As you may know, Indian Prairie School District 204 has announced that masks are no longer required for students, although they are “highly recommended.” This has been an extremely polarizing issue and has caused conflict in our community and schools. As a result, students and teachers at Metea Valley have been doing their best to open up a civil conversation so that everyone can be heard and their needs and fears recognized.
Metea Valley has many clubs and classes that function as safe spaces for students to freely share their opinions and perspectives on controversial issues without fear of judgment. One such place is our government classes. Metea Valley government teachers put a heavy emphasis on studying current events and issues that are relevant to modern life to help prepare students for making educated decisions in their future.
One teacher, Mrs. Fuhrer, is a part of our Social Studies department at Metea and is the sponsor of multiple school clubs like Youth in Government and Citizens of Metea. Her priority is ensuring that all her students feel comfortable in her classroom. This means that ridiculing someone for wearing or not wearing a mask is not tolerated, no matter what. Fuher also facilitates productive discussions that help locate where her students might agree, opposed to focusing on their disagreements.
The show of empathy required to validate both sides of this mask controversy should be desired by everyone, even adults. Once we begin to show compassion for people who hold different beliefs, conflicts and arguments will be replaced with understanding and personal growth.