For teenagers, talking about the election can feel a little taboo, said Jimmy Gallivan.
“I definitely see talk about it and stuff like that, but I think a lot of students feel afraid. Like, if I speak out about my opinions in such a divisive environment, what are the consequences going to be?” said the 17-year-old senior in Somers, N.Y. “One side is going to completely disagree with you most of the time. It’s a lot of—almost—fear, in a sense.”
Most students today likely can’t remember a presidential election that wasn’t steeped in divisiveness, personal attacks, and identity politics that can feel frightening for those from marginalized backgrounds. And this year, the election is occurring at a time when many schools are discouraged from having tough conversations in class, as 18 states have passed legislation or other policies prohibiting teachers from talking about “divisive concepts.” More than half of teachers said they don’t plan on talking about the election in their classes, partly because they worry students wouldn’t be respectful of each other, or that parents will complain.
It’s not that students aren’t politically engaged. Researchers have seen students continue to organize and advocate: They’ve staged walkouts for gun violence and have organized protests around mental health, reproductive rights, and police brutality. The number of young people likely to vote is increasing, according to survey data. The student press also grapples with national dialogue, experts say.
But more young people are reluctant to discuss politics, researchers say, especially without a space to safely navigate those discussions in such a polarized environment. Compounding the fear of speaking out is a general sense of weariness for some students who feel like they can’t affect national politics—particularly in the White House.
Jimmy said he thinks his peers feel “tired.”
“I think as a student, sometimes it’s a little tiring because we can’t vote yet,” Jimmy said. “For me at least, I want to focus on my academics, I want to make sure I’m learning a lot, I’m doing well in my classes—friends, community, joining clubs and stuff. For such a large divisive issue to come along, it’s a little hard, because it’s something we have to balance on top of everything else that already is happening in our lives.”
Without the traditional avenue for civic participation like voting, the presidency can feel unmovable, said Heather Kennedy, a professor of community and behavioral health at the Colorado School of Public Health.
“The heartbeat of America right now is this political contest and it’s quite stressful, even as an adult with the ability to vote, the ability to have action,” Kennedy said. “I think apathy, to me, is a form of protection for young people, that they protect themselves by keeping this political race at a longer distance.”
Researchers say students are more reluctant to weigh in
Zoe Logan—a 17-year-old senior in Ada, Okla., whose home state passed one of the first “divisive concepts” bill limiting how educators can discuss race and sexuality in the classroom—said the election hasn’t come up much in school from her teachers.
“They kind of have to walk on eggshells about what they talk about. The election’s kind of a touchy subject,” she said. “I hear what kids say, and I’m assuming it’s mainly what they’re hearing at home.”
As the child of a teacher—and an aspiring teacher herself—she thinks these conversations are scary for teachers everywhere. Still, Zoe said, she thinks the election should be talked about in school.
“It feels like we’re almost kind of stuck,” she said.
In the blue state of Washington, high school senior Gavin Cruz said his Advanced Placement Government and Politics class in Olympia has delved into the election cycle, and he said the school allows for open dialogue. It’s up to students to be as outspoken as they want—and many aren’t because they don’t want to be judged, he said.
Gavin, who is 18 and plans to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris next week, said he thinks students should be politically active even if they can’t vote in this election.
“The community of tomorrow starts with the ideas of today,” he said. “Although I’m a registered voter, and I’m happy to be one, you don’t have to be 18 to speak out about your ideas.”
Survey data on college students have shown that they’re reluctant to express political opinions, said Jonathan Zimmerman, professor of education and history at the University of Pennsylvania. There’s no reason to imagine it’d be different for younger students, he said.
He empathizes with young people’s hesitance to speak out: There was no social media when he was a teenager. He didn’t have to worry about anything he said or wrote suddenly being broadcast to an audience of thousands—or millions—who might disagree.
One study, published this spring by the Institute of Politics from the Harvard Kennedy School, found that one-third of college students are uncomfortable sharing their political opinions. Between the Barack Obama and Donald Trump presidencies, the number of students with that concern increased significantly, but the trend has stabilized in the last seven years, according to the study.
Another survey, conducted last fall by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a nonpartisan organization that defends free speech, found that more than a quarter of students (26 percent) censor themselves at least a few times a week in conversations with friends.
“There’s no doubt there’s some self-censorship at work,” Zimmerman said about high schoolers’ reluctance to discuss politics.
But it’s imperative for schools to tackle these conversations, he said. A recent report from the American Historical Association found that nearly half of high school U.S. history teachers never received objections to the way they teach, meaning there’s room to have such conversations, he added.
“Schools are supposed to teach us to talk across our differences,” Zimmerman said. “It’s precisely because the differences are so yawning, so gaping, so angry, that the schools are afraid to do what they should be doing.”
Creating a space where tough conversations can be had
That’s not to say no schools are grappling with the election. At Rogers Park Middle School in Danbury, Conn., students are gearing up for a mock presidential election after all three grades took a class in understanding the government, said Principal Kristy Zaleta. They’ve interviewed local candidates running for office for a school podcast. They’ve learned what democracy is, what qualifications you need to run for office, and what the electoral college is.
“I think our teachers do a nice job at letting kids speak; we can disagree about things but we disagree agreeably. You have to let people speak, but also question: Why do you think that?” Zaleta said. “We’re really just coming at it from an educational standpoint, where the more you know, the better decisions you can make and the more of a critical thinker you can be.”
Kennedy, the Colorado researcher, said it’s important to create a “container” where young people feel like their perspectives can be held and challenged, where they can be wrong, where they can learn.
“Without that container, political conversations in a very politically divisive society can cause harm,” she said. “I think it’s important that adults who seek to engage young people in political conversations first create the container, and the trust, that is needed to be able to navigate those conversations with care and intentionality.”
In her work, she’s coached adults on how to create group agreements for students before they head into tough conversations—having students imagine that there are two different perspectives that are going to be discussed, and determine how they can keep each other safe, how they can hear each other, and what to do if they disagree.
“If adults facilitate that conversation well, they have a playbook designed by young people on how to engage in conversations in ways that can honor everybody’s perspectives, with a ‘seeking to understand’ lens,” Kennedy said.
