The Trump Effect: The Impact of the Presidential Campaign on Our Nation's
Schools
Southern Poverty Law Center, April 13, 2016
https://www.splcenter.org/20160413/trump-effect-impact-presidential-campaign-our-nations-schools
Our report found that the campaign is producing an alarming level of fear
and anxiety among children of color and inflaming racial and ethnic tensions
in the classroom. Many students worry about being deported.
If you would like a.pdf version of this report, please click here.
https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/splc_the_trump_effect.pdf
If you would like to read the full comments from the survey, please click
here.
https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/trump_effect_final_comments_2.pdf
Every four years, teachers in the United States use the presidential
election to impart valuable lessons to students about the electoral process,
democracy, government and the responsibilities of citizenship.
But, for students and teachers alike, this year’s primary season is starkly
different from any in recent memory. The results of an online survey
conducted by Teaching Tolerance suggest that the campaign is having a
profoundly negative effect on children and classrooms.
It’s producing an alarming level of fear and anxiety among children of color
and inflaming racial and ethnic tensions in the classroom. Many students
worry about being deported.
Other students have been emboldened by the divisive, often juvenile rhetoric
in the campaign. Teachers have noted an increase in bullying, harassment and
intimidation of students whose races, religions or nationalities have been
the verbal targets of candidates on the campaign trail.
Educators are perplexed and conflicted about what to do. They report being
stymied by the need to remain nonpartisan but disturbed by the anxiety in
their classrooms and the lessons that children may be absorbing from this
campaign.
Two responses from teachers illustrate their dilemma. A teacher in
Arlington, Virginia, says, "I try to not bring it up since it is so
stressful for my students." Another, in Indianapolis, Indiana, says, "I am
at a point where I’m going to take a stand even if it costs me my position."
Our survey of approximately 2,000 K-12 teachers was not scientific. Our
email subscribers and those who visit our website are not a random sample of
teachers nationally, and those who chose to respond to our survey are likely
to be those who are most concerned about the impact of the presidential
campaign on their students and schools.
But the data we collected is the richest source of information that we know
of about the effect of the presidential campaign on education in our
country. And there is nothing counterintuitive about the results. They show
a disturbing nationwide problem, one that is particularly acute in schools
with high concentrations of minority children.
Here are the highlights:
More than two-thirds of the teachers reported that students--mainly
immigrants, children of immigrants and Muslims--have expressed concerns or
fears about what might happen to them or their families after the election.
More than half have seen an increase in uncivil political discourse.
More than one-third have observed an increase in anti-Muslim or
anti-immigrant sentiment.
More than 40 percent are hesitant to teach about the election.
The comments are particularly revealing.
The survey did not identify any candidates. But out of 5,000 total comments,
more than 1,000 mentioned Donald Trump. In contrast, a total of fewer than
200 contained the names Ted Cruz, Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton. During
the campaign, Trump has spoken of deporting millions of Latino immigrants,
building a wall between the United States and Mexico, banning Muslim
immigrants and even killing the families of Islamist terrorists. He has also
called Mexican immigrants "rapists" and drug dealers.
"My students are terrified of Donald Trump," says one teacher from a middle
school with a large population of African-American Muslims. "They think that
if he’s elected, all black people will get sent back to Africa."
In state after state, teachers report similar fears among minority children.
In Virginia, an elementary school teacher says students are "crying in the
classroom and having meltdowns at home." In Oregon, a K-3 teacher says her
black students are "concerned for their safety because of what they see on
TV at Trump rallies." In North Carolina, a high school teacher says she has
"Latino students who carry their birth certificates and Social Security
cards to school because they are afraid they will be deported."
Some of the stories are heartbreaking. In Tennessee, a kindergarten teacher
says a Latino child--told by classmates that he will be deported and trapped
behind a wall--asks every day, "Is the wall here yet?"
Many children, however, are not afraid at all. Rather, some are using the
word Trump as a taunt or as a chant as they gang up on others. Muslim
children are being called terrorist or ISIS or bomber.
