Politics in Assembly Hall

Whether internal, local or national, it has become clear to me over the past two-and-a-half years that politics is a huge aspect of Exeter life. I am proud that our student body is more politically active than most high schools and that many of our teachers publicly stand for whatever political or social causes they are passionate about. I, myself, am an incredibly political person who is almost always excited to talk with family and friends about my opinions and current events. Nonetheless, it is time for Exeter to take a break from politics in the Assembly Hall.

The strong majority of the assemblies this year have been left-wing speakers with an obvious political agenda. It seems that no matter what topic a speaker is discussing, politics sneaks its way into the conversation and quickly begins to take over. When Lourdes Ashley Hunter came to our school, she was expected to talk about what many view as a political topic: issues within the trans women of color community. Though the words haven’t been used by faculty (as expected), the whole event quickly turned into Ms. Hunter white bashing, so to speak.

I recognize that Ms. Hunter’s identity struggles are far greater than I—a white, straight, male—could possibly imagine. That still does not excuse what happened on MLK Day. Although no assembly speaker in the three years I have been here has been as disrespectful and hate-filled as she was, her talk should have served as a wake up call that we not only need to vet our speakers better but also consider that maybe it’s time that Exeter cools down on the political stuff.

Exeter assemblies may have become the least educational part of life here; education is not about memorizing equations or learning new facts, it is about seeing different perspectives on the same issues.

This does not mean that we have to stop talking about political issues altogether, as that would not be healthy for our community. We just need to have a variation of speakers with a variation of opinions. Fellow students have stopped coming to assembly altogether because of how single-minded our speakers are.

Exeter assemblies may have become the least educational part of life here; education is not about memorizing equations or learning new facts, it is about seeing different perspectives on the same issues. Exeter is a place with so much diversity that it would be a shame if we continued to talk about the same topics with people who share the same point of view.

I would propose that we have more assemblies on things that have nothing to do with politics. For example, I believe it would be beneficial to have more speakers that talk about STEM related topics, mental health or even religion. Last Friday's assembly about a young man who died of an opioid overdose, left everyone in the crowd silent in sadness and in thought. That assembly, an exception to the recent trend of politicized talks, had a standing ovation and was perhaps more powerful than any other assembly this year.

Some of the best assemblies that we have had, in my opinion, have touched on scientific topics or health-related issues. I remember my prep or lower year, we had an oncologist deliver an assembly about his observations and studies on why certain people with specific character traits survive or live longer through the final stages of cancer. A few years ago we had someone from a major tech company come in and talk about the future of artificial intelligence. Dan Brown talked about the intersection of artificial intelligence and organized religion. While our school does not have a religious affiliation, I think that learning more about different religions and cultures would be great for our community. There are just so many important, interesting conversations that our school could be having that we are not.

When we do discuss politics at Exeter, we need to have liberals, centrists and, yes, right-wing conservatives. That might be a scary few words for some Exonians because of our expectancy for left-wing speakers, but we need a wider spectrum of political viewpoints.

And it’s not just me. So many students want to see issues from other perspectives. This year, students had the ability to cast a vote on which assembly speaker they would most like to see again.

The most popular speaker to walk on our stage was, no doubt, conservative New York Times columnist Ross Douthat. Mr. Douthat came back to Exeter to speak about political issues from a more conservative point of view, and the crowd went wild. If we are to be the best high school in the country, we need to start exposing ourselves to not only different opinions but also topics that we never even thought to think about.