'Kids can handle hard truths': teachers and their students reckon with capitol attack
Fifteen-year-old Sevan Minassian-Godner’s brain struggled to process the images of violent, pro-Trump insurrectionists defacing the Capitol.
The scene reminded the Berkeley high school sophomore of a movie, maybe the Hunger Games. Not the unbreakable idea of American democracy he’s grown up learning about from pop culture, books and Hollywood.
“One thing I remember going through my mind was, how could people do this? How is it possible?” he said. “To see on live television this revolt to a fair election really opened my eyes to how just awful right now our world is getting.”
From Berkeley to Milwaukee to Maryland, young people are coming to terms with last week’s violence that left five dead and a president impeached for the second time. And right alongside, teachers are having to answer thorny questions about democracy, race, policing and where the country goes from here.
Many teachers say kids have been remarkably resilient and curious about the events at