"Students are hearing more hate language than I have ever heard at our
school before," says a high school teacher in Helena, Montana. Another
teacher reports that a fifth-grader told a Muslim student "that he was
supporting Donald Trump because he was going to kill all of the Muslims if
he became president!"
The long-term impact on children’s well-being, their behavior or their civic
education is impossible to gauge. Some teachers report that their students
are highly engaged and interested in the political process this year. Others
worry that the election is making them "less trusting of government" or
"hostile to opposing points of view," or that children are "losing respect
for the political process."
For the sake of children and their education, presidential candidates should
begin modeling the kind of civil behavior and civic values that we all want
children to learn in school. Barring such a change in tone, however,
teachers and school administrators will face an uphill battle. Remaining
impartial will be difficult when the students’ conversation revolves largely
around Trump.
But we urge educators not to abandon their teaching about the election, to
use instances of incivility as teaching moments, and to support the children
who are hurt, confused and frightened by what they’re hearing from the
candidates. Our specific findings from the survey follow.
Schools are, by design, institutions that strive to teach citizenship. But
the lessons in many classrooms look different this year.
Impact on Students
Every student, from preschoolers up through high school, is aware of the
tone, rhetoric and catchphrases of this particular campaign season. Students
are hearing conversations at home. They’re chatting, posting and joking on
social media. Whether teachers decide to bring it into the classroom or not,
kids are talking about it, modeling their behavior on that of political
candidates and bringing heightened emotion to school along with their
backpacks.
One California teacher noted, "YouTube, Instagram and Twitter make
everything ‘live’ and interactive." Some students attend candidates’
rallies. And then there is the endless cycle of talk radio, 24-hour news and
cable comedy shows. "The explosive headlines and conversations have caught
their attention," a middle school teacher in Providence, Rhode Island, wrote
about her students. "They want to talk about a cartoon/headline/video they
saw."
The 2016 campaign and the antics of its contestants are omnipresent. As one
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, elementary school teacher told us, "Shying away
from difficult conversations doesn’t mean the conversations aren’t taking
place." A Portland, Oregon, middle school teacher reported that her
principal had imposed a "gag order" on teachers, prohibiting them from
talking about the election. But the order didn’t stop one of her students
from telling an immigrant classmate, "When Trump wins, you and your family
will get sent back." On the survey she posed the question, "What does a
teacher do? I can assure you that if a student says that loudly and brazenly
in class, far worse is happening in the hallway."
For almost all students, the campaign is personal and their support or
opposition to candidates--actually to one candidate mainly--is intense. But
the effect of the campaign on students depends very much on where they stand
in the school pecking order. Those who have been marginalized in the past
are bearing the brunt of behavior and comments that often cross over into
abuse.
Marginalized students are "terrified"
Over two-thirds (67 percent) of educators reported that young people in
their schools--most often immigrants, children of immigrants, Muslims,
African Americans and other students of color--had expressed concern about
what might happen to them or their families after the election. Close to
one-third of the students in American classrooms are children of
foreign-born parents. This year, they are scared, stressed and in need of
reassurance and support from teachers. Muslim children are harassed and
worried. Even native-born African-American children, whose families arrived
here before the American Revolution, ask about being sent back to Africa.
Others, especially younger students, have worries that are the stuff of
nightmares, like a return to slavery or being rounded up and put into camps.
Overall, these vulnerable students are disillusioned and depressed at the
hatred they’re hearing from candidates, in the news, from classmates and
even, sometimes, from trusted adults. They’re discouraged to find out what
people really think. Teachers struggle to help them feel safe.
Undocumented students or students with undocumented family members are
especially vulnerable. These students have a legal right to a public school
education, but many of them come to school every day fearful that their
families will be separated. Teachers, in general, are very protective of
students and sensitive to their pain.
Anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S. has risen steadily since the 2016 election
season began. Schools are no exception.
Fears are pervasive. Students tell teachers they are worried about
deportation, having their families split, being put in jail or attacked by
police, losing their homes, seeing their places of worship closed, going
into hiding and being sent to detention camps. Some Muslim students think
that, if Trump becomes president, they will have microchips implanted under
their skin.
