San Francisco

San Francisco School Teacher Proposes ‘Anti-Racist, Anti-Sexist, Anti-Islamophobic & Anti-Homophobic' Trump Lesson Plan

A new political controversy is brewing in San Francisco: teachers are being offered what some call a Donald Trump lesson plan.

Supporters say it’s a way to help students understand the election, but opponents counter that it is leftist propaganda meant to scare children about the incoming president.

Fakhra Shah, a teacher at Mission High School, drafted the plan with the goal of empowering students, she said.

“This is anti-hate,” Shah said. “This is not just anti-Trump.”

On the heels of Trump’s stunning Nov. 8 victory, Shah wrote a letter to staff, in which she said, “A racist and sexist man has become president.” She also urged them to use a new, optional lesson plan that will allow students to say what’s on their minds.

"This is an anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-Islamophobic [and] anti-homophobic philosophy," Shah wrote in the lesson plan. "This is a philosophy about upliftment, hope and justice."

It's a philosophy that's meant to help students feel heard and teachers are encouraged to tell them, "We are there for you. We will talk about this,’” Shah explained.

The plan also asks teachers to assuage students as fears and rumors of deportation run rampant. "We do not have to go anywhere, not Canada, not ‘back’ to any place we came from," Shah wrote.

According to Shah, the lesson plan is about being open regarding the President-elect’s agenda.

“I want to be clear that we are not brainwashing anyone,” Shah stressed. “This is about a dialogue.”

Lita Blanc is with United Educators of San Francisco, a union that has posted the Trump teaching plan on their website. 

"Many people in this country have had a strong reaction to what's happened and I think the framework that was provided is a decent framework," Blanc said.

But Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the Republican Party in San Francisco, strongly disagrees, saying there is a clear agenda at work.

"This is a specific anti-Trump agenda teaching students they need to be afraid for the next four years, that they are at risk," she said.

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