The Chalkboard School is an apolitical school because I don’t think considerations about politics (on whatever side of the spectrum) belong in an elementary school classroom. This view comes from a strong interest in helping children develop their critical thinking skills.

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Polarization Goes Against Critical Thinking

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Little kids see the world very much as a dichotomy, and are incapable of understanding the nuances that are involved in discussing the merits of one political view or another, so that a discussion of these matters at such an early age gets received as “these guys who think this are good and those guys are bad”. I believe the world we live in is extremely polarized, and I believe this is a very negative characteristic, detrimental to society in every way. Polarization (of political opinions or anything else) closes the door to both dialog and even to critical thinking, since it encourages us to accept ideas simply on the face of their labels. So I think creating such a black-and-white view from such an early age is a bad idea. 

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There will always be, of course, events of a political nature that might catch the attention of the students. I’m not advocating that discussing these things, or even bringing them up, shouldn’t be allowed. I actually put children’s questions and curiosity in the most elevated place of all, whatever the nature of those questions, and I think they should always be honored with an answer. But an answer that satisfies a child could be as simple as “some people are angry about thing X” without having to turn it into a discussion of the merits or problems of whatever topic X is. It seems to me that these days, kids are being asked to give their opinion on very hefty matters from early on, but what I see is that, for the most part, their answer is what they think the grownup asking wants to hear, since their minds aren’t really ready to consider the question. I would like to discourage such mindless repeating in all aspects of their learning. 

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Politics Aren't Child-Sized

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In short, I won’t ask an 8 year old to explain the set-theoretical principles behind multiplication tables, or ask a 6 year old to read a Shakespeare play in the original language, just like I won’t ask them to weigh in on whether the US immigration policy should change or how. It’s something for when they are older. 

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That being said, some kids are definitely ahead of the curve in one or many areas. If I were to encounter a student who I could see has a good grasp of what they’re talking about and isn’t just repeating someone else’s opinion, and is actually interested in investigating a topic of a political nature, I would never discourage that. I would guide them to make sure they’re actually thinking about it, and would ensure that they are not seeing the topic as a dichotomy. In my experience, however, kids care about kid things. If you leave them to their own devices, their interests will take all sorts of directions, but it’s almost always a very child-like direction. And that’s good.