Расистские высказывания в школах: как изменилась ситуация за последние 6 лет? Мой опыт

This is my 18th year working in public education. In the first 12ish years of my career, I never ever encountered students saying deeply offensive and racist remarks about a group of people or directly to a student who is a part of a marginalized group.

Despite growing up in an extremely progressive and diverse area, I have mostly worked in schools/areas that are predominantly white since I’ve spent all of my career in rural areas. I’ve now lived in my community for 14 years.

Sadly, things started shifting slowly over the course of the last 6+ years to the point where I am now dealing with racist remarks on a semi-regular basis. The fact that this shift occurred during the first few years of the first Trump administration and has ramped up significantly since then is not lost on me or my colleagues.

Children learn through observation. And the adults in our country are leading our children down a deeply disturbing path. It’s so incredibly disheartening to watch this behavior in our children. I’m thankful for my upbringing because it helped shaped me into someone who has zero time for overtly or thinly veiled racism. Not happening on my watch. Period.

Schools are not perfect, but do you know what they are? They are a reflection of our society as a whole. And what is being reflected is abhorrent.

Our children deserve better than this. If you’re not alarmed then you’re not paying attention.

If you’re not paying attention then shame. on. you.