Jordan Reflects on Election Cycle

After a tumultous year of divisive politics, Donald J. Trump was inaugurated last Friday as the 45th President of the United States of America. At the suggestion of Vice Principal Ronald Kim, Chair of the History Department William Jordan gave an adaptation of the meditation he read in November, reflected on his experience growing up in a lower-middle class family and the plight of blue-collar workers today. His speech also emphasized the importance of unity and community on Inauguration Day.Jordan started by sharing his life’s story telling about how his veteran father was able to provide for a household of six children through the unions and government subsidies given to their family. The relative comfort they were able to enjoy was also because of those institutions.The heart of Jordan’s assembly speech centered on blue-collar families such as his own. Throughout the election cycle, the community saw how increasingly divided the nation became as fellow American citizens began to berate and attack one another. Some at Exeter viewed Trump as a bigot—a hypocritical outsider representing the worst of American xenophobia, racism and sexism. Yet Trump’s rhetoric was overwhelmingly popular among the poor white workers who feared for their jobs and did not believe Hillary Clinton could help them. Instead of labeling all people with different ideas as enemies, Jordan emphasized the power of understanding and communication. “Politics in a democracy is about building coalitions with people you agree with on some issues but not on others and whose interests overlap here and diverge there,” he said.

“It encouraged us all to think more deeply about the struggles and challenges faced by millions of Americans.”

Jordan expressed frustration at the current political dialogue. As stated in his assembly, he believed that people have to be willing to compromise in order to accomplish anything. “In the past we were able to peel people from different sides of the political spectrum but increasingly that’s not happening,” he said. “Each party has mastered the art of keeping their members in opposition to the other side.”Jordan also found the current social groups problematic, as people tend to stick with like-minded people. “Everyone around here was shocked that Trump won; they were crying because they couldn’t believe it as everyone they knew hated Trump,” he said. In past mock-polls for the presidential and primary races, democrats won decisively. Jordan estimated that the Exeter community, including faculty and students would be upwards of 80% liberal. “We have such an imbalance. It’s problematic how we stick with like-minded people,” he said.In recent years, students at the Academy have taken more STEM courses and fewer humanities courses. Jordan estimates that the number of history courses students take exceeding their average has dropped to only half a course. “It’s a shame because I think those are the courses people need to take more of to understand the government and politics,” he said.However, not all members of the community were impressed by the content of Friday’s assembly. Prep Leah Cohen believed Jordan’s efforts to tell a personal story were not particularly effective. “I thought it was really long and he tried to tell a personal story but it did not really strike a chord with me,” she said. Upper Menat Bahnasy, although praising Jordan’s honesty, criticized his speech for putting emphasis on the wrong topic. She believed that in the face of a presidency that could potentially violate basic human rights, tertiary education is not necessarily the most pressing issue, stating, “It's hard to say that going to college is more important than children having clean water to drink.”However, most students reacted positively to Jordan’s speech. Many appreciated the opportunity to glimpse into the perspective of families from different socioeconomic backgrounds and to learn about how their difficulties influence their voting decisions. As senior and co-head of Democratic Club Ahmad Rahman said, “For the most part, Exonians come from a privileged background, so it’s interesting for most students to see a part of life that we have not thought about.”Senior Zoe Marshall agreed with Rahman’s sentiment, as she believed stories at Exeter are often one sided. “People are sick of hearing one side of the story. I like to hear about stories that do not get covered much,” she said. “A lot of people here are very wealthy so it's important for us to appreciate the perspective of lower middle class income families.”Kim thought that Jordan’s speech was comprehensive and brought things into perspective. “Mr. Jordan did a great job of explaining some of the historical and economic context of voter preference in this election,” he said. “It also encouraged us all to think more deeply about the struggles and challenges faced by millions of Americans.”Jordan’s speech came as a pleasant surprise to many students attending the assembly. Prep Cody Shimer had thought the talk was going to focus mainly on the inauguration itself, but he expressed gratitude as he believed the speech was much needed. “[His speech] had a very unifying effect and helped decrease the existing tension on campus,” he said.Prep Dawson Byrd thought Jordan’s assembly was a fair assessment of the current political climate. “It’s clear there exists a major social disconnect. This shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone,” he said. Byrd agreed with Jordan’s sentiment, saying, “opening yourself to someone, starting a genuine conversation, and resisting the urge to demonize or label are all key in achieving unity.”Senior Charis Edwards, co-head of Democratic Club, praised Jordan’s bravery in navigating through a myriad of complex topics, including not only the recent election but also the current political situation and race relations in America. “I appreciate his honesty in doing that and doing it from a very historical as well as personal perspective,” she said.Many were particularly appreciative of the end portion of the speech, during which Jordan called for students to hold open discussions and create dialogue on a divided campus. “The part that stood out to me was when he said that you should really not judge people based on who they vote for,” lower Michaela Phan said, referring to Mr. Jordan’s remark that no one is irredeemable.Likewise, Bahnasy stated that due to the assembly, a barrier had been broken and students were more willing to voice their opinions on “an awkward topic.” Edwards commended this as a step in the right direction for the administration, which had previously been criticized for being “isolationist, like they only care about the emotional responses of a certain portion of the population.”Senior and co-head of Republican Club Matthew Robbins saw value in Jordan’s overarching theme, albeit he disagreed with him on certain topics. “Although I don’t necessarily agree with his points on Trump, I think it’s good to have open discussion like Mr. Jordan pointed out,” he said. Robbins also appreciated the message as a conservative on a majority liberal campus. “The rhetoric the left use can be almost violent at times and can scare conservative opinions.”Alumni Michael McCarthy’61, who came to campus just to attend Mr. Jordan’s assembly after learning about it on the school’s website, agreed, saying in today's connected world it is important to be able to communicate with each other respectfully. “The Harkness method that we have here absolutely contributes towards developing that skill.”