A Lesson in History
More than 60 years ago, the United States and the Soviet Union were firmly engaged in a struggle for ideological supremacy. This was known as the Cold War and it brought the world to the brink of nuclear annihilation in the fall of 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis. After this event, both sides eventually realized that they needed to reduce the tension in the hopes of finding a way to coexist and to learn more about one another. This led to a period known as Détente where both sides focused on fostering mutual respect and collaboration.
History Has Chosen Us
In 2025, we find ourselves deeply immersed in an internal ideological conflict, one that threatens to fundamentally change our nation and permanently rupture our beloved community. In this moment, history has chosen us to inaugurate a new period of Détente for the benefit of those coming after us, it is our turn.
The ideological divisions that animate and threaten our #1LISD community are driven by assumptions and reductionist thinking, enforced by social media. The result of this is that we see those we disagree with as not only flawed, but we assign a moral value to them based on their views. This makes it impossible for those on opposing sides to see any value in each other without believing that they are compromising who they are and what they believe in. This only leads to further polarization and alienation which diminishes our ability to focus on the needs of each and every student, no matter who they are or where they come from.
How do we achieve this new era of Détente?
There are three things that come to mind.
- See the individual person, not how their views are different from yours.
- Enter each conversation with sincerity and curiosity.
- Do not seek to resolve ideological differences on social media – this only serves to accelerate divisions by crowdsourcing disagreements.
Seeing the individual person limits our ability to apply an ideological lens exclusively to the opinions of others. Not viewing every disagreement through an ideological lens opens us up to deeper understanding and a true appreciation of where another person is coming from. By entering each conversation about our potential disagreements with sincerity and curiosity, we communicate to others that we favor peace over conflict, unity over division. Demonstrating restraint as it relates to engaging in open and oftentimes spurred on warfare on social media will reduce ideological divisions simply by reducing the number of combatants engaged. No one wins a social media argument, you just ensure that the fight will be extended.
As the #1LISD community continues to grow and evolve, let us focus on those things that unite us and what we all have in common with the same ferocity that we exhibit when focusing on those things that divide us. Leander ISD is a model school district in so many respects, let us also be a model for how to navigate ideological differences and yet keep the main thing, the main thing – access to quality education for each and every student in our system.
