So I think one of the tricky things about all this is that likely isn’t going to end in college.
Like I know conservatives who are frustrated that they are often “self-censoring” at work these days. In cases of older people I know like that, the usual sentiment is it didn’t use to be this way.
And without going off on too much of a tangent, there is plenty of social science research supporting the idea that political polarization has risen in many countries, not least the US. Interestingly, deep historic dives suggest in most cases this is more the historic norm, that the period of relatively low polarization during the mid-20th Century was more the exception.
Regardless, if polarization does not reverse, it is going to continue to be hard to have meaningful political discussions in “mixed company” without various people ending up bitterly upset with each other. And in fact younger people become older people, and contra to conventional wisdom, that does not necessarily soften political divides at all.
And when things get bitter between members of a community, that tends to have social consequences. And then social consequences can have other consequences.
I am pointing all this out not because I think it is a good thing, but I do think it is social reality that the kids of today may well be dealing with their whole lives. And kids being kids, it does not always go well while they are still kids. But hopefully at least in most cases, their workplaces and such can simply avoid bitter political disputes, even if that is not the ideal outcome given the enlightenment vision of civil discourse.
So it is entirely up to each family how to handle all this. But personally, I think the challenge is navigating between a kid not feeling so out of place it interferes with having a good college experience and education overall, and the kid seeing enough of this dynamic to help develop the skills and habits they will likely need to successfully navigate their post-college communities.
And again, I don’t think there is one universal answer to all this. It is legitimately tricky.