Donald Trump’s Election Has Had “A Profoundly Negative Effect” On Students, Says Hate Watch Group
A new report from The Southern Poverty Law Center states this is “nothing short of a crisis.”
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has found that 90% of over 10,000 educators surveyed for a new report entitled "The Trump Effect" say the election of Donald Trump has worsened the "mood and behavior" of students in their schools.
SPLC's further conclusions, gleaned from over 25,000 responses to individual questions, are also troubling:
- Eight of every ten educators report "heightened anxiety" from marginalized students from communities like LGBT, Muslim, immigrant, and African-American.
- Four of every ten have directly heard prejudiced language directed at these groups. Many teachers who were not hearing this language said that it was because their student body are exclusively targeted groups.
- Five of every ten said that students were attacking each other based on which candidate they had supported.
- Four of every ten said that they do not believe that their school's administration is doing enough to address these problems.
The report notes that, "many teachers took pains to point out that the incidents they were reporting represent a distinct uptick; these dynamics are new and can be traced directly to the results of the election."
The SPLC suggests its data corroborates the case that new reports of racist attacks and behavior in schools have not been exaggerated. "The findings show that teachers, principals and district leaders will have an oversized job this year as they work to heal the rifts within school communities," the SPLC adds.
Read the entire report here. It also includes specific instances of hate speech and a plan from the SPLC for fighting the post-election problems.