JACK WATSON
A recent survey has found that a substantial number of teenagers do not want to share their political opinions, fearing they will lose friends or be cancelled. They are afraid to voice their opinions on certain political issues in school as they’re worried about being criticised by their classmates. Nearly a quarter of schoolchildren between the ages of 10 and 17, out of 4,000 surveyed, said they have been asked to stop voicing their political views at school. Whatever happened to freedom of expression?
The survey was carried out by the Economist Educational Foundation which found that 22% of 15 to 17 year-olds had stopped sharing their political opinions because they were worried about criticism, along with 20% of 10 to 14 year-olds. The survey also found students feel unprepared and have limited political knowledge heading into the next General Election, prompting 44% of 15 to 17 year-olds to say they don’t feel ready to vote in the next election.
Political debate and diversity of opinion is a strength in a democratic society. It drives innovation, improves decision-making and fosters resilience. Diverse perspectives force people out of complacency and into more thoughtful evaluations of the problems facing us. So why are many schoolchildren inhibited about expressing themselves?
One reason for this could be a lack of political education. Research indicates a significant lack of political education in UK schools. While citizenship is a mandatory subject, one in five secondary schools in England teach no political literacy. This leads to schoolchildren feeling less confident in voicing their own opinions
There is also evidence that those with Right-wing views are more inhibited about expressing them than those with Left-wing views. While this recent survey focuses on the issue of self-censorship across the political spectrum, there is clear evidence that Right-of-centre students are more likely to report feeling unable to speak freely. The Times published a survey that found students who support parties such as Reform UK are socially isolated at university and face “attacks” and “harassment” from their more Left-leaning peers. A 2022 survey also found that 68% of Conservative-supporting students are reluctant to ‘come out’ at university, up from 59% in 2019.
Moreover, Reform UK speakers and elected representatives have recently faced a good deal of hostility at universities: a student society at Bangor University recently banned a Reform UK MP from speaking, while 35% of students in another recent survey supported banning Reform UK from campus.
Children have also been banned from participating in school events because of their supposedly unacceptable views. In 2025, a 12 year-old pupil, Courtney Wright, was sent home from Bilton School in Warwickshire after wearing a Union Jack dress for ‘culture day’. The school, which aimed to celebrate diversity, deemed the attire inappropriate and told her to go home and change, causing widespread outcry.
As a 17 year-old, I have first-hand experiences of this. Thankfully, I haven’t lost friends over my beliefs. But rumours spread – whispers that I’m ‘far-Right’ or ‘bigoted’, distortions of what I’ve actually said. The worst part isn’t the criticism – it’s the misrepresentation. I’m not some radical. I have faced labels such as ‘fascist’ (although, if you asked them to define what this actually meant, you’d be met with blank stares) and ‘racist’ just because I proudly have more Right-leaning views. Groups also started to exclude and ignore me as if I’m some convicted prisoner, making me feel excluded from the ‘community’ just for having Right-of-centre political views.
It seems that this is not confined to isolated individuals like me anymore: it’s becoming a national issue – and it’s not just those with Right-wing views. Yes, the problem is more acute for Right-leaning teenagers, but political oppression is becoming more widespread in the UK. Free speech matters. Without it, we won’t just stop debating important issues – we’re less likely to arrive at the truth about those issues, or at least a settled consensus. If you can’t question things in school, where can you?
Jack Watson is a 17 year-old student in Year 12 at Wyke College, Hull. You can read his Substack about following Hull City FC here. Follow him on X here.
This article (The Free Speech Crisis Spreads to Schools) was created and published by The Daily Sceptic and is republished here under “Fair Use” with attribution to the author Jack Watson
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