How Are Teachers Handling the "Trump Era"?

@anniepa (27955)
United States
December 28, 2017 11:55am CST
I don't even know if they still teach it but I remember loving Civics class when I was in 9th grade. The only thing I didn't like was that the year I had it was a gubernatorial election in my state instead of a Presidential election. It was still fun but I knew it would be really fun it we were electing the next POTUS. Anyway, we had a running assignment to bring in newspaper clips and take notes on current events to discuss in class each day. We also ran a mock campaign where we'd make up our own slogans and jingles. I'm trying to imagine what that would all look like today. How does a teacher discuss a candidate for the U.S. Senate who was accused of molesting a 14 year old with a classroom full of 14 year old students? How does he or she address the fact that the man in the White House was also accused of raping a 13 year old girl and of assaulting nearly 20 other women? What does he or she say about a "POTUS" who says and tweets things, usually about other people, that would get his or her students suspended or put into detention if they behaved half that bad? How does a teacher tell young kids they should respect the office of the Presidency of the United States when the person currently in that office has literally done nothing in his life worthy of respect? Maybe most schools don't teach Civics anymore. Maybe for the first time ever that's a good thing if they don't...
4 people like this
3 responses
@MALUSE (69413)
• Germany
28 Dec 17
Teaching can be hard if you have to deal with current affairs. I've always wondered what teachers told their pupils when the GDR (German Democratic Republic) had disappeared and Germany was reunited. They had had to teach Marxism-Leninism to their pupils if they were convinced of it or not. And then, when the wall had come down, nothing of what they had taught was the right thing anymore.
2 people like this
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
28 Dec 17
I wasn't thinking about how they dealt with things in those other countries. I guess I've always just taken fro granted how things used to be in America. I'm also wondering how much the kids were actually taught in places like East Germany and in the former Soviet Union and now Russia. I can't imagine them having real discussions about current events the way we did here all those years ago.
@skydream (1446)
• Agate, Colorado
28 Dec 17
At my school we never learned about current politics in Civics we always learned about past, I assume they try to not talk about it much as most of us find him a disgusting person and they aren't supposed to put their opinion in there. I think it would also depend on grade in high school i think they just talk about how the votes work but in college they talk about it more because it's more laid back when it comes to teachers saying how they feel
1 person likes this
@Plethos (13560)
• United States
28 Dec 17
I vaguely remember civics class.
1 person likes this