In recent years, political divides, sensationalized media, and algorithm-driven content have intensified ideological tensions in classrooms, fostering an atmosphere where diverse viewpoints are increasingly discouraged. The polarization manifests in debates over curriculum content, teaching methods, and the avoidance of controversial topics, leading to a fear associated with sharing ideas.
As students and educators become more entrenched in their opinions, opportunities for collaborative learning and the development of critical thinking diminish. The essay further explores how polarization affects faculty relationships, curriculum standards, and teacher training, highlighting the challenges faced by educators in navigating these divides. The rise of cancel culture, biased media portrayals, and social media algorithms contribute to the deepening divide, exacerbating confirmation bias and limiting exposure to diverse perspectives. Ultimately, this polarization undermines the educational process, preventing students from engaging meaningfully with the world around them and hindering societal progress.
A growing divide has emerged in classrooms across the world, exhibiting political and ideological tensions that hinder the quality of education that students receive. From contentious debates over curriculum choices to the fear of interacting with and discussing their thoughts with their peers, the effects of polarization in today’s society are undeniable, especially within education. Throughout the past decade, polarization in the classroom has become more insecable, driven by sensationalized media coverage, political divides, and algorithm-driven content. These factors, along with the growing reliance on Artificial Intelligence by both students and teachers in education, are creating an environment where diverse viewpoints are not only discouraged but often silenced.
Polarization in education is an extreme divide in opinions, beliefs, and values amongst students, staff, and institutions, to the point where opinion sharing is discouraged and various topics that may be sensitive or cause a spur are avoided. The divide created through polarization is exhibited in various ways, including differing views on curriculum and content taught, teaching methods, topics being discussed, and lack of open opinion sharing in fear of upsetting or offending others, as well as being scared to be viewed as incorrect.
According to an article by Miranda Dabney and U.S. Representative Kevin Hern, polarization in schools often leads to a discontinuous learning environment, making collaborative learning, opinion sharing, and diversity of perspectives difficult to incorporate. As students and faculty become increasingly engrossed in their opinions, the exposure to different ideas and constructive dialogue diminishes. Moreover, impacting the quality of education and the development of critical thinking skills within these students.
In the classroom, polarization is seen and worked around in several ways. Ideological divides are filtering through schools, with debates raging over what should be taught and how it should be presented. Cultural and racial beliefs, as well as tensions, have also become critical issues in schools, as students, families, and faculty clash over diversity and inclusion policies and curriculum.
School boards now commonly find themselves fighting for and responding to new policies about topics like LGBTQ+ rights, race, religion, technology allowance, and sex education. These divisions not only affect students’ and faculties’ relationships with one another but also shape how educators approach controversial topics as well as curriculum, often resulting in missing or skipping topics to avoid upsetting, angering, or causing any conflict with or between students.
For faculty, polarization can lead to conflicts both between colleagues and in the curriculum. Furthermore, making it difficult to implement different educational strategies and policies within the classroom. Polarization can also cause stress and burnout as teachers have to try and navigate division within a classroom without offending anyone. A study was run by a group of postgraduate students with doctorates focusing on mental health and the studies of social behavior. showed the increase of stress and burnout amongst teachers in correlation to the coronavirus disease 2019 and the increased reliance and usage of media for information and entertainment that came from that time period.
The authors state, “[W]hen only clinically meaningful (moderate to severe) psychological conditions among teachers were considered, the prevalence of burnout ranged from 25.12% to 74%, stress ranged from 8.3% to 87.1%, and anxiety ranged from 38% to 41.2%. The correlates of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression identified in this review include socio-demographic factors and school (organizational) and work-related factors.”
According to education author Rick Hess, increases of anxiety, stress, and burnout that comes from these events are important because it directly affects the community due to the changes in curriculum and degree that topics are discussed in order to keep everyone in the classroom satisfied. The outcome of these curriculum changes and lack of in-depth discussion results in scholars with less diverse perspectives who also lack critical thinking skills to an extent, creating distrust and a lack of fully harnessed potential within a community.
The lack of harnessed potential can be detrimental to a community in the long run, as it is these scholars who are the future of many communities. The lack of the application of critical thinking is so major because it is a lifelong skill that helps them further grow off of and analyze other ideas to gain insight and succeed, making it an important skill to nurture.
Political polarization has played a significant role in shaping the approach to education at a collegiate level. The effects of political divides are visible in changes to university policies, curriculum standards, and teacher training. Many colleges and universities have dropped professors or discontinued courses due to political pressures or the need to cater to certain ideological groups and certain faculty not meeting the criteria to do so. Specifically in the medical field, professors who hold controversial or nonmainstream views may find themselves forced to leave their positions and, in some instances, even get degrees from decades ago revoked due to misconceived language and terminology used within the classroom to teach subjects.
As well as opinionated comments made on the state of our society including government, power, inflation, and education standard changes, at least according to researchers Christine Cassel and Cheryl Maurana. The realm of polarization is growing by the day. It is affecting the lives of many and creating an undeniable rift within our society. One that is corrupting the education system, careers, and how items are sourced.
The importance of recognizing and combating polarization in education lies in its effects on students, staff, and the community. Students may feel uncomfortable expressing their views or engaging in discussions due to polarization, which creates a hostile learning environment. Students may not read certain books, get to discuss or understand issues from multiple perspectives to understand the whole of the issue, and not learn about other cultures. The reason the rift in polarization keeps growing is because it is continuously being fostered because there is a fear of losing jobs, being slandered, and or canceled circling around the community.
