In what used to be a perfect time for a lesson in how government works, the tone of the presidential campaign this year is creating uncomfortable conversations in high school classrooms. Some civics teachers say they’ve been faced with questions that would typically not be topics of conversation in their classrooms. Biology teacher Frank Burger, of Flint Township.
“We have a lot of Muslim students where I teach, and I had a young lady come into one of my classes and she was crying, and I said, ‘Honey, what’s wrong?’ And she just was sobbing so much, she said, ‘I’m afraid I’m going to get shipped back to my home country if Donald Trump becomes the president of the United States.’ I truly believe the students are listening.”
In a survey conducted this year by the Southern Poverty Law Center, more than two-thirds of the teachers reported that some students, mainly children of immigrants and Muslims, have said they’re worried about what might happen to their families after the election.
