‘Ready to Indoctrinate’: Dems Panned For Saying Kids Are Taught What Society 'Needs Them to Know'
08:06 GMT 18.01.2022 (Updated: 14:00 GMT 19.12.2022)
© REUTERS / Marco Bello
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A Saturday post shared by Michigan’s Democrats on their official Facebook page, which has since been removed, criticised the idea that parents should be involved in what public schools teach their children, suggesting that they always had the option to send their offspring to a private school at their own expense “if this is what they desire".
Michigan Democrats have come in for a good deal of censure over a social media post where they chastised parents for trying to tell public schools what to teach their children.
According to the now-deleted Saturday post, made on the Democratic Party’s official Facebook page, public school education teaches their children what society “needs them to know”.
Writing on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Dems blasted the notion that parents should be involved in what is being taught. According to the position outlined on Facebook, the whole purpose of education in public schools was not to “teach kids only what parents want them to be taught”, but rather to teach them what “society needs them to know”.
Underscoring that the client of the public school is not the parent, “but the entire community, the public”, the post by the Michigan Democrats added:
“Not sure where this 'parents-should-control-what-is-taught-in-schools-because-they-are-our-kids' is originating, but parents do have the option to send their kids to a hand-selected private school at their own expense if this is what they desire.”
After serious backlash and a barrage of criticism aimed at Governor Gretchen Whitmer for “meddling”, the Michigan Democratic Party later deleted the post, while retracting its original statement.
“We have deleted a post that ignored the important role parents play—and should play—in Michigan public schools. Parents need to have a say in their children’s education, end of story,” read the subsequent post on 17 January.
It was underscored that the original post did not reflect the views of Michigan Democrats and “should not be misinterpreted as a statement of support from our elected officials or candidates.”
‘Indoctrination, Not Education’
However, the state's Republicans took aim at the Democrats over the contents of the scrubbed post.
The GOP tweeted on Sunday that the Democrats are "ready to indoctrinate your children with what ‘society needs them to know'."
You heard it here first, folks! @MichiganDems are ready to indoctrinate your children with what “society needs them to know.”
— Michigan GOP (@MIGOP) January 16, 2022
Does anyone want to tell them #SchoolChoice was a major issue that led to Republican @GlennYoungkin’s victory in VA? 🤔
Vote out the Democrats! pic.twitter.com/NgYV44645o
The Republican Governors Association (RGA) spokesman Chris Gustafson was cited by Fox News as saying the Democrat Michigan governor must take action over the post.
"Gretchen Whitmer must condemn the Michigan Democrat Party or admit that she believes teachers unions should control public education, not parents," said Gustafson.
Republican candidate for the upcoming gubernatorial election slated for 8 March, James Craig, issued a statement on Twitter, denouncing the remarks by the Dems as “disgraceful”.
Gov. Whitmer’s Democratic Party irresponsibly just said, “the client of the public school is not the parent, but the entire community, the public." I vehemently disagree. Read my full response here ➡️ https://t.co/stgZIuuUhU ⬅️ pic.twitter.com/CeZqmoH0fN
— Chief James Craig (@chiefjamescraig) January 17, 2022
He perceived it as part and parcel of their “agenda of indoctrination, not education.” Craig emphasised that parents were the “true stakeholders” of their children's' education.
“Parents that expect more out of their local public school and hold them accountable should not be told to get out their checkbook and hit the road. They have already opened their checkbooks by paying their taxes and deserve a high-quality education for their children,” he added in his full statement.
Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Democrat Party were censured for continuing to be “in the pockets of teachers unions and are so out of touch with Michiganders” by the state’s GOP communications director Gustavo Portela. In a Monday statement for Fox News, he added:
"Studies have shown time and time again that parent involvement leads to student success… It is exactly what our students need now more than ever after a year of learning loss that will impact them for years to come thanks to Gretchen Whitmer’s shutdowns."
The Facebook post by the Democrats came amid mounting anger by parents over COVID-19 school closures, which they claim have been detrimental to children's education.
Another contentious issue has been efforts to advance teaching the critical race theory (CRT) in schools.
4 December 2021, 14:10 GMT
The GOP has repeatedly slammed CRT, which originated in the 1960s and further developed in the 1970s, based on the premise that race is not a natural and biologically grounded feature but a socially constructed category used to exploit people of colour. The theory argues that US laws and legal institutions are "inherently racist", tailored to create and maintain social, economic, as well as political inequalities between whites and non-whites, most notably black people.
10 November 2021, 21:52 GMT
The issue of adding CRT to school curricula has faced strong resistance, both from school personnel and parents, who believe that the theory is akin to “brainwashing”. Republican lawmakers have been moving to ban it from K-12 public school classrooms in their states. The term K-12, used in the US and Canada, pertains to the grade level system in schools prior to college or university.
Adjustment of school curriculum with regard to racial issues has been banned in some states, including Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa and Tennessee.
