Comfort Levels with Civil Discourse at Laurel

May 15th, 2019

Written by - Katherine Casesse '21

This data attempts to establish a relationship between having certain political ideologies and the comfort level of expressing them at Laurel. There seems to be a strong connection between identifying with more conservative beliefs and being less comfortable with expressing these beliefs. For example, the green portion of each bar represents the percent of total respondents in each affiliate group who identify as “very comfortable” expressing their beliefs. As we examine increasingly conservative members of our community, responses in this camp decrease. In a similar manner, the blue bar models those who identify as “uncomfortable” expressing their beliefs. No respondents who identified as either “very liberal” or “liberal” identified this way, but this camp grows as we look at increasingly conservative students.

One limitation of this data is that I received unequal numbers of responses for each political identifier. Each portion of the bar models the percent of total respondents, but the groups with fewer respondents are more likely to not accurately represent the feelings of the whole group.

Ultimately, as a school we should acknowledge that this problem exists in our community and negatively affects all of our experiences. Conservatives who feel uncomfortable are denied the equal chance to participate in discourse at Laurel. For liberals, Laurel’s environment is liable to become an echochamber. They are less likely to think critically about their own beliefs and they are less able to practice ‘agreeing to disagree.’ Furthermore, all of us as a community are responsible for fixing this situation.

Here are a few of my personal suggestions:

• For conservatives: if you are confident in your beliefs, please speak up in discussions! Hearing another voice may empower others who feel less comfortable to do so as well.

• For liberals: be sensitive to how others may feel in this environment we’ve cultivated. If a discussion is becoming one-sided (even if you agree with the side), point it out! Invite dissent.

• For the community as a whole: never attack anyone for their informed belief. The process of questioning and debating benefits the whole community but sometimes students can go too far and turn political disagreements into personal disputes or claim that there is a single "right way to think."

Thanks to everyone who responded to the survey! As a school community, let’s work on ensuring that every student, regardless of ideology, feels “very comfortable” expressing their beliefs.