Honors College: A Philosophical Analysis

Before I begin this essay, I want to make a couple of things clear. For one, I am a Republican. That being said, I am a fairly moderate Republican. Moreover, I am a huge proponent of bipartisanship and enjoy hearing ideas from the opposite side. I love to debate and someday want to become a lawyer and perhaps also a politician. A major problem with political discourse today is our increasing inability to actively listen and respond to the other side in a proper manner. I believe such an inability is at the core of the increasing polarity and gridlock akin to our present political system. Thus, I ask that you keep these statements in mind when reading what I have to say, and understand that I too am a member of the Honors College. I make these

I have taken two Honors College classes: Honors 105 and Honors 251. In both of these classes, the professors have asserted their liberal views while also aiming to promote bipartisanship. However, I feel they have fallen short of this goal as a vast majority of the readings for each of these classes have come from notably left-leaning sources such as The Huffington Post, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. While there is nothing wrong with assigning such readings, the problem arises when few readings on the other end of the political spectrum appear. The problem here is that bipartisanship cannot be present if you are mostly being exposed to one side of the issue. Though the other side may be brought up in class discussions, the lack of conservative readings creates a gap in a comprehensive understanding of the issues. To clarify, I would be equally dissatisfied with the lack of information if I were only assigned conservatively-biased sources, in that such exposure cannot constitute a strong argument. This lack of information inherently cannot lead to the informed discourse we desperately

We were scared to speak. Honors classes and the Minton honors dorm were dominated by discussions of how the nation was doomed and electing Trump was insane because Hillary won the popular vote and the polls all said she was going to win and the Republicans have just lost their minds and they are all unintelligent and racist and sexist and how could they do this? Trump supporters were suffocated by the disapproval of the other side. Simply stating you were a Republican triggered the onset of an attack, no matter your views within the party or who you voted for in the election. One friend of mine did not even want to go on social media out of fear of the anti-Republican sentiment she would encounter. Another student with Trump stickers on his car found it vandalized with anti-Trump slanders after the election. At this point in time, the liberal bias and unwillingness to tolerate other views had a very negative effect for the more conservative