It recently came out that, in 2013, Donald Trump Jr. suggested that women who “can’t handle some of the basic stuff that’s become a problem in the workforce today” should remove themselves from the “workforce” and “go maybe teach kindergarten.” The ignorance embedded in these words should give all thoughtful educators pause.
In that moment of thoughtful pause, educators might question two assumptions in Trump Jr.’s statement. The first of these assumptions, that teaching kindergarten is somehow not work, has been roundly and deftly refuted by kindergarten teachers, as well as Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.
The second, perhaps more insidious assumption behind the younger Trump’s comments—one that I have yet to see refuted with such force—is the notion that schools are somehow safe havens from the “real world,” spaces where women (and others) are free from sexual harassment otherwise plaguing the “true” workforce. While idyllic, this assumption could not be more inaccurate and must also be refuted. Schools are not immune to societal forces, such as sexual harassment, sexism and gender discrimination; they are clear reflections of society’s views on such matters if one takes the time to notice.
As a former classroom teacher, I faced sexual harassment from co-workers and inappropriate sexualized attention from students. At first, I blamed myself for these incidents, mostly comprised of sexually inappropriate comments from students ranging in age from sixth-graders to ninth-graders. Teaching in varying schools, grade levels and even different states, the students I encountered were different, but I was the same. It must be my fault.
I carried the weight of this blame until one day when I received a particularly inappropriate comment from a student. Afterward, a male co-worker in the teacher’s lounge sneered, eyes looking me up and down, “Why do you think kids say these things to you?” In that moment, I stopped blaming myself. I realized then that, no matter the grade level, school or state, each of the students who had said sexually aggressive or discriminatory statements to me over the years had more in common than I thought. Indeed, like my male co-worker, they arrived to school not with a blank slate, but with a host of assumptions and beliefs about the type of respect a woman deserves.
In that moment, when a male co-worker eyed me up and down and suggested in so many words that I was asking for sexual advances from students, I thought back to an instructor in my teacher-preparation program who recommended that I lower my voice to garner more respect. I thought back to the dean at my first teaching job who said that I should wear heels to appear more “in charge.” I thought back to the son of a co-worker who told his mother I needed to wear ugly dresses to appear less attractive. Each of these individuals conveyed the assumption that women in the workplace deserve no respect, unless they alter the way they look, sound and act to reflect what society respects: stereotypical “masculinity.”
I realized then that, in the teaching profession, the woman is the one who is expected to change—not society, not the system that creates this sort of oppression—and many of the very people who work within this system accept this assumption. While we reject bullying and discrimination toward our students, we as teachers often ignore or blame ourselves for the very same discrimination we teach our students to shun.
Not only must educators reject Donald Trump Jr.’s ill-informed assumption that educational institutions are free of sexual harassment, but we must also point out the sexual harassment in our schools and eradicate it. We must deconstruct harmful media images, and we must call out subtle and overt sexism when we see it. We must hold each other accountable. When we ignore sexual harassment and pretend it does not exist, or when we suggest that women are only “asking for it,” or when we suggest that young, female teachers deserve respect only if they act more like men, we damage our own profession more than anyone else could.
Schroeder is a doctoral candidate in curriculum, teaching and teacher education at the University of Florida and is a former secondary English and social studies teacher.
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