In the days leading to Barack Obama’s re-election, a number of Upper School students became more aware of their political surroundings and formed their opinions on the two front-runner candidates.

While many students participating in political clubs such as JSA and Law Club kept themselves actively informed through communication with fellow students, non-members looked to news and networking sites, political blogging platforms, and most commonly, their parents.

“I definitely think that the way you were raised, or your economic background, your social background, and your religious background influences the way you think about politics,” JSA Vice President Apricot Tang (12) said.

Dr. Herbert Hyman, an expert on the science of polling and a former professor at Wesleyan University, determined that most parents tend to mold their children’s political views, particularly at a very young age.

“Foremost among agencies of socialization into politics is the family,” he said in his book Political Socialization, referring to a child’s tendency to receive political influence from their relatives. “[It] is much more likely [that] parents are the agents who transmit politically relevant attitudes to their children.”

Other students, however, think that their parents have a minimal influence on their political attitudes.

“Nobody in my family is that big on politics,” Jeton Guiterrez-Bujari (10) said. “They, of course, have their own opinions, but I don’t tend to be inspired by them. I like to form my own opinions based on what I find on the news.”

Some students such as Anna Kendall (11) and Mishi Vachev (10) believe that their political views are somewhat influenced by their parents.

“We don’t necessarily agree on the same issues,” Anna said about her parents. “[Mostly], I’ve been influenced a lot by my friends and by the media.”

Mishi said that she received much of her political knowledge from canvassing news sites on her own.

“I think like half of it is from my parents because they’re the ones who introduced me. They support [Obama], so Obama was a positive figure in my head,” she said. “But when I heard about what he’s doing for the country and what he stands for, that made it more my decision.”

Despite an active political atmosphere around the country, some students feel that they were not informed enough about the election to make a definite choice between candidates.

“I’m not really educated enough [about the candidates] to choose one of them,” Roshan Daran (12) said. “I don’t know what their policies are.”

Nonetheless, many Upper School students revealed that they were thrilled to witness the political process leading to the election. They look towards the changes in politics due to the results of the election.