A survey of U.S. teachers found that Donald Trump and the 2016 campaign are scaring the heck out of American students.
A survey of about 2000 K-12 teachers was conducted by Teaching Tolerance, a project of The Southern Poverty Law Center.
It was an unscientific survey, conducted online. But the results are more than a little disturbing. 67 percent of teachers reported students of color and/or Muslims worry about what might happen to them after the election.
“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.”
Some of the report’s findings are just heartbreaking:
“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.'”
“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.'”
“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.”
This is having an effect on teachers, too. The report notes they are “stymied” by the conflicting needs of impartiality as well as worries about how the campaign is affecting their students.
So if we can’t dump Trump for our own sake, we need to do it for the sake of our children.
Featured image via Getty Images/John Moore.
