Teacher: ‘If Donald Trump gets elected, will me and my family be deported?’ — and other questions from 9-year-olds
Political discussions can be sensitive for teachers to lead — especially when young students ask direct and personal questions. How much should teachers reveal about their personal political views? How heated should political discussions be allowed to get in a classroom?
A teacher at one independent school in California e-mailed me recently saying that she and her colleagues were told by administrators to show respect to all views, including those of Donald Trump, who has become known in the campaign for his strong views on building a wall to keep illegal immigrants coming from Mexico and for not allowing Muslims into the United States for an unspecified period of time. This teacher — who requested anonymity because she feared for her job — said she wanted to distinguish Trump’s views from those held by some of the other candidates but felt that she couldn’t.
Here is a post about one such classroom political discussion by Mary Sypek, a student teacher at a Boston elementary school, who makes clear to her students her negative opinions of Trump. This appeared on the Edushyster website of Jennifer Berkshire, freelance journalist and public education advocate who worked for six years editing a newspaper for the American Federation of Teachers in Massachusetts. She gave me permission to run this post.
Do you think teachers should express their political views in the classroom, as this teacher does? Do you have examples of similar conversations about any of the current candidates for president? Share them with me:Valerie.strauss@washpost.com
By Mary Sypek
“Ms. Sypek, what do you think of Donald Trump?” a male student asks. I try to think of an answer that’s both diplomatic and clear. “I don’t really like Donald Trump,” is what I decided to say, to which he promptly responds, “I don’t like Donald Trump either.” I exhale, hoping I have managed to escape the topic of Trump without too much of a hassle. I am wrong.
It’s literacy time in a fourth-grade teacher’s classroom. Students are working with partners and in small groups to read Teacher: ‘If Donald Trump gets elected, will me and my family be deported?’ — and other questions from 9-year-olds - The Washington Post:
