Politics in Business School
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Ellipsing My Way...To Business School is my first hand account of the b-school application process through the eyes of a prospective applicant. |
I’m writing this post tonight not because I love to talk about politics, but because I’ve noticed that political discussions in business school are much different from the ones that I had prior to business school.
Before business school I didn’t have many friends who voted Republican. Being a gay male in NYC who hailed from the cheerleading industry didn’t make for that much exposure to others who thought much differently from me. I did have Republican friends though and i love them to this day. However, In business school you’re thrown together with a bunch of people with various viewpoints on ALL of the issues. This is due to the whole issue of diversity of thought that business schools tout when applicants inquire.
It makes for a great discussion and I must say that I’ve learned to respect the viewpoints of my classmates if they differ from mine. The only one that I will push back on them on is the issue of Gay Marriage. Other than that I just try to educate my classmates on experiences that I’ve had that they may not have had and they do the same for me even if they’re not aware of it. I did come to business school with a myriad of stereotypes about different types of people but that’s the beauty of business school – at least my business school. You quickly learn to throw all of the preconceived notions to the side since you really find out what people are about when you’re with them 24 hours a day and 7 days a week during the 1st year. There are a lot of Type A personalities and if one can’t let things go (like an argument where no one can be persuaded) then you’ll have no friends.
With this being the case, I will say that up until tonight (Election Night) I always knew where my friends stood as either a Republican or Democrat but some of the quotes that I saw on Facebook after Obama had been re-elected really got under my skin. I think it was more of the fact that some of the things that were posted, while may not have been geared toward me, it sure felt that way. Now the question is, what do I do with that? Do I just let it go or do I address it? I think it’s my duty to address it in a respectful manner. Like I said, these people are my friends and I’m perfectly fine with disagreeing with them and I do think that we have a friendship where I can ask “Hey what did you mean by that?” or “This is how I took that statement and I’m only telling you in case that’s not what you meant, so you can know how it may have come off to some.”
That’s the most that I can do and I feel that if I don’t then I’m at fault too because maybe some people are just not aware. Also, we are adults and have a bond that transcends an election and I don’t take that lightly.
If you’re curious – this is the picture post on FB that prompted this blog post:
So that’s all I have to say about that. I have Student Council in 4 hours so I must be going to sleep now! Until next time!
