When the Conservative Student Organization hung flyers around the school to publicize its creation in 2007, most of the flyers were ripped down by the next day. In the prominently liberal environment of South, conservative students have to fight to have their views represented.
Senior Mika Braginski founded the Conservative Student Organization, known as the CSO, to give students in this minority a place to discuss their views. “I thought the CSO would encourage political diversity and more rich discussions on political issues,” Braginski said.
History teacher and CSO faculty advisor Paul Estin, who describes himself as “libertarian,” said he understands that “it can sometimes be difficult to have a minority viewpoint when political conversations do occur.”
Wanting to help conservative students, along with other students who don’t fit in to the majority liberal party, he agreed to be the CSO advisor. “I thought the club was a good idea and I say half-jokingly, I'm the closest thing to a conservative in the [History] department.”
Though the CSO provides an after-school forum for discussion and debate, conservative students still struggle to escape the uncomfortable conversations that arise in classrooms.
“Being a minority, you have to argue your points, because there are certain things about minorities that everyone assumes,” Braginsksy said. “The most irritating thing about it is that there are some history teachers who are prone to putting their political views into their teaching.”
History teacher Jamie Rinaldi, however, believes that talking about politics with his students is a valuable way of teaching. While acknowledging many views, Rinaldi tries to minimize student discomfort by making it “clear that the subject is opinionated, [and] that an opposing view is OK.”
Estin uses a similar strategy. “In the classroom, I like to get my biases in the open, whenever they're relevant, but I try to stress that students should feel free to speak their minds,” he said.
History teacher Deborah Linder, whose political views “lean to the left,” also tries to make her classroom a place where students feel comfortable discussing their opinions. “I let [my students] know the perspective from which I’m teaching so they can realize I have a bias and I’m open to other opinions,” she said. “I let them know that my way is not always the right way,” she said.
Junior David Melly, leader of the Liberal Student Union at South, thinks that conservative students can benefit from being in the liberal environment of South. “Because they are the minority opinion [here], they are challenged to have support and evidence to back up their opinions.”
Braginsky is eager to take on this challenge.“It can be difficult if I’m one of the few people making an argument against many people, [but] I sort of enjoy that,” Braginski said.
But Sophomore Jessica Shrayber finds the challenge of defending her minority beliefs less enjoyable. During history class discussions, “I’m one of the few on the Republican side and I’m always arguing for that side,” she said. “A lot of people are negative about what I say and say negative comments to me.”
Linder tries to make students like Shrayber feel that their views are respected in her class, and also tries to balance out the ratio of conservative views to liberal views. “Sometimes it’s fun to play devil’s advocate,” she said. “Too often in Newton schools it’s the side not taken.”
According to Braginski, conservatives at South suffer not only from occasional misrepresentation in the classroom, but also from indirect ridicule. “I have never been mocked directly because of my political view,” she said. “But when we put up flyers for the CSO, people have written disrespectful things on them.”
Conservative senior James Terech, who moved to Newton from Texas two years ago, believes that the liberalism at South can be a good thing for conservatives like himself, as it helps him keep an open mind on politics. “I’ve changed my views a lot … I’ve been a lot more open, a lot less narrow-minded since I moved here,” he said.
Freshman Jake Medoff, a self-described “neutral conservative,” also feels that he has benefited from the political scene at South. “There is not any discrimination at all, which is a good thing,” Medoff said. “I don’t feel that it is that difficult being conservative.”
South faculty who do not associate with the liberal party are faced with challenges as well.
“I don't often have the option to simply chip in a viewpoint and be done with it; more often, I have the choice between remaining silent, and giving implicit agreement, or having a full-fledged argument, which I may not be in the mood for,” Estin said.
All political differences aside, conservative and liberals alike value the importance of education.
“The most important thing is to be informed,” Melly said.
Linder agreed. “I love having well-informed conservative students in class — it makes the class a better place for both [conservative and non-conservative] students.”
