LANSING (WKZO-AM) — They are calling it the “Trump Effect” and educators across the nation say it’s having a negative impact on the nation’s youth.
The Southern Poverty Law Center conducted a survey of 2,000 teachers and found it has several components. The primary effect is an increase in bullying because students copy the behavior of adults. They now think they have license to act badly.
A prominent secondary effect is a fear engendered among Hispanic, Muslim and immigrant children that they or family members face deportation if Donald Trump wins.
Lansing Spanish teacher Alfonzo Salais said he has seen examples of each. He says there has been a lot of additional bullying.
“Because there are a lot of students that are feeling free to be able to express themselves in negative ways because of the words that they are watching in the news about building a wall and not letting certain groups into the country,” Salais said.
He said he has a student from Somalia who has been told she should “go back to Africa,” and that she “is the reason Ebola is here in the United States.”
He said his own son has expressed fears about his family’s safety, because they are originally from Mexico, after watching the evening news. He had to assure the boy that they are all legalized citizens and would be permitted to stay.
Salais said they are planning programs and stepping up anti-bullying campaigns in their district to try and address the problem.
There are reports that suggest that some of the tension, anger and bitterness that have been a feature of the presidential race are rubbing off on adults as well, and it works both ways.
Both Democratic and Republican officials in Kalamazoo report a rash of lawn sign thefts and GOP party Chair Scott McGraw says their headquarters in Portage was assaulted by anti-gun activists early Monday, sometime after the second debate.
He says they pasted vulgar stickers to their door and took all their Trump yard signs.