Students are stressed and anxious in a way that is threatening their health,
emotional well-being and their schoolwork. We heard from dozens of educators
about young students who expressed daily worries about "being sent back" or
having their parents sent back. In many cases, the students are American
citizens or come from families that are here legally. It doesn’t matter:
Regardless of immigration status, they feel under attack. We heard about
students from second grade to high school crying in class.
A Tennessee kindergarten teacher reported that she has a student who asks
her every day if the wall has been built yet. "Imagine the fear in my
students’ eyes when they look to me for the truth," she said.
In Massachusetts, an elementary school social worker described what was
happening to her 8-year-old son, who was adopted from Korea. "He came home
from school and recounted a conversation he’d had with his friends on the
playground. Many... come from immigrant families and/or are black or brown.
He told me they know that if Donald Trumpet [sic] was elected that we would
have to move to another continent to be safe and that there would be a big
war. He is very nervous about being sent away with my husband who is also
Korean American."
Stressed students have a harder time learning, and we saw many reports that
anxiety was having an impact on grades and ability to concentrate. In
Washington state, a teacher told us about a 10-year-old boy who can’t sleep
at night because he is worried his immigrant parents will be sent away. A
California art teacher described a fifth-grader who had begun having
"full-blown panic attacks." After fellow students in Washington state had
repeatedly shouted slurs from their cars at one Muslim teenager, her teacher
reported, the girl expressed suicidal thoughts.
For immigrants whose home countries are unsafe places to which they can’t
return, the fear is "tremendous and profound." One teacher observed that the
campaign season is particularly traumatizing for students who have "suffered
through exile, migration and even asylum." Others reported that their Iraqi
and Syrian students are terrified of being sent back to their war-torn
countries.
They’re not just scared. Teachers used words like "hurt" and "dejected" to
describe the impact on their charges. The ideas and language coming from the
presidential candidates are bad enough, but many students--Muslim, Hispanic
and African-American--are far more upset by the number of people, including
classmates and even teachers, who seem to agree with Trump. They are
struggling with the belief that "everyone hates them."
An elementary school administrator in Vancouver, Washington, wrote,
"Students who had undocumented family members and relatives are afraid of
what other kids will think of them if they find out. One [fourth-grade]
student reported that she thought everyone hated her because her mother was
illegal and she didn’t want to come to school. Over 35 percent of our
students are Mexican. I’ve never had this... before this year."
African-American students aren’t exempt from the fears. Many teachers
reported an increase in use of the n-word as a slur, even among very young
children. And black children are burdened with a particularly awful fear
that has been reported from teachers in many states--that they will "be
deported to Africa" or that slavery will be reinstated. As an Oklahoma
elementary teacher explains, "My kids are terrified of Trump becoming
[p]resident. They believe he can/will deport them--and NONE of them are
Hispanic. They are all African American."
Even in schools where a majority of students are African American and don’t
face racial taunts on the playground, students feel uneasy. A teacher in
Ferguson, Missouri, where nearly nine out of 10 students are African
American, says, "We do not have the language and hate of any candidates
repeated at the high school where I teach.... However, I do hear students
wonder if they are being let in on what all white people truly think and
feel. This is so disappointing and hard to combat."
According to their teachers, these vulnerable students feel that Trump is a
"rich racist who hates them." Young children can’t understand why people
hate them without even knowing them. One teacher’s comment, "It breaks my
heart," was echoed by dozens of others.
Another wrote simply that, in her diverse school, "My students have one
thing in common. Apparently America hates them."
Students are confused. Their teachers have worked hard--and often
successfully--to teach them about American ideals. They are, according to
one Boston high school teacher, "confused as to how a person who has no
respect for American ideals can be so popular." On one hand, they are taught
that the United States is a nation of immigrants, but their current
experience doesn’t match the lesson. Many immigrant students feel that "they
don’t belong here" and they have "no value" to the country.
