I never thought Republicans cared about public education. Certainly not in my lifetime. And coming from North Carolina, I have seen the disdain that the GOP has for public education up close. I’ve always taken this as a fact but at Wednesday’s Republican debate, numerous candidates pushed the idea harder than I’d ever seen by publicly calling for getting rid of the Department of Education. I watched this live with anger and disgust, especially since my sister is a public school teacher. As with most issues, it is so important to understand the ‘why.’ Why do these ghouls want to do this?
Following the debate, Minnesota State Senator Erin Maye Quade posted a video to TikTok, breaking down exactly why this is so troubling. Quade explained that Republicans have essentially been against public education since integration. This makes sense. Why should their precious white kids have to mingle with others? But nowadays, they seem afraid of an educated population.
Quade explains that Republicans are afraid because an educated population would realize that Republicans’ views are absolute bull. I agree! Look at what Florida is doing under the tyranny of DeSantis. He wants to control what people can say and what they can read. This video highlights the important point that a lot of this has been a top-down approach consisting of rich people going into localities and organizing a “loud minority” to push for defunding public education. Now though, GOP candidates are making it louder and clearer by stating it on a national stage at the debate. They made teachers out to be the biggest threat to this country. And you know what, for them, they are a threat!
Teachers are educating the next generation, which means future voters. Republicans already can’t seem to win a national popular vote in Presidential elections. They have lost what? All but one popular vote in the last 30 years? Yikes! So they have to continue to try and keep people ignorant in order to even have a chance at winning. If people learn about science they are going to be against the denialism that has been spewed by Conservatives for years. If they learn about the realities of racism in this country, from slavery to Jim Crow to now, they may think that there are inherent inequalities that must be addressed. If they learn critical thinking skills—well, it’s over for the GOP then.
Republicans don’t want to do anything about inequality and won’t even admit that it is real for the most part. Their push towards promoting private schools and religious schools is strategic. This is NOT about choice because most kids will not have an opportunity to attend these schools. Once again, Republicans are all about messaging and gaslighting, not substantive policies.
(featured image: Win McNamee/Getty Images)
