To the Editor:
The March 31, 2016, Education Week Teacher e-newsletter highlighted an opinion blog post on Donald Trump, which had no place in this professional publication (“The Challenges of Teaching Civics in the Age of Trump”).
Selecting this blog post to appear in the e-newsletter imposes this teacher’s personal political perceptions on others. It is not only the wrong forum for this type of content, it was also highly unprofessional and irresponsible for the editor to highlight it. It discredits the e-newsletter and causes the reader to perceive Education Week Teacher as an unreliable source for objective academic work and research. It is also quite alarming that a teacher cannot contain her personal opinion in the classroom, whether it be for a structured civics lesson or in this case, an informal conversation with students.
The editor should consider the content for the e-newsletter more carefully for alignment of articles to the publication’s mission and not squander any additional space to publish this type of political content. This space needs to be utilized for real issues in education.
Sherry Gibson
Human Resource Specialist
Department of Professional Development
The School District of Palm Beach County
West Palm Beach, Fla.