All students, regardless of whether they are members of targeted groups, are
vulnerable to the stress. Kids are worried about their friends and want to
protect them. A Minnesota teacher wrote about her own middle school daughter
who felt terribly guilty after a "dear Muslim friend was called a ‘terrorist’
by another classmate." The teacher reported, "We had a lengthy conversation
about what to do if there was a ‘next time.’"
Teachers struggle to provide safety in their classrooms and reassurance to
their students. Often that means breaking their usual rule against
discussing their own politics and assuring children who "beg [them] not to
vote for Trump because he will send their parents out of the country" that,
indeed, they will not. Others try to explain how our system actually works,
underscoring the point that the president alone doesn’t make laws, or that
it’s unlikely Mr. Trump will actually be elected. But, as one California
teacher explained, "I have tried to reassure my students that no matter the
outcome, they will be okay. I don’t even know if that’s true, but I can’t
have them worry and stress about it."
Teachers work to keep their classrooms respectful. Often that means constant
reminders that the rules for classroom discussion aren’t the same as the
rules on the debate stage. Sometimes it means declaring some things off
limits. "I really don’t want to have his [Trump’s] name invoked in my
classroom," said a teacher from Pennsylvania. "It feels like it makes it an
unsafe place for my students of color."
And often, it means expressing affection. A teacher at a Virginia Title I
(high poverty) school where nearly two-thirds of the students are Hispanic
said, "My second-graders are scared. They’re scared of being sent back to
their home countries. They’re scared of losing their education. As their
teacher, I hug them each day to let them know they are safe and they are
loved."
Students seem "emboldened"
The gains made by years of anti-bullying work in schools have been rolled
back in a few short months. Teachers report that students have been
"emboldened" to use slurs, engage in name-calling and make inflammatory
statements toward each other. When confronted, students point to the
candidates and claim they are "just saying what everyone is thinking." Kids
use the names of candidates as pejoratives to taunt each other.
If marginalized students are fearful and hurting, it’s partly because other
"students seem emboldened to make bigoted and inflammatory statements about
minorities, immigrants, the poor, etc.," wrote a high school teacher in
Michigan.
Teachers in New Hampshire--where the first primary was held--reported some
of the greatest increases in disturbing behavior. One high school teacher
from Westmoreland wrote, "A lot of students think we should kill any and all
people we do not agree with. They also think that all Muslims are the same
and are a threat to our country and way of life. They believe all Muslims
want to kill us."
Muslim students--along with the Sikh and Hindu students who are mistaken for
Muslims--have endured heightened levels of abuse. According to reports from
around the nation, Muslim students regularly endure being called ISIS,
terrorist or bomber. These opinions are expressed boldly and often. Even in
schools where such behavior isn’t tolerated, current-events discussions
often become uncomfortable for teachers and Muslim students.
The harassment of students who are immigrants or children of immigrants is
another particular problem, because nearly one-third of U.S. public school
students have foreign-born parents. Teachers in every state reported hostile
language aimed at immigrants, mainly Mexicans. A Wisconsin middle school
teacher told us, "Openly racist statements towards Mexican students have
increased. Mexican students are worried." A middle school teacher in
Anaheim, California, reported, "Kids tell other kids that soon they will be
deported." Regardless of their ethnic background or even their immigration
or citizenship status, targeted students are taunted with talk of a wall or
threats of forcible removal.
Neither are the slurs limited to schools with immigrant populations. "At the
all-white school where I teach, ‘dirty Mexican’ has become a common insult,"
a Wisconsin middle school educator said. "Before election season it was
never heard." Indeed, what teachers described--slurs and negative comments
repeatedly directed at particular students or groups of students--is
essentially the definition of bullying. In recent years, a large swath of
the American public has been alerted to the dangerous effect of bullying on
school children. It affects health, academic achievement and, in some cases,
leads to self-harm. As a result of efforts at both the state and federal
levels, schools now have comprehensive policies and programs to prevent and
address bullying. In many schools, these programs have made a real
difference in creating a culture of respect. The educators who reported that
the election wasn’t having too much of an effect cited their school’s values
and commitment to civility.
