Upper School Social Studies Department Chair Kayla Brazee has adorned her classroom with posters, covering the walls with political propaganda posters, maps, and my favorite: a print of Keith Haring’s Ignorance = Fear. I believe it’s a mantra to live by.
The Shorecrest community is well aware of the importance of Haring’s words–and the school itself provides amazing opportunities to reap the benefits of an education that dismantles ignorance. This makes one speculate whether or not Shorecrest students are self-aware enough to care about what’s happening or if they’re too ignorant to even care.
“Whether or not we’re consciously thinking about it… if something is so pervasive in our lives, so present in our lives, we might as well understand it,” said Brazee. “History is all around us.”
It’s not just history that is so integral to understanding the world around us, though the subject plays a key part in being a well-informed individual. Politics and current events matter just as much when combating ignorance.
Unfortunately, the world around us is complicated. In the digital age, misinformation, complex topics, and harrowing headlines are hammered through our brains constantly. Teenagers feel as though the weight of the world rests on their shoulders.
“I think they have a better opportunity to understand it at a place like this,” said Chair of the Visual Arts Department Charla Gaglio. “[We have] a lot of faculty members who are very much committed to sharing their understanding of history.”
Gaglio went on to say that she is sympathetic to the situation many young people find themselves in today–mired in the mounting stress of living on what seems to be a doomed planet.
“I feel for young people generationally…I think that they get a lot of information thrown at them,” Gaglio said. “They just [feel] like, ‘well, whatever’s going to happen is going to happen.’ – I hear this kind of fatalism.” It’s difficult to not choose indifference, growing up right now, and Gaglio doesn’t blame today’s youth for feeling like throwing in the towel.
Junior Betty Li experiences similar pressure. As a member of the GSI, Li considers herself informed but acknowledges the struggles as well. “It’s not like I don’t want to be aware of [current events],” Li said. “There’s just so much going on that there’s no way I can know everything.”
However, this doesn’t mean that we should give up. Despite it all, Gaglio is confident that people in this generation care. “I find them very hopeful and sweet. I mean, you saw what just happened. People just help, and they didn’t have to,” she said, referencing students who helped her unpack a rug moments prior.
“It’s rare to meet a student who is firm [in] their own beliefs. At this age, you’re so impressionable,” said Brazee. She finds reassurance in her students.
Gaglio and Brazee see care in the Shorecrest community and are confident in the abilities of the Upper School students to figure it all out. “You might not be getting involved in politics hardcore, but you’re still exposed to it,” Brazee says. “If your friends are exposed to it, or your family members, that shapes your understanding.”
I urge Upper School students to do what they can with the things they hold – to use their opportunities at Shorecrest and in life to strive against ignorance. Students should educate themselves and others about the events unfolding in our lives and communities – however daunting it may be. This is how we fight ignorance, and, in turn, fear.
“I think that [when you are] looking into the future, it’s also extremely important to have an understanding of one’s past so that you can learn from it, and so that you can see that you’re not alone,” Gaglio said. “There is still hope out there, I hang on to that.”
