Opinion

Michigan Democratic Party Trashes Parental Rights In Education, Then Deletes Post And Backtracks

   DailyWire.com
Demonstrators hold signs during a rally against the Midland Public Schools (MPS) mask mandates outside the MPS administration building in Midland, Michigan, U.S., on Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2021.
Jeff Kowalsky/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The Michigan Democratic Party found itself in hot water this Sunday after its Facebook account posted a message bashing parents for wanting to have a say in their kids’ education, even asserting parents should send their kids to private school if they want to have a choice.

That post must have sparked enough backlash to get a rare retraction from the Democrats because, on Monday, the Facebook account in question posted a message stating that parents should play a role in education and that the Party’s first message had been deleted.

As captured by school choice advocate Corey DeAngelis, the Michigan Democratic Party snarkily posted a message saying, “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.”

Then, the post lectured parents who deign to assert the right to educate their kids must understand that the “purpose of a public education in a public school is not to teach only what parents want them to be taught. It is to teach them what society needs them to know. ”

“The client of the public schools is not the parent, but the entire community, the public,” the Facebook post pontificated.

If you thought that message sounded familiar, perhaps it is because it is similar to what failed-Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe said on the 2021 campaign trail. During a debate, McAuliffe blurted out “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”

By the time he woke up and realized what he had said, it was too late. His Republican opponent, Glenn Youngkin, took off in the polls and won the whole shebang. This Saturday, newly-sworn-in Youngkin signed 11 executive orders, several of which dealt precisely with public education and fulfilling campaign promises of respecting parents’ rights and responsibility in providing their child a good education — even, or especially, parents who send kids to public schools.

Now, it seems, the Democratic Party of Michigan wants to avoid the same collapse in the polls as McAuliffe suffered.

On Monday, the Party’s Facebook account shared a new post, saying, “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.”

“The post does not reflect the views of Michigan and should not be misinterpreted as a statement of support from our elected officials or candidates,” the post added.

Of course, nobody really bought that explanation. It is far more likely the party realized they had been too honest and transparent about their intentions for children and parental rights. It isn’t a great tactic to tell working-class parents to take a hike to the private school while trying to court their votes.

It also doesn’t help that from coast to coast, progressives have seemingly been diminishing the role of parents in many aspects of society. As The Daily Wire covered last week, one California Lefty wrote a serious column arguing that in the name of equity, we should do away with the concept of “parenthood” altogether.

The Left’s desire to control kids for their nefarious political agenda is nothing new. Communist Vladimir Lenin understood the importance of indoctrinating the next generation when he said, “Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.”

He, too, thought it the state’s job to teach children what “society needs them to know.” Perhaps he is where the Democratic Party of Michigan learned their thoughts on public education from.

The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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