If you’re like me, you may have had a visceral reaction to the images above: it pains me to even place one of these anywhere near my actual life. Yet it would be difficult for me to discuss my career in teaching without bringing the subject of politics up, at least for a few minutes. You see, the classroom is a microcosm of the surrounding culture and society, so politics and elections cannot be ignored during school hours. Or can they?

In the year 2008, the US became a legitimately decent person by electing Barack Obama. He was/is super smart, knowledgable, empathetic, kind, loyal, a good father and husband and even athelete, unprejudiced, respectful, humorous, and dammit–he can even sing. It was all I could do to NOT do backflips in my classroom when he won the election, but I held back. Moreover, as the sponsor of the “Young Democrats” club at my high school, I tried not to mix any club activities with my classes.

Here’s why: many students, not all, but many are highly influenced by some or most of their teachers. I certainly was. Ms. Rifkin, my tenth grade English teacher inspired my career. Yet, that influence can and often is used in inappropriate and frankly unfair ways. Electioneering is one of them. During the 2000’s, I had friends who were vocal in their classes about their support for the Democrats, and if they encountered a student who disagreed, they would actually debate and try to convince them otherwise.

This is not fair. When a teacher proselytizes (had to look the spelling of that one up!) about anything, they are abusing their power and authority. I’ve always felt this as a strong moral decision I had to make early on. During that election season, one of my best friends actually had political signs up in her classroom. Like I said, it was difficult to contain my glee when Obama won, but contain it I did.

For the next eight years, I noticed something that was encouraging first and then delightful. I’ll digress into history for just a moment: black students since the beginning of desegregation have been marginalized by all of the types of racism that exist so profoundly, especially in this country. One of the manifestations of this marginalization is that a large percentage of our African-American students had not fared nearly as well in school as other ethnic groups, such as white or Asian. Admittedly, I did not have as much sensitivity to this situation during the 1980’s and 90’s as I do now. (I thank the amazing Toni Morrison for my enlightenment, but more about that another time.)

However, during Obama’s eight year term, a fascinating almost reversal occurred: my black students were rising to the top of many of my classes. It was remarkable. Frankly, I attributed this (after hours and years of contemplation) to the role model position that Obama inhabited. It was a phenomena that crept in slowly at first, but it was prominently obvious into 2010 and onward. We were on the cusp of reversing our tragic and pathetic racial history.

And then…

What can I even say? Many Americans were duped into believing that the most horrible person on earth would make a good president. I’m not going to list the reasons for feeling this way here. I’ve engaged in too many toxic, vitriolic debates and discussions and actually have suffered complete rifts with previously-held friends and family members. Everyone knows and has experienced this by now. Everyone on the planet. I’m saying nothing new.

Yet, dealing with the intense feelings I was experiencing while I was teaching beginning in 2016 and onward was tremendously challenging. How could I ignore what was happening? It was and is, as stated, my heartfelt policy not to politic or influence student opinions in any way. I want them to arrive at their own decisions –even if their views are a direct result of their parents’ and/or relatives’ views, and even if they are “wrong.“

The day after the maniac won, I could hardly move or get out of bed. In fact, I had fallen asleep in front of my computer watching a map of the country seemingly turn blue early in the evening. When I awakened to a screen of red, I didn’t think I could survive. I thought I’d have a heart attack or stroke.

But I did survive. In a series of actions which were entirely against my policy, I wore black mourning clothes for a week and removed the flag from my classroom wall. I didn’t utter a word to the students about it: I pretended as if nothing had happened. If a student brought it up, I changed the subject immediately.

In fact, I believe that teachers are “an arm of The State,” and that we should represent the values and ideals of the country in order for students to receive a solid civic education, no matter what subject we teach. In the 1800’s a court case in Kalamazoo, Michigan ruled that public education was compulsory for children 16 and under. And why? Because being surrounded by an ethical and educated citizenry is desirable for everyone. Likewise, the opposite (unethical and uneducated) becomes a danger to all. An unschooled citizenry is sure to cross over into just about everyone’s lives and front yards eventually.

If anyone would have told me that ten years later, I still cannot mention one word about the current presidency or administration in class, I wouldn’t have believed it. The students certainly do discuss it, especially the supporters of the current mother@###@!! sh@!!@#head.

To my students, I remain mute on the topic. What President? We don’t have one. Arm of the State? No, as a teacher I am just an independent well-wisher with hopes that my students will be able to once again live in a time when school feels like a safe place and when the country seems like a sane place. In my classroom, we don’t learn civic education anymore. We learn reading, writing, and all of that without any mention of the outer layers or workings of the country. John Donne once said, “No man is an island..” but my classes have become their own little islands of isolation.

Here is an article about Politics and the Classroom:

https://ewa.org/news-explainers/how-politics-affects-education