By Booth Gunter

Every four years, educators across the country look to the presidential election for teachable lessons about the electoral process, democracy, government and the responsibilities of citizenship. But this year is starkly different than any in recent memory. The Southern Poverty Law Center surveyed approximately 2,000 teachers and found that the campaign is producing an alarming level of fear and anxiety among children of color, and inflaming racial and ethnic tensions in classrooms across America.

Many students have been emboldened by the divisive, often juvenile, rhetoric in the campaign. Teachers have noted an increase in bullying, harassment and intimidation of students whose races, religions or nationalities have been the verbal targets of candidates on the campaign trail. The SPLC published the findings in a report – “The Trump Effect: The Impact of the Presidential Campaign on our Nation’s Schools” – released in April.

“We’re deeply concerned about the level of fear among minority children who feel threatened by both the incendiary campaign rhetoric and the bullying they’re encountering in school,” said SPLC President Richard Cohen. “We’ve seen Donald Trump behave like a 12-year-old, and now we’re seeing 12-year-olds behave like Donald Trump.”

The online survey, conducted by the SPLC’s Teaching Tolerance project from March 23 to April 2, is not scientific, but it provides a rich source of information about the impact of this year’s election on the country’s classrooms.

The data, including 5,000 comments from educators, shows a disturbing nationwide problem, one that is particularly acute in schools with high concentrations of minority children. More than two-thirds of the teachers reported that students – mainly immigrants, children of immigrants and Muslims – have expressed concerns or fears about what might happen to them or their families after the election. More than half observed increasingly uncivil political discourse. More than one-third have seen an increase in anti-Muslim or anti-immigrant sentiment. Almost half are hesitant to teach about the election.

While the survey did not identify particular candidates, more than 1,000 comments mentioned Donald Trump by name. In contrast, a total of fewer than 200 contained the names Ted Cruz, Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton. More than 500 comments used the words “fear,” “scared,” “afraid,” “anxious” or “terrified” to describe the campaign’s impact on minority students. The report and all of the teacher comments are posted on the SPLC website at www.splcenter.org.

“My students are terrified of Donald Trump,” wrote a middle school teacher from a school with a large population of African-American Muslims. “They think that if he’s elected, all black people will get sent back to Africa.” In Tennessee, a kindergarten teacher said one Latino child – told by classmates that he will be deported and kept from returning home by a wall – asks every day, “Is the wall here yet?”

Educators, meanwhile, are perplexed and conflicted about what to do. They report being stymied by the need to remain nonpartisan but disturbed by the anxiety in their classrooms and the lessons that children may be absorbing from this campaign. “Schools are finding that their anti-bullying work is being tested and, in many places, falling apart,” said Teaching Tolerance Director Maureen Costello, author of the report. “Most teachers seem to feel they need to make a choice between teaching about the election or protecting their kids. In elementary school, half have decided to avoid it. In middle and high schools, we’re seeing more who have decided, for the first time, not to be neutral.”

The long-term impact on children’s well-being, their behavior or their civic education is impossible to gauge. The SPLC urged educators to use instances of incivility as teaching moments, and to support children who are hurt, confused or frightened. Teaching Tolerance released a set of online resources to help teachers who choose to navigate this difficult terrain.

Booth Gunter is a senior editor for the Southern Poverty Law Center. Based in Alabama, with offices in Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi, the SPLC is a nonprofit civil-rights organization dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry, and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of society. For more information, visit www.splcenter.org.