In other places, much of that hard work--achieved over years--is being
undone. A Michigan middle school teacher described an exchange that followed
an anti-bullying assembly: "I had students tell me it [insults,
name-calling, trash talk] isn’t bullying, they’re just ‘telling it like it
is.’"
Or, as a New Mexico high school teacher lamented, "Any unity developed by
Mix It Up at lunchtime has flown out the window."
It’s not just that "they seem to talk more smack," as one Sacramento,
California, elementary teacher wrote. The campaign has actually become part
of the new bullying vocabulary. One New Orleans teacher told us, "Students
have used support of candidates as a ‘dis.’"
We heard reports that both elementary and middle school students have taken
to chanting, "Trump! Trump! Trump!" in a "taunting tone." Others cited an
increase in the use of words like loser and deadbeat. The bullying crosses
party lines. An Albuquerque, New Mexico middle school teacher identified "an
anti-Trump bias" among her students, "and ridicule for those who might
support Trump."
Behavior is harder to manage--and explain
Teachers report an increase in anger and "acting out" among students and a
decreased ability to engage in civil discourse. Discussions turn into
shouting matches, verbal hostility and sometimes even fights.
"Students have become very hostile to opposing points of view, regardless of
the topic," a Jefferson, Georgia high school teacher wrote, adding, "Any
division now elicits anger and personal attacks."
In Pampa, Texas, where 50 percent of the students are Hispanic, "The word
‘Trump’ is enough to derail a class," reported a middle school teacher.
Especially in middle school, where behavior is notoriously hard to manage,
discourse spirals quickly into anger. We heard multiple accounts of students
yelling at each other, and "increased hostility in conversations between
students." A New York City middle school teacher put it succinctly:
"Students on both sides are angry."
Angry words can escalate quickly. "My fifth-graders got in a fist fight on
the playground yesterday," a Queens, New York teacher wrote. "It started
when one of the boys quoted Donald Trump."
Clearly, educators want to prevent those kinds of fights while encouraging a
lively exchange of ideas in healthy debate. One of the goals of education is
to teach students how to make persuasive arguments, support opinions with
facts and listen to the perspectives of others. Those goals are out the
window in many classrooms. A Biddeford, Maine middle school teacher observed
that, "Students are quick to become accusatory and condemn others for having
a different point of view."
Another middle school teacher in Indiana wrote, "Students are more apt to
get into shouting matches than to have a discussion about something."
Students in Merrillville, Indiana, found themselves in the news after
chanting, "Build a wall!" during a basketball game against a rival team made
up of mostly Latino players. Photo
For some students, this level of conflict is hard to handle. "A student said
he’d prefer another Obama term, and it angered another student who has been
vocal about her support of Donald Trump," a Texas high school teacher said.
"The angry student began yelling, ‘What is the matter with you?’ and ‘This
is why I HATE people."
While the increased tension sends some students into tears, other, often
older students, are more likely to find the campaign a springboard to
adolescent humor. The comments indicated that students in middle and high
school, especially boys, seem to have a hard time distinguishing between
entertainment and politics. Not only do they see the campaign, the
candidates and the debates as a joke, but they’re missing the fact that
something significant is happening.
"My students seem more interested in the campaign this year, but only in the
same way they are interested in circling a couple of kids who are about to
fight on the playground," wrote a sixth-grade teacher from Roseville,
California. "It is pure entertainment." A Boston high school teacher
laments, "Our students see the whole presidential campaign as a game, with
the real common people having no real input."
Sometimes a joke just isn’t funny, and students are learning that the hard
way. A Chicago elementary school teacher reported, "Some of the
first-graders were talking about who their parents voted for. One jumped in,
apparently as a joke (because the students are old enough to know that
Donald Trump is an easy butt of a joke), and said ‘What about Donald Trump?’
His friends, not realizing he was joking, proceeded to yell at him until he
cried."
