rural, conservative area. There are some Democrats. There are tea partiers and survivalist types. They voted for Obama in '08, not in '12.
I teach 12 yos. First of all, if parents buy their kids this shirt, it won't be worn at school. While we don't have the draconian dress codes found in many places, we do have "no clothing with messages that disrupt or distract from learning."
I know that many of my students' families support Trump. We've already had one incident in which a student tried to start a Trump campaign rally in the middle of class. I then had to explain to angry parents why I shut it down. Fortunately, when they understood that the class was not having a campaign-related discussion, was not working on anything remotely connected to politics, but were analyzing a character in a novel, and that the "rally" stopped all learning in the classroom, it was then the kid who "got in trouble" at home.
My 13 yo class, on the other hand, had an assignment to analyze the first debate last week. I told them I didn't care who they or their families preferred, that we weren't campaigning, but analyzing the process of the debate and the strengths and weaknesses of the performances. And they had to report back without bias, no matter how difficult that would be. All of these students have had instruction and experience in actual formal debates, with judges, at some point in their careers here. So they noted that "it wasn't a real debate," because it didn't follow the rules they've learned. They noted instances of fallacies and outright falsehoods. They had a 45 minute discussion, nobody wearing campaign slogans or bringing their own preferences into the room. They were more insightful, and it was a more substantive discussion, than any I've heard from adults online. When they wanted to challenge something that someone said, they didn't use personal attacks; they simply said, "evidence?"
Two of the comments that I heard that day:
"Well, Clinton is clearly the better debater. She has more knowledge, more skills, and led him down the garden path several times. Trump, on the other hand, really knows how to rile people up."
"Something to walk away with is that Donald Trump says despicable things but Hillary Clinton has a terrifying track record."
My point? Kids can be taught to discuss hot issues respectfully and substantially. This pair of 12 year-olds have not been, and that is on the adults in their lives. Finally, if they were shirts just as offensive but in support of Clinton and putting down Trump, I guarantee some right here at DU would be cheering them on.
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