Repairing Our Civic Discourse – Teachers’ Role
When I woke up on November 9th, I had to explain to my children, aged 7 and 9, that Donald Trump is going to be the next President of the United States. They cried. They cried because they know, at most, a fraction of the horrible things he has said in his campaign and that was enough to convince them that he should not be President. They cried because although they are young, they believe that America is a country for everyone and that Donald Trump has attacked that ideal. They cried because they have friends and people they care about who are terrified that a Trump administration will break apart their families. They cried because we have taught them to value kindness and respect and to abhor bullies.
I cried with them and told them that we would always protect them and that our job now is to make certain if our new President tries to hurt anyone that we protect them. My children are fortunate, though – their fear quickly subsided probably because they have never personally experienced the injustices promised by the incoming administration, and because as children of white, professional parents they are inclined to believe that they have strength in our society. Friends of mine who teach in schools with minority, immigrant, and Muslim children had much harder work trying to allay their students’ genuine apprehension about what might be coming. And my friends are not alone in New York City or elsewhere for that matter. A teacher in Chicago set up this message for students:
As they are almost always called upon to do, teachers this week have been seeking ways to help anxious and shocked students to cope with circumstances that are both beyond their control and threatening to their well being. I do not need to reiterate the ways in which a Trump Presidency is poised to harm millions of our students – his campaign promises make that crystal clear as does the bigoted and inflammatory rhetoric with which he made those promises. His enablers assure us that he intends to be the President for “all” Americans, but many of his supporters appear to have very clear ideas of what his victory means, so even if President Trump takes a softer stance than candidate Trump, he has unleashed Repairing Our Civic Discourse – Teachers’ Role | Daniel Katz, Ph.D.: