Last year History and Social Studies teachers at McLean Julia Braxton and Lindsey Fisher planned to create a new elective at McLean for the 2018-2019 school year; unfortunately, only 11 people signed up preventing the idea from becoming a reality. 

The elective goes by the name Combating Intolerance. The name itself broadly describes the class, as the whole idea is to tackle and discuss political, social and moral issues and personal experiences with those issues that people seem to be very intolerant towards; especially in high school. 

“I think in light of all the different things that are happening right now in our political climate… it is just so important to have these discussions to work toward a better understanding of not just yourself, but of each other,” Fisher said. 

Not only is the class highly interactive and enlightening, it will consist of no assessments, and will be solely based off of class participation and different types of projects. This is not the biggest benefit of taking the class however; unlike a typical elective, this elective is led by the students; not to mention the possible guest speakers and field trips that will occur. 

“You can study things you’re interested in, you can study things happening right now, you can chose what you want to learn about and you can have these conversations that maybe you have been dying to have in your classes but haven’t really been allowed to,” Fisher said. 

A practical day in the class would consist of just about anything a student or the teacher feels passionate about in the moment. Specific topics Braxton and Fisher plan to emphasize on are the “-isms” such as racism, sexism, etc. hoping that students will share their personal experiences influenced by such. 

“Sometimes people just don’t know…its hard to have these discussions at home sometimes so you just go about life not knowing, just seeing things on television or the media… but now you might actually have a chance to people who have have experienced these things rather than depending on what you see on cable news, Facebook, or Twitter,” Braxton said. 

This elective is not new– schools around FCPS currently teach it. The class could be one of the most influential and important to a student due to the fact that it’s purpose is to awaken ones beliefs and enable one to come to senses with right and wrong about specific issues and topics. 

“[My biggest goal is] being able to make at least one students life at McLean easier or better because they were able to either share their experiences and that they were able to feel more understood or empowered by the changes that we can make through this class,” Braxton said.