When first hearing the title “Rhetoric and Civic,” I could not help but groan. This was because the title of the course includes the word “civics.” I cannot speak for anyone else’s experience in High School Civics but my high school civics teacher was my track coach who I did not exactly see eye to eye with, not about the content of the course, but mostly about track. In addition, I had the privilege of taking Civics during the 2016 presidential election when the entire country decided to go down a path of insanity that eventually led to us being forced by our wonderful political parties to chose between a reality TV star who was friends with Vladimir Putin and a war criminal who’s married to a rapist to be the leader of the free world. To make matters worse, going to high school in a purple state where the election was very close led to the entire class being bitterly divided and always arguing.

When hearing the word “Civic” in the context of a classroom environment, I believed that this class would be another chance for everyone pointlessly yell at each other. As someone with quite very moderate political views who has little affinity for either major party, I find little room for my self on either side. Fortunately, I learned that “Rhetoric and Civic” had less to do with political ideas and more to do with how those ideas were presented. I failed to realize that rhetoric was also an element in the course. While some may say that lacks substance, the way in which we go about developing and showcasing our ideas is quite important. Yesterday marked the funeral of President George H.W. Bush who many Democrats and Republicans had understandable disagreements with but Bush recognized the importance of civility in our rhetoric. At the end of the day, what makes our civic institutions able to function is that we able to sit across from one another and freely discuss ideas in a civil and polite. I wrote my first essay for this course on the rhetoric of Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama, who despite being different leaders, both presented the ideas of hope and optimism. In a world were incivility and pessimism seem to be at an all time high, perhaps the youth of America here in our college classrooms, regardless of their personal views can steer the country back in the direction of civility and cordiality.