Fostering Viewpoint Diversity At Middlesex

Embracing diverse political perspectives and healthy debate can help create a more inclusive and thoughtful community

As human beings, we are all inherently biased. Every point of view and outlook has been meticulously shaped by our own personal experiences, and we are unlikely to be persuaded by a different opinion. In 2025, everybody has a personal stake in politics. It seems as if every time you align with a certain political identity, you make a claim about who you are: whether it be a good person or a bad person. 

Last year, a panel of alumni came to speak to the community about free speech. There, Joe Watkins, MSNBC political commentator, stated that “in 1990, people could say what party they were voting in without an assumption being made about their morals.” Now, this claim is widely untrue. We are so deeply committed to our own ideologies that opposition to our beliefs feels like a direct offense to who we are fundamentally. In this temperamental political climate, how can we separate ourselves from the political views with which we align?

Viewpoint diversity is baked into the foundations of Middlesex. In 1901, Robert Winsor founded Middlesex on the basis that there would be no religious affiliations, therefore allowing a wider range of beliefs and ideologies to be respected and understood by its students. In every class we take, especially the humanities, the books we read and the history we learn have been intentionally formatted in order to expose us to a variety of life experiences. Books like Their Eyes Were Watching God, Exit West, and Pride and Prejudice were all written with people of different backgrounds, experiences, and ideas in mind. But even if we as a school apply this wide-ranging ideology to our curriculum, I feel that as a whole, we fall short when it comes to inviting diversity to discussion, not just literature. 

Here's how we can fix it:

1. We can invite speakers from a broader range of political beliefs. Although Middlesex claims to hold no biases, we continually invite speakers on a more liberal end of the political spectrum. A more varied representation of opinion allows a person to challenge their beliefs in a way that will make them think more critically of how they formed their viewpoints, or maybe be privy to a completely new perspective they haven’t had before. It would also be interesting to see Middlesex host a panel of intellectuals with differing perspectives for vigorous debate—it will not only display a wide variety of opinions but also serve as a model for how to engage in healthy discourse.

2. Let’s learn to understand that disagreement is okay; in fact, it's necessary. Debate, disagreement, and discussion are fundamental in forming well-educated opinions. We as a school should integrate the art of debate more heavily into our classrooms in order to encourage students to have conversations that not only expose one to a new idea or point of view, but challenge their old ones. I’ve found that when it comes to the subject of politics, people close off, often uncomfortable with the rather tense subjects. But this is because most people haven’t learnt how to engage in political discourse that doesn’t involve irrational hostility towards one party or another, in the same way politicians behave with each other. If we normalize these discussions on a high school level, we will encourage students to set the tone for healthy debate in everyday life.

3. Media literacy is the key. Perhaps the most pivotal way to encourage viewpoint diversity is to ensure students know where to find a variety of viewpoints. Most publications and news outlets are riddled with bias and inaccuracy, so it's vital that schools teach their students how to filter out misinformation from trustworthy sources. 

While the prospect of confronting an opinion that may change your own may be daunting, it is precisely this kind of opposition to our belief system that is the most important way to create a fundamentally diverse community. The more we expose ourselves to a variety of perspectives and experiences, the easier it becomes to unlearn our biases and create a richer and more fulfilling school community. 

Kat Stephens