People often foster polarization in attempts to keep the classroom, or any workspace for that matter, neutral so they will not say anything offensive or discuss something people do not agree with in order to protect themselves from these fears, Miranda Dabney and U.S. Representative Kevin Hern continued. Due to this, both students’ and teachers’ academic and personal growth can be hindered due to them missing out on the benefits of diverse perspectives, constructive ideas, and collaborative learning. The barriers that polarization is creating could be detrimental to education.
Rick Hess cites that major issue that lies along the effects of polarization is a decrease in critical thinking skills among students. When students are exposed to a singular side of an argument, they are losing the opportunity to critically engage, see things from differing viewpoints, and use other ideas and perspectives to construct and build upon their own.
This is diminishing the ability of students to engage with others as well as the world around them in a meaningful way, further extending societal divisions. These divisions make it increasingly difficult to solve problems and come up with solutions for issues within our society, as collaboration is lessening due to the difficulty and fear subsided with sharing opinions on events.
The impact of political polarization is also evident in the changes to curriculum standards within schools. In some cases, ideological divides have led to the inclusion or exclusion of certain topics based on political agendas. For example, in some parts of the United States, debates over the teaching of critical race theory have resulted in state legislation mandating the addition and removal of certain content from the school curriculum. A major example of this being how Louisiana, the first state to do so, is now requiring public schools to post the Ten Commandments within the classroom. This is leading to further political and spiritual beliefs divides and increasing polarization in the classroom setting because it is alienating these diverse beliefs within the classroom. Even Christians and Jews are against this ruling.
As Jeffrey K. Salkin, a highly respected Jewish author, stated, “This is a violation of the establishment clause of the Constitution, which forbids the government from establishing an official religion. It also specifies that the government must neither promote nor inhibit religion. In this particular instance, the religion in question just happens to be mine. This does not make me feel better.”
This law is furthering the ostracization of various religions as it is disregarding their beliefs, and forcing exposure of one similar belief onto all of these students, taking away from part of their diversity. Similarly, changes in teacher training programs may prioritize certain political beliefs or social issues, which influences how future educators approach complex topics. Political parties and their stances on key issues such as abortion, women’s rights, race, sexuality, religion, and gender often drive the conflict in education. These issues have become deeply politicized, and schools have become battlegrounds between differing opinions and ideologies, finding which idea reigns superior rather than celebrating and involving the differences and diversities that make each individual unique.
Cancel culture, the media, and everyday social media play a major role in polarization. First, the media plays an important role in the public’s perception of education. The way education is portrayed in the media often shapes how the public views it. Media outlets, both traditional and digital, often sensationalize educational issues. This is mainly done to attract more viewers and or readers. They do this by focusing on important topics in a society, like education, media outlets can create a sense of urgency and importance; often through over simplifying or exaggerating issues. This leads to a skewed perception of educational problems and contributes to polarization by presenting one-sided views that often fall into a similar political realm to theirs. It is through the portrayal of education that the vast majority of opinions are formed. Sensationalism is how many opinions and possible negative connotations and perceptions regarding education, teachers, and curriculum stir from.
News sources have the tendency to be biased and twist items a certain way, creating stronger opinions within the viewers, this is oftentimes done to reinforce the news companies own beliefs and biases. An article by Brian Soika stated that the creation of confirmation bias, the tendency to favor information that confirms pre-existing beliefs, and brush off contradictory evidence, is achieved by news outlets highlighting certain facts, using emotionally charged language, or framing stories in a way that will draw attention to, and help support their viewpoint.
Soika continued to point out the rise of algorithm driven content in social media has added to the furthation of polarization. Algorithms on platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Tik Tok are designed to maximize engagement by promoting content that aligns with users’ existing beliefs; which is what confirmation is all about. This creates confirmation bias, where students are mainly exposed to viewpoints that reinforce their preconceptions, deepening their opinions.
As a result of algorithms, extremist views are often more visible within society, while more moderate or balanced perspectives are sidelined. Due to the one-sided viewpoints algorithm-driven content has created, it has become increasingly difficult to create an environment where different viewpoints can coexist and be discussed. This further reinforces confirmation bias among students, as they are constantly exposed to media that aligns with their beliefs and not of differing perspectives. As a result of this, algorithms contribute to polarization in education by making it harder for students to engage in critical thinking and collaborative learning, ultimately limiting students’ exposure to diversity in terms of opinions, ideas, and perspectives.
The growing polarization within education is a significant challenge that affects both the quality of learning and the development of critical thinking skills. Driven by political divides, sensationalized media, and algorithm driven content, the divide is fostering an environment where diverse viewpoints are increasingly discouraged through the closure of opinion sharing and debates within society. As seen through debates over curriculum, tensions within faculty, and the ongoing influence of social media, polarization not only diminishes the educational experience but also hinders personal growth, collaboration, and the progression as a society. The failure to embrace differing perspectives deprives students of the critical thinking skills that they need to engage with and tackle the world around them. This is ultimately undermining the purpose of education; to inform students and prepare them for the real world. To address this issue, it is essential for educators, students, and communities to encourage open dialogue, inclusivity, and foster an educational environment where diverse ideas are not just accepted, but encouraged as well. Only through this can we ensure that future generations hold the skills and perspectives necessary to navigate, bridge, and find similarity to assist them in navigating and closing the divides in a polarized world.
