The world is changing faster than we know it, including classrooms.
Along with NIH funding cuts and DEI wipes as well as the demolishing of educational programs in favor of conservative replacements, school curriculums and educational platforms that have been upheld for years are being questioned.
A recent New York Times article reports that California, the largest democratic state, has passed new legislation pulling back efforts to better educate students in ethnic studies classes and limiting what educators can say in their own classrooms.
Teaching current events can be scary. However, its benefits to students will not go unnoticed.
Strong media literacy skills are necessary when one in five adults report getting their news from TikTok, AI is getting increasingly involved in education, and political misinformation is on the rise.
Social studies teacher David Waldman requires his seniors to read and analyze recent newspaper articles weekly.
“Becoming an adult is maintaining some kind of democratic focus on what’s happening in society,” Waldman said. “And in order to do that, you have to become somebody who’s able to decide which media sources you trust, and to develop your own tastes around what you’re going to read as an adult after leaving this place.”
Students need a structured outlet to learn media literacy skills, especially for seniors who will need civic knowledge to navigate responsible and educated voting.
“It’s ultimately important, far more than the other things that we teach, that they have a sense of the precedent of our political history, the current controversies, and what they think about those things,” Waldman said. “Because this crazy thing happens when they turn eighteen: their voice, their vote counts the same as mine.”
Current events aren’t built into all social studies curriculums. It can be a tall ask for educators to come prepared to teach the lesson with the right tact.
“If big things happen in the economy, not every social studies teacher is an economics teacher or a psychology teacher,” social studies teacher Mr. Jeffrey Kahn said. “To put them on the spot and say, ‘now you must teach about these things,’ I think it’s problematic.”
Schools can’t expect every teacher to be an expert on any given issue. Such expectations risk non-factual and biased information becoming part of lesson plans.
Current events don’t need to be strictly lectured by educators. Students should be asked questions about the world around them, and teachers can be tasked with overseeing discussion regarding current events.
It is of the utmost importance that students participate in these conversations. According to Syracuse University Today, in 2022, 72% of Republicans and 63% of Democrats viewed the opposing party as more immoral than other Americans—up dramatically from 47% and 35% in 2016. Political polarization spreads like wildfire in a digitally connected society.
It’s crucial to educate teens early on the ability to understand multiple perspectives and respectfully agree and disagree with peers. However, it is paramount that these lessons aren’t rushed, and it’s unlikely that students will be provided with another space to learn this material.
“There’s so much that goes into this, that’s an entire lesson, and to do it in a short version risks really oversimplifying and dangerously having people say things that are offensive or wrong, and doing it as a big lesson is taking over the entire curriculum,” Kahn said.
Haven doesn’t offer courses like AP United States Government and Politics. One option it does offer is Social Issues, Social Justice, a history course which places emphasis on current events discussion run by social studies teacher Ms. Xaras Collins has been unable to run in recent years.
“The other thing that makes it difficult here is we have a culture that tends not to let students allow themselves space for things that don’t have an AP designation,” Collins said. “I wish more students were interested, or at least had the time to really get a more in depth understanding of the topics and the systems thinking that in US history I can touch on, but I can’t drill down.”
Social studies and political science electives that provide opportunities to discuss politics must be more thoroughly promoted, and the stigma around taking CP courses must be adressed.
Especially in such a rocky political climate, it’s understandable for educators to be worried about offensive speech or student conflict in their classrooms when tasked with covering current politics. The New York Times cited a September 2025 poll showing that half the teachers that responded stated that political pressures have caused them to modify curriculum choices or in-class discussions.
We can’t be scared to tackle these issues, the interests of students have to be put first. Introducing current events discussion into classes can be as simple as watching CNN10 and having students answer questions about what they saw, like Collins’s class does.
To send off the best educated and most prepared students, prioritizing political discussions is vital.
“I don’t care in the end what their conclusion is,” Waldman said. “I don’t care what they think. I care that they thought.”
Each opinion represented in The Panther Press is the view and voice of the writer. Opinions, as the selection and curation of content by the editors, do not represent the views of the entire Panther Press staff, the adviser, the school, or the administration.
