Frankly, no one will soon forget just how disastrous the first round of 2020 presidential debates was earlier this week — and it was all due to Donald Trump and his blatant disregard for any sort of structure or basic respect.
We all watched on in horror as Trump spent the entire public event refusing to follow even a semblance of the rules, screeching and screaming over both the moderator and his opponent, blatantly ignoring his time limits, and interrupting at every conceivable opportunity to interject as many lies as he could possibly fit into the segment.
I would say that it felt like watching children duke it out on a stage. But, honestly, that’s an insult to children. And as it turns out, I’m not the only one who feels that way.
In a bombshell report from The Mercury News, teachers are speaking out against what took place during the presidential debates and navigating how to teach their kids that what they witness is not right.
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After watching Tuesday night’s dumpster fire, Palo Alto High School debate teacher Sarah Youngquist said, “you’d probably be kicked out if you behaved that way.”
Tokay High School’s Kris Goldstein has instructed his government students to watch the presidential debates, only to find himself apologizing the next morning.
Telling his students, “That was an absolute disgrace to American democracy. That was not a normal way to debate.”
Goldstein, who, like many of his fellow teachers across the country is trying to navigate a virtual atmosphere with his students added, “I’ve been trying to emphasize that this is not normal. I feel very bad for them…they’re coming of age, seeing this.”
Similar to Youngquist, Goldstein explained that his government students “would lose instantly and have disqualifications” should they display the sort of behavior we saw Tuesday night. “I’ve never in my 10 years of doing this ever had a student do that.”
Teachers weren’t the only ones to weigh in on the mess, either.
15-year-old Palo Alto High debate team member, Ethan Boneh, said, “It’s kind of saddening that this is the state of the presidential debate. Fundamentally debate is supposed to be a productive thing…Honestly, with this kind of debate, I don’t see supporters on either side going over to the other side.”
Youngquist said she was hoping for an opportunity for her students to “break down the arguments. Unfortunately, mostly what we saw were fallacies.”
But, short of a few lessons they could garner from Chris Wallace, “overall, I don’t think it was super educational.”
Goldstein added, “I just hope for the sake of my students that they do get to experience a return to more normal civil discourse. This is like something they’d see on Jersey Shore.”
You can read the full report here.
Featured image via Political Tribune gallery
