Sarah Blugis, a junior majoring in political communication, is The Hatchet’s contributing opinions editor.
The young adults of every generation think they know more than their parents, including millennials. In most cases, our parents have long since completed their education and have probably spent more time taking care of us than bettering their minds.
We, on the other hand, are in the middle of our academic careers at a university that is liberal and progressive enough to earn a protest from the Westboro Baptist Church. We do research, write theses and hear incredible lectures by diverse speakers.
We’ve got to be smarter than our parents, right?
On the surface level, it may seem that our parents and grandparents don’t have much to offer us while we’re home on summer break. But that isn’t necessarily the case.
If you’re anything like me, the thought of having any sort of political discussion with your family might make you cringe, or frustrate you before the conversation even begins. But we’ve all been there: Grandma or grandpa brings up race at the Thanksgiving table, dad voices his opinion about immigration in the car, mom doesn’t understand why girls are having so much sex these days.
While these conversations might be awkward, in my own experience, I’ve found that political debates among family can be beneficial – no matter where you fall on the political spectrum.
As summer begins to wind down and many of us won’t see our families until Thanksgiving, it’s a good time to have these debates and learn from them.
I grew up in a conservative Republican household – not uncommon for my hometown in rural Pennsylvania. I carried my parents’ party ideology with me into my teenage years, which is consistent with research that tells us our parents’ political beliefs have an influence on our own.
But once I came to GW, I started to see the world differently. Like most young adults, I heard plenty of new opinions from unique perspectives, a stark change from what my parents had said my whole life. I opened up to some new ideas, started solidifying my own opinions and decided it was OK that I didn’t agree with my parents on some of the issues anymore.
Now every winter, spring, and summer break has been all about arguing with my mom and dad at the dinner table.
Even though they can get quite heated – I’ve stormed out of the room on more than one occasion – my dad doesn’t like calling the debates “arguments.” He calls them “discussions,” and when all is said and done, he tells me he always learns from them.
Talking about political issues with family is complicated, and while the goal is almost always to change their minds, open their eyes or make them understand, that likely won’t happen. We think we should help them by making them smarter, or enlightening them.
But they’re really helping us. For those of us pursuing politics, they’re making us stronger. Talking to them can cement our opinions, bolster our arguments and give us great practice.
Plus, on campus, we tend to surround ourselves with people who have opinions similar to our own. It’s more comfortable that way. But going back and forth with family can restore our perspective, and remind us that there are people in the world who disagree with us – and always will.
In reality, we aren’t smarter than our parents. We’re just different, which is why we argue. If nothing else, passionate discussions are worth it for the rare moments when mom or dad says, “You’re right. I never thought about it that way.”
