It’s probably a mistake to believe that parents aren’t upset about education. But as this piece by Jennifer Rubin points out, it’s not for the reason everyone says it is:
Contrary to what Republicans claim, “critical race theory” is not taught in schools, and a handful of examples of poor judgment among educators does not reflect what goes on in the vast majority of schools. Standardized texts and curriculums — which are largely factual and rigorous across a diverse array of states, from California to Alabama — determine what is taught in the classroom.
The media has promoted GOP hysteria that schools are subjecting students to bizarre pedagogy designed to make them feel guilty about racism. But polling data shows that most parents want teachers to discuss race and do not want schools to ban books. Likewise, the recent recall of multiple progressive school board members in San Francisco might have had much more to do with parents’ frustration about the board members’ priorities than with their political ideology. (Maybe they should have worried more about catching kids up on basic academic topics than renaming schools?)Advertisement
On a related issue, most parents have not found fault with school covid policies. In fact, as politicians lifted restrictions, many parents expressed concern about repealing mask mandates. Still, pundits say that parental anger over school closures threw the Virginia governor’s race to the GOP candidate, Glenn Youngkin. Umm, maybe not.
The Democratic data firm TargetSmart did a deep dive on the Virginia results and found: “The county level data shows no correlation between school closures and vote swings to Republicans. Of the top 10 counties in Virginia ranked by days with in-person education during the 2020-2021 school year, 6 of the 10 saw a larger swing toward Republicans than the state average swing of 5.3%.” The pollsters also determined: “The biggest swings toward Republicans occurred in southwestern Virginia, where schools were open for in person instruction for most of the year.”
And what about instruction on race in the classroom (even if it was not technically CRT)? That does not explain the shift toward Republicans, either. Instead, TargetSmart reports there was super-high turnout among older — and thus more conservative — voters. “Voters age 65 and older are an estimated 15.9% of Virginia’s population according to the census, yet accounted for 31.9% of all ballots cast in 2021,” the pollsters explain.
They add: “This ‘silver surge’ is an untold story that fundamentally undermines the conventional wisdom that COVID-19 protocols in schools and fears about Critical Race Theory in curriculum determined the outcome of the election. Looking ahead to future elections, especially November’s midterms, this bloc of senior voters will likely continue to turn out and have a significant impact on the electorate as a whole.” (This segment of the electorate might be interested in the midterm agenda laid out by Florida Sen. Rick Scott, which would strike at both Medicare and Social Security.)
This would not be the first time that mainstream coverage got hijacked by right-wing hysteria. Democrats who concluded that voters were rebelling against “wokeness” might want to reconsider. Indeed, Democrats might want to extract an entirely different lesson on the school issue.
Democrats should welcome the debate about politicizing schools. Republicans have turned schools into a battleground for their extreme social vision. They have denied racism in American history, attempted to ban books, and have persecuted transgender and gay students. Democrats should be calling foul and insisting that the federal and state governments stay out of local school board business. (Wasn’t this the GOP view for decades?) Instead, Democrats should address the real problem: students who have fallen badly behind because of a lack of classroom time. That will require funding, that Republicans surely will oppose, to expand tutoring and summer school and to increase teacher pay.
Republicans may talk good game about classroom instruction, but they have long refused to pay for quality education. Democrats, on the other hand, passed legislation to fund schools to deal with everything from improving ventilation to making masks available before vaccinations were available for kids. More than 99 percent of schools are operating in-person thanks to those programs, which Republicans consistently opposed.
It’s no easy task to differentiate what voters are really concerned about and what partisans would like us to think they are concerned about. In this case, voters have not rebelled against sensible school administration; Democrats can retain their traditional advantage on education.
There are many reasons to be upset with American education. But the main problems are lack of money resulting in poorly paid teachers crumbling under the weight of student loan debt and overcrowded classrooms. And a whole lot of parents should probably take a good look in the mirror before they complain because some of this is also caused by the insistence that kids not be required to adhere to normal classroom etiquette (like putting their phones away in class!) and refusing to work with teachers and administrators to help provide a decent learning environment.
And yes, some of the pedagogy is really ridiculous, but it’s not because they are teaching critical race theory or “indoctrinating” kids into being transgender. It’s because there are a bunch of consultants who make a lot of money flying into school districts with “new” concepts that haven’t been well tested in real education systems. But that’s a different problem.
Rubin is right that Democrats should fight like hell to put this issue back on their side of the debate. Most concerned parents are worried about schools but they aren’t freaking out about Black history or transgender kids. They’re freaking out because they sense that their kids aren’t getting educated and they are looking for someone to help them. Bigotry isn’t going to do that but that seems to be the only thing on the agenda.