River Hill is salient in the educational world, a high caliber institution in more than one regard, but is it acting as a vessel for teacher based political and ideological subterfuge? The answer is yes, the real question is to what extent it exists – or perhaps more importantly, whether is it even relevant to this generation of students who seem to display a constant state of political amnesia.
       River Hill stands out in the world of political spheres. Three factors contribute to River Hill’s alignment as a multi political spectrum: Geographic location, socio-economic status of the student families, and finally (naturally) the quality of the education and the teachers themselves. River Hill is positioned on a critical trench between “red” and “blue” voting states, while Maryland is overwhelmingly Democratic; the River Hill district of Howard County seems to be more conservative than the rest of the state. This potentially balances any overt bias, but fails to erase it.
        The joint economic-educational component acts as a double-edged sword. Reasonably high income families dominate the River Hill school zone, which leads many parents to espouse conservative tendencies. The wealth associated with this enables a proficient public school to operate, but with public education typically come liberal tendencies.
        So what is the level of political bias at River Hill? It’s ambiguous to say the least, but these factors suggest that it is mostly teacher and class dependent with behaviors toward said view rooted in the experiences of the student population. Biology teacher Joelle Miller, who conducts a global warming seminar as a part of her class, commented “I wouldn’t want anyone to get an opinion from my opinion – that’s not teaching.”
        Miller, who previously worked for Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), also explains how River Hill presents an interesting political “conglomeration,” and points out her global warming unit as an example of objective education with room for debate, which she explains is a “product of the River Hill educational idea.”
        While a left leaning bias may exist as a trend, River Hill is a true outlier, as a result of different elements of influence that contribute to a sense of political understanding enabled by the teachers and responded to by students. The present danger here is not necessarily the potential bias of the teaching but rather the amnesic concept mentioned earlier. If, for example, River Hill students (in general) fail to be critical of what they learn – effectively, a prevailing attitude of political apathy will develop. River Hill students should be concerned that their view is not given to them but rather molded by their teachers.