A consistent theme from teachers across grade levels was that their students
understood the behavior on display isn’t okay. Middle school students on New
York’s Long Island "are confused as to how certain campaigns have been
allowed to promote racism, violence and hate." And high school students in
Lake Worth, Florida, display "lots of negativity about the candidates and
the way they speak" and "discuss the immaturity of some of the rhetoric
presented by adults."
Or, as a middle school administrator from Omak, Washington, commented,
"Students do not understand why this has become such an angry and
dishonorable campaign. They are taught better behavior by their teachers,
and then they see this mess on TV and are confused."
Impact on Teaching
Conventional wisdom and common sense dictate that teachers keep their
partisan politics out of the classroom. This year, though, educators are
finding it tough to remain nonpartisan when all the talk about
civility--something they need to uphold in schools--is primarily commentary
on a single candidate. In general, they’ve chosen one of three ways forward.
Some, mainly experienced social studies teachers, are doing what they’ve
always done. Others are making significant changes, opting either to abandon
neutrality or focus on something specific to this year’s campaign, like the
use of rhetoric. And others, including 50 percent of elementary school
teachers who responded to the survey, are simply avoiding it altogether.
The biggest curriculum challenge is figuring what, whether or how to teach
about the election. In most presidential election years, students from
kindergarten to high school get some exposure to the process and the
candidates. Elementary teachers festoon classrooms with red, white and blue,
conduct mock elections, and use the campaign to reinforce lessons on
geography, the presidency and the importance of voting. In middle and high
school, social studies teachers take a deeper dive into both the process and
the issues; they may stage mock debates and voting registration drives for
graduating seniors.
But it’s different this year.
Teachers who normally don’t teach civics are getting involved. In San Diego,
a high school teacher explained, "I am not a history teacher, but the issues
of this election are spilling over into everything." And in Arlington,
Texas, another high school teacher worried about her students who have told
her they "feel alienated from a particular math teacher who advocates for
Trump."
Teachers whose lessons would usually involve the election are struggling to
make plans this year. Some are resolutely plowing ahead, focusing discussion
on issues, insisting students support their claims with evidence from
credible sources. Among the stalwarts who responded to the survey, a few
were downright enthusiastic, like the middle school teacher from New Mexico
who wrote, "The students are more vocal about this election and it’s a great
opportunity to educate them on the facts versus gossip about all
presidential campaigns. It’s also a great opportunity to teach them about
media bias."
But even educators committed to teaching in a way that would allow students
to draw valid conclusions are struggling to find factual age-appropriate
information. Over and over, when telling what they need, teachers listed
factual candidate profiles, facts about the issues and fact-based
explanations of the policy differences. More than one respondent reported
launching a vast exercise on media literacy and fact checking, turning to
sites like PolitiFact (home of the Truth-O-Meter) and procon.com.
"Avoiding it"
Many educators, worried about maintaining both objectivity and order, are
tiptoeing around the campaign. In response to the statement "I am hesitant
to teach about the 2016 presidential election," 43 percent of K-12 educators
answered "yes." That percentage shifts depending on the age of the students
taught; while only 37 percent of high school teachers indicated hesitation,
half the respondents who teach in elementary schools indicated they were
thinking twice.
Some teachers are simply avoiding the campaign altogether. "I’m staying
completely away from teaching about this election," said an Anchorage,
Alaska, elementary teacher. From a teacher in Maryland: "I have just
stopped." In Hawaii: "I try not to talk about it." In California: "I refuse
to teach it."
Avoiding the issue doesn’t sit well with many teachers. A New York middle
school administrator who saw his staff "tiptoeing," explained, "It is so
inflammatory that no one wants to even discuss it. Not good when we should
be talking about issues." In San Antonio, one teacher knew her young
students were missing out. "Last election was amazing in my class!" she
wrote. "We even learned about electoral votes using other first-grade
classrooms. Not this year!! Not touching it!!! Not sure what’s worse, the
candidates or what they stand for!!"
The avoidance often arises from a desire to maintain civility and keep kids
safe and calm. In Arlington, Virginia, a teacher explained, "I try to not
bring it up since it is so stressful for my students." Even in high school,
"I try to be more careful--rather than stoke the fires," wrote one Utah
teacher. In Kansas, a high school teacher sounded apologetic as she
explained, "I bring it up twice a month out of obligation."
