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The National Education Association says Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant stance is emboldening schoolyard bullies.
Back when she was teaching sixth grade in Utah, Lily Eskelsen García liked to use the presidential election as a civics lesson every four years. She would assign her students to watch the debates and interview their parents about the candidates.
But today, she says she wouldn’t urge them to tune in for the hate-fueled debacle that is 2016.
“I’m not so sure I’d really want my kids to watch this debate,” said Eskelsen García, now president of the National Education Association, on a call with reporters Monday. “It’s really kind of disturbing what they’re hearing out there.”
The NEA is the largest labor union in the country and represents 3 million educators, roughly three-quarters of them women. It has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, and now it’s leading a campaign that portrays her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, as a schoolyard bully who’s filling children with hate.
The union, which has steered at least $1 million to a Clinton-affiliated super PAC, plans to run online ads and send mailers to voters’ homes hammering that message in battleground states.
“There is bullying going on, and [there are] children who feel that they are given permission to repeat some of the things they’re hearing out of Donald Trump’s mouth,” Eskelsen García said.
The Clinton campaign and its allies have referred to the GOP nominee’s alleged influence as the “Trump Effect.” Its existence hasn’t been scientifically proven, but anecdotes from schools are out there. Eskelsen García referenced one of them: White students at a high school basketball game in Indiana holding up a picture of Trump and shouting “Build a wall” to their opponents from a largely Latino school.
Trump has lashed out against Mexican and Muslim immigrants, vowing to return all undocumented immigrants to their countries of origin and to ban Muslims from entering the United States.
More: Teachers Union Claims ‘The Trump Effect’ Is Warping Kids’ Minds
This is really sad - but not surprising.
Back when she was teaching sixth grade in Utah, Lily Eskelsen García liked to use the presidential election as a civics lesson every four years. She would assign her students to watch the debates and interview their parents about the candidates.
But today, she says she wouldn’t urge them to tune in for the hate-fueled debacle that is 2016.
“I’m not so sure I’d really want my kids to watch this debate,” said Eskelsen García, now president of the National Education Association, on a call with reporters Monday. “It’s really kind of disturbing what they’re hearing out there.”
The NEA is the largest labor union in the country and represents 3 million educators, roughly three-quarters of them women. It has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, and now it’s leading a campaign that portrays her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, as a schoolyard bully who’s filling children with hate.
The union, which has steered at least $1 million to a Clinton-affiliated super PAC, plans to run online ads and send mailers to voters’ homes hammering that message in battleground states.
“There is bullying going on, and [there are] children who feel that they are given permission to repeat some of the things they’re hearing out of Donald Trump’s mouth,” Eskelsen García said.
The Clinton campaign and its allies have referred to the GOP nominee’s alleged influence as the “Trump Effect.” Its existence hasn’t been scientifically proven, but anecdotes from schools are out there. Eskelsen García referenced one of them: White students at a high school basketball game in Indiana holding up a picture of Trump and shouting “Build a wall” to their opponents from a largely Latino school.
Trump has lashed out against Mexican and Muslim immigrants, vowing to return all undocumented immigrants to their countries of origin and to ban Muslims from entering the United States.
"There is bullying going on, and [there are] children who feel that they are given permission to repeat some of the things they’re hearing out of Donald Trump’s mouth." --Lily Eskelsen García, National Education Association
More: Teachers Union Claims ‘The Trump Effect’ Is Warping Kids’ Minds
This is really sad - but not surprising.