I’m a former schoolteacher. Early in my career, I taught the 7th and 8th grades at St. Joseph School in the West End, just down the street from Taft High School.
Then, after I lost a reelection race for Congress back in 2008 (the year Candidate Barack Obama defeated Candidate John McCain in my then-district by 11 points) I rekindled my teaching career by teaching political science at UC in the evening (I was what you call an adjunct professor.) During the day I was practicing law, and campaigning to try to win back my congressional seat (which I did.)
Even during my over 35 years in public service now (5 years on Cincinnati City Council, 5 years on the Hamilton County Commission, and 26 years in Congress), I’ve spent quite a bit of time in the classroom, by visiting schools in my district. Typically I’ll spend about an hour with anywhere between 25 and 500 or so students – from kindergarten through college age. With the younger kids I read a book called House Mouse, Senate Mouse, tell them about my job and how the government works (or doesn’t) and answer questions. With the older students I skip the reading, focus more on issues, and again answer lots of questions. I have to say, interacting with students is one of the more fulfilling parts of my job.
Anyway, I guess that’s why it’s always bugged me that Republicans usually poll poorly, compared to Democrats, on the issue of education. Fortunately, if new polling is to be believed, that just might be changing. And here are a few reasons I think that might be the case.
First, Democrats were far more willing to keep schools closed down for longer, due to COVID, than Republicans. Democrats were also far more militant when it came to requiring children to stay masked, even after it no longer made sense. And while children were being “educated” virtually, parents were able to see at home what some children were being taught (or not taught) and they weren’t always impressed.
For example, critical race theory (CRT) had seeped into the curriculum in many school districts, and a lot of parents objected. They also objected to being called “domestic terrorists” by the National School Board Association and by the Biden administration. As a former teacher myself, I knew firsthand that we should be welcoming parental involvement in our children’s education, not labeling them domestic terrorists.
Evidence of Democrats’ vulnerability on the education issue has already played out on both coasts. On the East Coast, in Virginia, we saw a relatively unknown Republican gubernatorial candidate, Glenn Youngkin, defeat a better known, better funded Democrat candidate Terry McAuliffe, largely because the Democrat candidate believed (and said) parents should butt-out of their children’s education and leave it to the professionals (the government.)
And on the West Coast, in liberal San Francisco (Nancy Pelosi’s congressional district) we saw a slew of school board members get booted because of their woke agenda of renaming schools because they believed their namesakes (like Abraham Lincoln) were racists.
Anyway, it’s my opinion that Republicans should not shy away from education as a key issue in this year, or any year‘s, election. After all, it’s parents, teachers and local school boards who should be calling the shots on their children’s education, not the woke national school board or the federal Department of Education.