Academically, IHS’s reputation is strong. Socially, there is no apparent strife or conflict. On the surface, the school is cohesive and unsuspecting.
In reality, IHS is a fractured community. Events hosted by clubs rarely receive wide attendance, the stigma that they will be lame perpetuated by low turnout time and time again. School spirit is lacking to say the least, and students fail to support each other in their endeavors. This attitude could just be a symptom of teenage apathy, but the way I see it, there is another, larger cause at the problem’s core. As the gap between socioeconomic classes continues to be ever-widening, cliques are just as evident as they were in movies like Clueless. Our political parties create distinct separations between the rich, the poor, and the middle class. The tracking of honors and Regents classes has created a system in which after eighth grade, you may never see some kids again until graduation. “Wait; they still go here?” will echo in your mind after each name. The school promotes diversity, but its practices and the practices of the country at large have, perhaps inadvertently, increased homogeneity and exclusion.
Scientifically, a group that is homogeneous is not a thriving community. To be productive, a community must be abundant in species at all levels of the ecosystem. When students are tracked, they are placed in classes that likely are full of other students who come from relatively similar financial situations and backgrounds. As a result, the students’ exposure to different experiences is limited, as is their ability to empathize with those from a background that varies from their own. Rather than distributing attention evenly across grades, the school has diverted students into strata, altering the natural interactions and conversation between high school students.
The solution to many of America’s problems, politically and otherwise, must be a conversation. Conversations between socioeconomic groups are halted by tracking in high school, and this continues into adulthood. High schools are responsible not for producing ignorant adults, but for producing adults who are ignorant of the reasons for the beliefs of those around them. If high school, and in turn society, were to promote a conversation between political parties, there would be a lot more empathy in the world. No political problem is liable to be solved if there is not a give and take of sorts: a bargain or compromise. Arguments will only get a cause so far, but an attempt to understand, or at the very least respect, the opposing view is what brings about change.
When I woke up Wednesday morning after the election, what I needed most was a community. When I arrived at school that morning, I did not find what I was looking for. I had a teacher tell me that “today is not the day to have opinions,” encouraging the lack of conversation between students. I looked around and saw classmates who completely dismissed the legitimacy of Trump supporters. I saw Trump supporters who either flaunted their victory or were hesitant to even express their opinion. I can only imagine what the reaction would have been had Hillary won, and how marginalized Trump supporters would have become at IHS. I look around and see people who express the same dismay as I do, and while some acknowledge the legitimacy of the opposing side, I still see hate flooding from those who claim to preach peace. This election brought out the worst in some people, as they upheld what they viewed as “right,” but now it is time to start having conversations about the future, about how to make those who have been marginalized within both parties start to gain the rights they deserve.
At IHS, maybe the problem of school spirit runs a little deeper. In these tumultuous times we must ask ourselves: how can we play our part to help mend not only a fractured community, but a fractured country too?