Editor’s note: At School News Network, we believe that to truly tell the stories that need to be told, we should first and foremost elevate students’ ideas, opinions and experiences. This spring, we spoke with a panel of 10 high-schoolers from nine of the districts we cover — urban, suburban and rural — to get their thoughts on what high school, and everyday life, is like for them.
This is the fourth installment of six parts of our conversation; this interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Part 1: What is high school like for you?
Part 2: How much do mental-health stressors complicate the high-school experience?
Part 3: Do you feel safe at school?
All districts — In 2025, everything is political. At least, that’s how it feels sometimes for us adults, as we navigate government funding uncertainties, contentious school board meetings, tariffs, social media arguments and more.
We wanted to know: Do today’s high-schoolers feel the same sort of political tensions in their everyday lives? Is an underlying climate of divisiveness affecting their school experiences at all? Their answers, and their insights, may surprise you.
SNN: There’s a lot going on politically in our country right now, with a lot of divisiveness and uncertainty. How is the political climate affecting (or not affecting) you personally and/or your school experience?
Cody, junior: “I feel like our school is so diverse, and because of that, we’re all towards the same side of the spectrum. There’s not very much divisiveness over it. (Many) just don’t care enough about it either. It’s nice that most of us are on the same page, so there’s not much argument about it.”
Jackson, junior: “I feel like I just don’t hear that much about politics at school; it’s just not something that comes up every day.”
Ella, senior: “With the students, no one really talks about (politics). But I have had a few classes (affected by it). One example comes to mind: We had to write an essay on what stance you took on masks when COVID was a thing — if you think they work, or if they don’t. And we had teachers that would grade based off of what side you took. I took the side of wearing them, because there were way more links on (the effectiveness of masks) and thought that would be easier. I failed it. (Then I) flipped what way I looked at it (in the essay) and passed. (This teacher) has said some outrageous things in class. There’s a few other teachers, too, where you can totally tell, by the way they teach or the way they talk, where they stand (politically). And I’m just like … you can decide outside of school how you feel, but here it’s not (OK).”
Jackson, junior: “Yeah, if we’re talking about politics in government (class), our teachers come in and say, ‘Hey, we’re not going to grade you on the side you take,’ or, ‘We’re not going to grade you on what you say; we’re going to grade you on how you say it.’”
Ella, senior: “Yeah, that’s how it should be, always.”
Anari, senior: “Thinking back about what Cody said, my school has a lot of diversity too … and having that many people from different backgrounds all together, I never hear about politics, but I do hear jokes. Like, ‘ICE is coming to get you.’ Like, it’s talked about, but at the same time, it’s not talked about. And the teachers, they’re very biased; they just don’t say their preferences because they’re not allowed to.”
Andrew, senior: “They’re definitely not supposed to, but it definitely is obvious. When I took AP Government, my teacher was like, ‘I lean to the left more, and pretty extreme left.’ And I was like, oh, that’s good to know. So he taught it from the extreme left perspective, and it was nasty. … I feel like when teachers get into (politics), it just takes away from the students’ connection.”
Ellison, senior: “I come from a fairly not-diverse school, so I don’t hear a whole lot, especially having followed the election. It’s been essentially radio silence at my school about politics and stuff. I’m not taking any history classes this year, but I did take AP Government my freshman year, and I remember my teacher tried his absolute best to be completely non-partial to anything. He basically just taught from the textbook, very straightforward about it. And I really enjoyed the structure of that class. I thought it was fantastic. So many of my own political views have come from that class — just what I learned from the textbook, and the history of politics and government and how it works. I feel like school should always be a place where you are coming in open-minded and (where) you are able to form your own beliefs based on actual information that you’re learning. It shouldn’t be biased. You shouldn’t have to have information given to you to lean on, because otherwise, you’re not going to be able to make those decisions for yourself.”
Erin, senior: “My school’s very non-diverse, too, and everyone just kind of repeats what their parents tell them, so nobody comes in with an open mind. When we were in AP Government and we had to debate issues like abortion and gun violence and stuff, it just turned into a big argument, because nobody was willing to listen to anyone else.”
Andrew, senior: “Yeah, that (not listening) has become such a key issue. After the election I posted this really nice story (on social media) like, ‘Whether your party lost or won, let’s just keep on moving.’ … Right after that, I received a lot of hate. … A lot of people are just shutting down and not communicating anymore, and it really just hurts because I wasn’t even posting that out of hate or any stance.”
Jadon, junior: “That’s the thing — it’s one side or the other. … I care (about political issues) because it still affects me even though I can’t vote. But the fact that you now can’t be friends with someone different than you — that doesn’t make any sense. The whole point of America is you can have these decisions, you can choose for yourself. But now it’s become, ‘If you don’t choose my way, I hate you; I can’t talk to you.’”
Jackson, junior: “I’ll even bring in the AP Government term: political polarization. People just can’t be friends. People are so extreme to one side or the other that nobody can agree in the middle, which is needed to work things out. And the extremes are too extreme.”
Cody, junior: “Basically, school and politics should not go together.”
Zoe, junior: “I don’t really hear about (politics) in school, except when I’m in history. My history teacher connects stuff that used to happen to (what’s happening) now, but in my other classes, it’s never brought up. But everyone’s posting stuff. … I guess I see it more on social media than I do in the classroom. And then some people will say, like, ‘You can’t say that because that person is on that side, so keep your voice down.’”
Chay’ce, junior: “I’m on my school’s board for their (student) representative; a lot of the time recently when I’m there, there’s a portion where it gets kind of heated and really sensitive. The past few months has all been about DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) in the Department of Education, and so there’s been a lot of financial and ethics things that have been (discussed) with that. It might not be talked about a lot in school, but I think definitely on the higher level, it gets pretty intense. I don’t go to a very diverse school, but we also have a leader of diversity and inclusion, and when the DEI is shut down, that cuts her funding that our school gets for her. So now they’re deciding whether they want to get rid of her or not, but then that’s going to cause an uprising of panic with the parents who are from diverse backgrounds at my school. So, I do think it can get kind of hectic for, like, superintendents and principals.”
Read more from our districts:
• Superintendent: ‘Who we are’ is rooted in diversity, equity and inclusion
• Rep. Scholten weighs in on national issues affecting local schools
