Two weeks ago, NPR’s 1A news and debate program featured two historians sparring over the nation’s founding — specifically, the meaning of Ben Franklin’s quote telling a woman that we would have a republic, “if you can keep it.”

The two men set out diametrically opposed frameworks for reuniting the divided nation, with one (whom I thought to be a revisionist historian) proposing that we must set aside our differences and simply celebrate the grandeur of America, and the other proposing that it is in those stark differences where salvation lies.

This battle between acceptance of the political other and demonizing them is at the forefront of American discourse wherever you look. It seems to me that completely accepting those who you disagree with is an incredibly privileged point of view — one where the disastrous effects of policy failures toward the most disadvantaged among us are completely ignored.

Completely demonizing those people is equally ignorant and does nothing but further dangerous ideological entrenchment. Finally, remaining ignorant or apathetic toward politics and governance is possibly the most destructive position of all, as our government only works for all of us when we all work for it.

However, it is practically impossible for young Americans to adequately understand the nuances of ideological compromise without a complete understanding of how our political process fundamentally functions. Government, politics, public discourse — these are aspects of our lives where high-minded debate between people who disagree should be welcomed, even encouraged.

Students must be taught the basics of high-minded debate. They must be taught the history of our politics. They must be taught the consequences of government action. The easiest and most efficient way to create learning these learning spaces is to require students to take an American Politics course.

There, every single student who graduates from Wichita State could learn to understand and discuss our nation, facilitated by an impassioned professor, without fear of vitriolic retribution.

That being said, these classes should not tolerate the views of neo-Nazis, blatant bigots, or conspiracy theorists who continually act in bad faith. The vast majority of conservatives are not bigoted monsters, bent on homogenizing America into a white nation, just as the majority of liberals are not communist sympathizers, desiring to overthrow every American tradition.

Bridging this divide between focusing on what unites us and focusing on what divides us will take thoughtful dedication by faculty and students, but it cannot happen until we all decide to partake in political discourse. We cannot accept or demonize, but rather attempt to understand our political others, and it is in these attempts at understanding where empathy and respect for all Americans will flourish.