As I have stated in previous pieces, one of the parts I look forward to most at my senior year in a New York public high school is my AP Government class. I am a firm believer in the fact that, if approached with the right mindset, there is value in any experience. I knew this class would not only teach me some of the topics I had desired (yet never given the time) to research, but further expose me to how my peers think and where this generation is headed.
Even in the first few weeks of the course, the class has taught me that and so much more.
I usually try to avoid taking my writing down the pessimistic route, and this composition is no exception. However, it is also my duty to report what is happening among the generation that will inevitably inherit this country, and what I will learn in this class will only contribute to my work on this front.
The first few weeks of the course, we began with core values that the vast majority of Americans are said to hold as central to their identities as such. “We all agree on the core values of our country. Our differences lie in how we believe they should be implemented,” prefaced my teacher, before she opened the floor to her students. For the first few days, we discussed different issues, ranging from gun control and taxation rates to abortion and gay “marriage.” At the conclusion of every class, we would return to the same “core values,” as our teacher attempted to show us that in the end, all modern debate stemmed from these essential matters of American society.
In themselves, the “values” we were taught were not horribly biased or tinted with modernist propaganda: individualism, equality of opportunity, free enterprise, rule of law, and limited government are all meritorious causes when defined correctly. Yet, the way my peers approached them seemed inherently flawed. It occurred to me that that was precisely the problem. They have never been defined. Our American public education system has never taken the time to introduce, define, or discuss these ideals to any of its students. The first thing I learned from this experience was that from the conversation with my 24 peers, there were 24 varying definitions of every core value.
For one, I believe individualism is a means, not an end. We are born with a desire to express our own individualism for the sake of advancing the culture we all live in, using our own talents and interests to expand our shared conscience as Americans. Broadly, my peers understand individualism to be the end. They seem to believe that the objective in life is to create their own set of rules and laws by which to govern their own life, and that the means to this value is being granted government support that ensures us the ability to do whatever we may desire to do. Technically, we agree on the idea that individualism is a central tenet, yet we disagree on what it is. I would call their idea of individualism ignorantly selfish. They would call mine destructively tyrannical.
For another, I understand the principle of equality of opportunity in the way that the founders understood it. Since we are all made in the image and likeness of God, we deserve equal treatment under the law, and an equal playing field in society. Yet even then, no one is, or will ever be, truly equal, and it is not the obligation of others to provide us with their resources in pursuit of such an idea. However, a peer of mine takes equality of opportunity down a radically different path. Those who are born into less fortunate circumstances, he posits, have a right to services that would give them “equal” footing in the future. I believe we all have a right to pursue happiness. My friend seems to believe that once we exit the womb, we have a right to happiness itself. Upon realizing this, I learned a second thing from my AP Gov class. If we cannot agree on the literal definitions of the words we use, how can we possibly agree on the ideas they represent?
The answer is simple. We cannot.
This is why mischievous ideologies have been able to permeate the American conscience. In the modern public school system, we are allowed to, or (even more) explicitly taught that individualism can mean two different things to two different people. We are taught that just because a concept has been opened to debate, we are all allowed our personal interpretations of it, with no definite meaning ever truly being outlined in the end.
Now, the entire public school curriculum seems to be nothing more than a sloppy compilation of relativist buzz words.
I was told that the core values that my country’s foundation is built upon were seen by the founders as non-negotiable. Yet, as a result of what my education has attempted to teach me, how can that be true if their meanings are anything but?
If these core values were taught to have one definition, and any personal interpretation was discouraged, it would be impossible for pernicious ideologies to manifest in the minds of our young people, who remain ignorant of the baggage they still inevitably carry. My dear friend in the class would not posit the virtues of socialist ideology one minute, championing universal healthcare and “free” college for all, only to nod in agreement with the ideas of the core values of free enterprise and limited government. (Yes, that actually did happen.)
If rule of law was rigidly defined from day one, in which it alluded to the idea of societal order and separation of powers, I believe I would not have been among the few students who are in favor of the landmark SCOTUS decisions on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, or Trump v. United States.
Inherently, I am biased. If my government teacher was to ever read this, she may cringe at the fact that I am not taking the extra precautions to “drown out the noise.” In a government class, where the objective is to learn about the nearly 250-year-old political machine we call the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, which runs smoothly on the rhetoric we use every day, this sentiment makes perfect sense. However in real life, the machine would grind to a complete halt if the oil that lubricates the gears is fully extracted. I am a conservative for a reason. I believe conservatism is the correct philosophy to have when fixing any broken belts or creating a new way to work the system. I am not in the business of persuading my peers because I want everyone to think, act, and speak like me. I am passionate about bringing them over to the right side because it is exactly that. Right.
Though, this is nearly impossible to do when those peers and I do not agree on the same core values our country was built on. These, by far, have been the most important things I’ve learned in my government class so far, and it should be the most important thing any Conservative should learn before he endeavors to converse with anyone who thinks differently than he.
If we can start our conversations at the beginning and explore new ways to reach those who have never considered the real meaning of this nation’s core values, then we will witness a rapid increase in political, as well as cultural, conservatism in the public square. Yet we must stay vigilant, stay honest, stay patient, and stay hopeful.
Add comment
Comments