OPINION:
Left-wing activists are trying to indoctrinate the next generation of Americans. And to do it, they’re targeting our classrooms.
Across the country, teachers unions and activist school boards are trying to force radical curriculum on our nation’s children and teach them divisive propaganda like Critical Race Theory (CRT). The far-left has found willing partners in Joe Biden and other big-government Democrats as they push their extreme ideology.
At the heart of Mr. Biden and Democrats’ agenda is the belief that government should control every aspect of Americans’ lives. Their brazen obsession with power is especially evident in our kids’ education, where Democrats have made it clear they don’t want parents in charge.
Democrats aren’t even trying to hide the fact they want to cut parents out of the curriculum. Virginia Democrat gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe made the mistake of telling the truth recently when he admitted he doesn’t believe parents should be in charge of their own kid’s education. Mr. McAuliffe isn’t the only one who doesn’t care what parents think. Mr. Biden’s Education Secretary Miguel Cardona is also on record saying parents shouldn’t be the ones driving decisions affecting their children’s education.
In Democrats’ distorted worldview, there is simply no room for anyone other than the government to have a say in what kids are taught in school.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Democrats don’t want parents knowing what goes on when they send their children to school each morning. An Atlanta elementary school segregating kids by race or New Jersey’s new sex education standards requiring students as young as five years old to be taught about abortion are just a few examples of nefarious ideas being sanctioned by school boards.
It’s bad enough that Democrats want to shut parents out of their kids’ education. Even worse are the lengths they will go to do so.
Concerned parents recently heard the disturbing news that Mr. Biden’s Attorney General is weaponizing the FBI to investigate and intimidate parents who have legitimate misgivings about their children being taught things like CRT or radical gender ideology.
Democrats’ message to parents is clear: get in line, or else. But memo to Joe Biden: parents wanting a say in their kids’ education doesn’t make them domestic terrorists like the far-left claims– it just means they want what’s best for their children. To suggest otherwise is a despicable attempt at intimidation.
Politicians using the heavy hand of the state to scare and silence parents who dare disagree with them should alarm every American, regardless of political affiliation. Unfortunately, the intimidation tactics we are seeing from Democrats are a page straight from the socialist playbook. First, erode parents’ rights, then place children under even more government supervision, and finally threaten parents who speak out.
As a father with young girls, what frustrates me most is Democrats’ arrogance. Democrats believe they and bureaucrats know best and that schools shouldn’t be accountable to parents and American taxpayers.
If there is a silver lining to come out of what Democrats are doing to our kids, it’s this: parents are starting to stand up and say “enough.” Parents are exercising their First Amendment freedoms and showing up at school board meetings to speak out against the far-left’s hijacking their children’s education.
This groundswell of parent-led pushback isn’t a development that’s happened overnight. Ever since the pandemic began, parents have been paying attention to how Democrats are trying to make schools about anything other than a quality education.
Parents saw how Mr. Biden and Democrats followed the money – not the science – when they kept kids out of the classroom last year. And remember the fact that the American Federation of Teachers’ political patronage influenced Biden’s school reopening policy. That’s proof that Democrats are putting powerful unions, not students, first.
When it comes to Mr. Biden and Democrats, it’s clear the adults aren’t alright. For the sake of our kids and their future, the parents of America must continue to speak up, push back and let Democrats know that our voice – and our vote – matters.
• Tommy Hicks Jr. is the co-chair at the Republican National Committee.
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