Political Socialization

The American population’s view on political issues is constantly changing as different circumstances arise each day. There are two sides of the political spectrum that people tend to fall between: liberal and conservative. In order to accurately place oneself on this political spectrum, an individual should be socially aware and always gaining insight on the latest political policies and how they came to be. This is called “political socialization”. Political socialization has three main agents-- family, education, and environment. These three agents have influenced me to fall more toward the liberal side of the political spectrum. I have experienced the instabilities of a single-parent household, the insufficiencies of public schools, and

Not every student is the same, but the system treats them like so. The public education program needs to be redefined so that it focuses on the individual rather than the overall student population. There is no way to grow in the current education system; today’s students do not learn the material because they want to, but rather memorize the material because they have to. Public school is a web of memorization and standardized tests-- students retain information from the classroom long enough to regurgitate it onto a scantron when it is time to measure their learning. To me, the public education system is based on the ideology that the students won’t go anywhere or make anything of themselves. Why should students truly find benefit in the information they are learning? Aren’t they just going to settle for a minimum wage job? The current public education system is ignoring the fact that there are students being drug through the ropes of memorization and scantrons who want to be more than a minimum wage job. Some of these students are going to need help, and some of these students will need to be redirected, but it is clear that they want to work hard to better themselves. These students are our future leaders, hard-workers, and agents of change-- they deserve to be treated as

My views have often been challenged, and I have grown in my argument skills from defending myself. I am from Hendersonville, North Carolina. Hendersonville is town based on southern Christian values. Social issues such as gay rights, women’s rights, and civil rights are rarely dealt with in the manner that they should be in a majority of the southern states. Personally, I believe that the LGBT community should be given the right to wed; however, I have friends who grew up in a strictly conservative household, and they believe that this community should not be allowed to have the gift of marriage. Many of my conservative friends have said that they’d be fine with the LGBT community receiving all of the benefits of marriage, but calling it something different. Equal pay for both men and women is a heavy controversial topic amongst the people in my town. The right-wing conservatives generally believe that individuals should be paid based on the quality of the work-- if the women of the workplace cannot contribute as much as the men can, they will suffer a pay cut. I believe the total opposite. If men and women are working at the same place, under the same employer, then they should be receiving equal pay. The term “civil rights” is a tender subject for my hometown. Many of Hendersonville's residents are supporters of the Confederate flag.