A teacher reflects on the emotional challenges of guiding young students whose lives are disrupted by immigration enforcement, highlighting how children like a third grader with a strong sense of fairness struggle with frustration and loss. The piece explores how educators balance discipline with empathy when students react intensely to setbacks, while also addressing broader systemic pressures affecting children’s stability. It examines the growing demand on teachers to support students whose routines are frequently interrupted by external forces beyond the classroom. The essay offers a firsthand look at the unseen toll of immigration policies on children’s emotional well-being and school experiences.
Emma, a third grader, cries hot, angry tears when she doesn’t get her way. She is a bit too old to cry over losing in games like foursquare, but she has a “strong internal sense of justice,” as the other teachers and I like to put it. “Emma,” I say. “You’re out. You have to […] The post TEACHER VOICE: As a new school year begins, teachers are once again struggling to support children whose lives are upended by immigration police appeared first on The Hechinger Report.
