where children are exposed to political rhetoric. Social media has exploded in popularity within younger children. While children use social media, they may see videos or content creators that they interact with speaking on politics, and once they click on one video their curiosity will lead to them clicking on many more. Children tend to be more curious than they are skeptical, so they may end up finding themselves entering a political rabbit hole. This rabbit hole can also lead to radicalization, as the children do not know any better and will believe the strong ones used in videos.
This will affect the social aspect that children will begin to separate themselves from each other if they have different viewpoints. The idea of children being super friendly to one another may change as a result of politicization, therefore children may begin to argue about things they do not truly understand.
Children should not be exposed to anything complicated related to politics, and it should not play a role in any parts of their lives. Politics are something serious that adults should focus on, such opinions that can be considered strong by many should not be given to children, who do not know any better. Children should learn first about government operations in classes such as civics before they should begin to care about modern day politics. Politics should not be projected onto anyone as a whole, as it leads to people making decisions they do not fully understand. Parents, educators, and other strong influences in a child’s life should make sure that children do not get exposed to anything politically related until they are able to understand it themselves, and the government should do their job to keep politics out of classrooms. I believe it is also the job of the people to ensure that the political industry is kept away from children, by taking action themselves to destroy the economic and entertainment industry that politics has become.
