Educators stage mass teach-in to stop incarceration of immigrant children
Hundreds of teachers of the year and other educators from across the country are participating in a daylong teach-in Feb. 17 in El Paso, Texas, to draw the nation’s attention to the more than 10,000 immigrant children detained in overcrowded federal facilities and at risk of “significant psychological injury.”
Teachers Against Child Detention (TACD), a group of teachers led by Mandy Manning, the 2018 National Teacher of the Year, argues that the mass detention of children “violates their fundamental rights and can cause irreparable damage to their well-being and development.”
“I would hope that people wouldn’t see locking up children as ‘Republican’ or ‘Democrat.’ These are children, and I’m a teacher,” said Manning, who teaches high English in Spokane, Wash.
Organizers of the 10-hour Teach-in for Freedom, who aim to have at least one teacher from each state, have asked participating teachers to prepare a block of instruction on child incarceration, immigration or some other related topic.
For educators, concern for the well-being and safety of children and students has always been at the heart of who they are. “When children come to our country, they belong to us collectively as Americans. Every child in our care deserves that same safety and nurturing that I strive to give to my students,” said Michael Soskil, the 2017 Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year.
Soskil said educators “are uniquely positioned to speak for children in a way that cuts through the political polarization that we see in our country right now. . . Keeping children safe so that they can reach their potential is what we do. It’s time for us to use our voice to demand our government stop incarcerating children, not because it is a Democratic issue or a Republican issue, but because we are the protectors of children in this country.”
“As teachers, our life’s work is protecting and nurturing children,” explains TACD on its website. “TACD calls on all educators to act as mandatory reporters and speak out against the atrocities CONTINUE READING: Educators stage mass teach-in to stop incarceration of immigrant children - Education Votes