We told you about the students in Des Moines Schools undergoing some indoctrination during Modern U.S. History. They were told that the Federation For American Immigration Reform and the Center for Immigration Studies are “hate groups.”
But another lesson asked to students to consider what it means to respect someone and what “unifying language” means to them. They were able to read examples of how language is used to describe people who immigrate to the United States.
One article students are given a link to is called “People Are Angry President Trump Used This Word to Describe Undocumented Immigrants.”
The word — “infest.”
“They don’t care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our country, like MS-13,” President Trump wrote on Twitter.
A bunch of criticisms lobbed at President Trump were shared in the Time article, including comparing President Trump’s words to Nazi propaganda to describe Jews in Germany.
Students could also watch the TEDx Talks called “Dehumanization of Undocumented Immigrants.” The description of the video says that undocumented migrants are “joining our economy and schools across the country.”
“Why do we continue to hear about the potential instability and danger in accepting undocumented immigrants into our country,” it asks.
Brandon Moran explains “the process of dehumanizing undocumented immigrants through analyzing four American policies.”
“This dehumanization is a methodology to punish those who are only trying to survive,” Moran said.
Students were also given the option to read an article called “‘Angel Families’ react to President Trump’s National Day of Remembrance for Americans killed by illegal aliens.”
And this article from Heritage about whether the United States owes amnesty to future illegal immigrants.
The point of the lesson is for students to write down words or phrases from one of the sources and suggest improvements.
“For the discussion on the next page, you will share your ideas about how to make the language in one of the articles more unifying,” it says.
Students are able to choose two prompts to respond to:
- What does unifying language about immigration look, sound and feel like?
- How would you like unifying language to be used in your school? Explain.
- How will you change your own language choices about immigration? Explain.
- How would requiring unifying language in state and local government impact your community? Explain.
- Why is it important to use unifying language? (Doesn’t have to just be about immigration)