The possibility of parental complaints or crossing a principal’s directive
has had a distinctly chilling effect on teachers’ willingness to bring the
election into class. "My principal does not want us discussing politics with
the kids," one Virginia teacher said. To the west in Colorado, an elementary
teacher told us students in her school were arguing so much that "We have
been asked by our principal to encourage students to save political
discussions for home with their parents and with peers outside of school."
Other educators described themselves as politically out of step with the
community and parents. One, from a New England state, pointed to the bottom
line: "I need my job so I must walk this fine line."
"Teaching for our lives"
For many educators, the question is not if the election--and the issues it
raises--needs to be part of their curriculum; the question is how. "The
usual course of an election does not apply here," wrote a Pasadena,
California high school teacher. "It’s been difficult for me because this is
an unprecedented situation."
Faced with the choice between maintaining neutrality and denouncing rhetoric
that’s counter to their values, many respondents indicated they would
abandon neutrality.
When the classroom is filled with brown faces, teachers told us, they felt a
moral imperative to speak out. "I am less neutral," a Jersey City, New
Jersey high school teacher volunteered. "I want to reassure my students I
don’t buy into racist rhetoric." Others echoed the need to stand as allies
to their students.
Educators indicated they are focusing on staying true to the ideals and
values of their schools. A Blue Hill, Maine elementary school teacher
explained, "I am more vocal. I make connections between how we are expected
to treat each other at school and how the candidates treat each other and
segments of the population." A Michigan teacher added, "Normally I don’t
tell students about my political opinions. This year I feel it is
appropriate to say that I wouldn’t vote for someone who isn’t going to be
respectful of others."
A Renton, Washington high school teacher said, "For the first time in my
career, I state bluntly what is appropriate conduct for a candidate for this
country’s highest office." She spelled it out for students: "If it can get
you suspended from high school, you shouldn’t be espousing it as a
candidate." Another Washington teacher wrote, "This is probably the first
time I haven’t been unbiased about it. My students need to know that some of
what they are witnessing is not okay."
In schools where student partisanship leans heavily to one side, educators
find themselves needing to speak up for students whose political values are
in the minority. "The rhetoric has set up a school community that is hostile
to conservatives and the Republican Party," a Michigan high school teacher
said. "It makes it difficult if not impossible to not take sides in my
classroom because I can’t be silent in the face of this kind of rhetoric,
lest I lose my students’ respect or trust."
No one can fault an educator who stands up for values like respect, dignity
and honesty--values that have long been central to character education and
anti-bullying programs. But this year has pushed some educators to go
further and take risks. "I have thrown caution into the wind and have spoken
out against certain candidates which I have NEVER done," wrote a Michigan
high school teacher, "but I feel it’s my duty to speak out against
ignorance!"
These are high-stakes decisions. Several wrote about parents registering
complaints when they raised issues of values, fact-checking and critical
thinking. But, as one Indianapolis high school teacher put it, "I am at a
point where I’m going to take a stand even if it costs me my position."
In Washington state, one high school teacher admitted, "I am teaching off
the hook before anyone ‘catches’ me and puts me in a Common Core box; we are
reading Howard Zinn, Anne Frank, Haig Bosmajian, Jane Yolen, Ayn Rand,
George Orwell and survivors’ testimonies from the Holocaust and the
genocides around the world.... I am making it as real and as connected to my
students as I can. I feel like I am teaching for our lives."
High stakes for all of us
Every presidential election is important, of course. What may be most
important about this election is something few pundits have talked about:
its impact on the next generation of voters.
What’s at stake in 2016 is not simply who will be our 45th president or how
the parties might realign, but how well we are preparing young people for
their most important job: the job of being a citizen. If schools avoid the
election--or fail to find ways to help students discuss it productively--it’s
akin to taking civics out of the curriculum.
Public schools were established in the 19th century mainly to serve a civic
mission and ensure that our system of self-government would survive. That
mission continues today. Preparing students for citizenship continues to be
one of the three broad goals that all sides have agreed must be the purpose
of schools: college, career and citizenship.
Since the 1970s, voter participation rates have steadily declined, to the
point that only 57.5 percent of eligible voters turned out for the 2012
presidential election. Will this election inspire more students to become
voters when they turn 18, or will it add to the burden of voter apathy?
The good news is--according to the survey respondents--young people are
taking an interest in politics, more than they have in years. That message
came in from across the country. In Oakland, California, middle school
students "go home to watch the news with their families on their own. They
ask for permission to research and blog about political candidates and
speeches every day." In Massachusetts, a high school teacher says it’s the
"one positive" impact of the election on her students. "They WANT to know
how primaries and conventions look, what limitations on a president’s power
exist, and what other elections have been so outrageous," she wrote. Middle
schoolers in Tampa, Florida, "are completely immersed," says their teacher.
"They engage in intense debate about it in and out of the classroom." And,
in Pleasanton, California, another middle school teacher reports, "For the
first time in my 20 years of teaching I have a group of students who have
formed a Politics Club."
But what about the schools that aren’t even teaching the election this year,
or where students feel disillusioned or disconnected? The survey gave ample
evidence that--even if students are more interested in this year’s
campaign--this election cycle may also be diminishing their faith in
electoral politics. "The sad part is that students are losing respect for
the political process and for the office of the [p]resident," said a high
school teacher from East Hartford, Connecticut. "They see the candidates as
jokes and are offended and dismayed for the future."
A New York high school teacher summed up the dilemma. "They are increasingly
political (which is good)," she wrote, "but the extreme rhetoric being
modeled is not helping their ability to utilize reason and evidence, rather
than replying in kind."
Learning to participate in government, even simply as an informed voter,
cannot be achieved by interest alone. Preparation for the job of citizen
means developing a civic disposition, like being willing to listen to
multiple points of view, debate issues, support claims and work with others.
Citizens must understand fundamental principles like the role of free speech
and of a free press; the fact that majority rule can never undercut minority
rights; and the rule of law. What makes presidential elections so
compelling--most of the time--is that they’re live, real-time case studies
in civic life. While no election or candidate is a paradigm of civic virtue,
and there have been some disgraceful election campaigns in our past, this
one stands out for modeling the worst kind of behavior.
"One of the things that worries me is that this is the first presidential
campaign my high school students are old enough to understand," an Edmonds,
Washington teacher said. "I hope they don’t walk away thinking this is what
politics is all about."
About The Survey
The discussion in this report summarizes responses to questions posed by
Teaching Tolerance via an informal online survey conducted from March 23 to
April 2, 2016.
A link to the survey was sent to educators who subscribe to the Teaching
Tolerance newsletter and was also shared on Teaching Tolerance’s social
media sites. It was open to any educator who wanted to participate. Several
other groups, including Facing History and Ourselves and Teaching for
Change, also shared the survey link with their social media audiences.
Respondents were asked if they agreed or disagreed with each of the
following statements:
There has been an increase in anti-immigrant sentiment at my school since
the 2016 presidential campaign began.
There has been an increase in anti-Muslim sentiment at my school since the
2016 presidential campaign began.
I have heard an increase in uncivil political discourse at my school since
the 2016 presidential campaign began.
My students have expressed concern about what might happen to them or their
families after the election.
Respondents were also able to provide free responses to these open-ended
questions:
How have you seen the rhetoric of this year’s presidential campaign affect
your students? Your school?
If you have witnessed bullying or biased language at your school--from
adults or students--that mimics the rhetoric of the campaign, please tell us
about it.
Have you changed the way you approach teaching about the election this year?
If so, how?
What resources do you need to help you teach safely and effectively about
the 2016 election?
Do you have additional comments?
In the course of just over a week, almost 2,000 people responded to the
survey. Collectively, they submitted over 5,000 comments. Nearly all
respondents identified themselves by name, email address, grade level and
state.
