"I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach."

[Duppers]

Terry McCauliffe said this in Sept.

Hubs & I looked at each other & said "Oh, shit. There goes the election."

This was *the issue*.

[bottomofthehill]

1. He was never able to clean that answer up.

[budkin]

2. After the right wing media chamber blasted it out nonstop

You can't give them that kind of ammunition.

[onenote]

14. Youngkin blasted it out non-stop.

[cinematicdiversions]

39. In all fairness wouldn't you?

I mean when your opponent writes your attack ad for you...

See also Mondale 1984.

[onenote]

41. Of course. But the "blame the media" crowd seems to think they cost McAuliffe the election

Or maybe it was the blame the pollsters crowd. Or the Republicans must have cheated crowd.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

[Dorian Gray]

45. Of Course.....

they're going to jump on the stupid thing he was responsible for saying.

Macauliffe was an underwhelming candidate. This unforced error did him in.

[Doodley]

3. Trump said far worse. The difference is the Republicans are viscous in their campaigning.

[Amishman]

38. Trump said far worse, and we kept chasing his latest gaffe

The result of which meant that each specific one was only in the headlines for a day or two. With the stupidity of the average person, this was somehow beneficial

[fescuerescue]

52. But Trump wasn't running for Virginia governor last week.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

4. That's a VERY indelicate way to make what is a somewhat valid point ...

But you have to phrase it very diplomatically if you're going to say it at all.

I'd definitely expect better from a pro like TM

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

43. My sentiments exactly.

Well, except I'd add,"#$%!!!"
And raise your one banghead to

[fescuerescue]

53. I disagree that it's a valid point

It's just incorrect.

The government doesn't own our children. They raised by parents.

It was an indelicate way of saying something stupid.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

56. You're reading the words that are in the OP very differently than I am

The 'valid' parts of the message are:
1) There needs to still be minimum standards, parents can't just decide the public school shouldn't teach math, English, etc, and substitute, say ... Bible Study?
2) There's no way 'parents' across an entire public school ... are all going to agree that XYZ should or shouldn't be taught. Unless a school is VERY small and even then it'll only be certain issues they'd all 'agree on'.

We purposefully take away some degree of 'decision making' by parents when it comes to curriculum as a society, mainly for these two reasons.

[RobinA]

58. That's My Read

I was public schooled, but our parents and grandparents taught us plenty that wasn't taught in school. School wasn't meant to be the be all and end all to every student. It's impossible.

[RobinA]

57. Totally

It was a rookie unforced error. Some things you just can't say, and saying anything that could remotely be interpreted as a diss on parents just doesn't fly. They are all always right, all evidence to the contrary. McAuliffe has been around long enough to get that.

And I'm not dissing parents, I'm dissing this every parent always knows best attitude. There are godawful parents out there.

[LisaL]

5. It's a pretty stupid thing to say, that's for sure.

NT

[In It to Win It]

6. Sure, parents don't make the curriculum at schools but...

SAVE THAT FOR AFTER THE ELECTION!

[pstokely]

7. what was the point of that?

didn't he already have the Virginia NEA endorsement?

[ForgedCrank]

8. That's the point I think.

We all know what he meant, at least those of us with basic communication skills, but it came out wrong and the republicans trounced on it. That was one of several mistakes in messaging.
Who among us wants completely unqualified parents deciding what and how to teach kids? We have experts for that for a good reason.
It was a major communication failure, and the campaign completely failed to get back in front of it and properly clarify.
I really didn't think it would be THIS big of a deal, but apparently the counter attacks did some damage.

[MFM008]

9. but its true

why should a bunch of hillbillies determine what my kid will get to read?
90 percent of them are imminently unqualified to determine much of anything
If they dont like the schools curriculum they can go private or keep their brats at home.
Im just saying- of course you cant say what you REALLY think in politics..........

[LisaL]

11. Should you have any input on what your kid will get to read?

NT

[MFM008]

17. my parents didn't have input

I didnt when my son was in school.
We couldnt give approval/ disapproval to any of their selections
and then half the time I had to help him with his homework about said reading materials.
They need to get over it.

[cadoman]

23. my parents complained once when a history teacher integrated religious doctrine into material

Teacher basically wasn't big on the idea of separating church and state and made the kids re-iterate church dogma into history lessons.

It was obviously out of line and I'm glad my parents were monitoring my homework and complained.

Parents have always had input if they were so inclined, and historically the parent teacher relationship has been collaborative. The largest portion of taxes we pay locally goes to school systems and you can bet parents want a bit of control of what goes on with that money. You probably wouldn't have any direct control over the reading materials as a single parent, but if half the kids parents found the material problematic, you could have made something happen.

I'm okay with pretty much any reading material a teacher picks as long as its grade level and kids are allowed to have their own opinions about the material.

[cinematicdiversions]

42. I can't imagine why we have lost the poor and working class... nt

[Elessar Zappa]

50. So a bunch of uneducated yokels

should get to dictate what children learn and read? I don’t think so.

[cinematicdiversions]

60. And you prove my point.

Perhaps not calling parents and voters uneducated yokels would be a good start.

[Dorian Gray]

46. Would you say the same thing

if the Holocaust was being taught as a hoax?

Of course parents have a say. That's why they make up a lot of school boards.

And that's why they get to choose whether to send kids to public, parochial, private or homeschool..

There are many ways in which parents get a say, and Mac really fucked up his response.

[RobinA]

59. Obviously

to have this discussion you have to assume that the school is making in-good-faith decisions.

My high school handled this in the advanced classes where they were most likely to run into difficult or controversial material by giving us a choice. At the beginning of 10th grade English the teacher passed out a list of difficult books and told us to pick one, we would be doing three writing assignments based on whatever one we picked. She then listed what the assignments would be. This was only a small part of the class. There was a fairly wide variety of classics that we could chose from. No one could get their panties in a wad, because if you don't agree with one book, there were 20 more to pick from.

[fescuerescue]

54. Do you really feel that all parents are hillbillies?

[BlueCheeseAgain]

10. Yes, that was definitely very poorly phrased.

It's bad when you give the opposition an easily-caricatured sound bite (such as 47%, deplorables, eating a bowl of sh*t, etc.). It's not fair, but it's the nature of politics.

[Gaugamela]

12. Actually, this is true. Parents should not dictate curriculum.

Curriculum should be determined by people with expertise and by society at large. The people who are offended by this are the ones who want to indoctrinate children with religion and white supremacy. Why should my child be subjected to this? It should not be a mistake to speak the truth.

[tulipsandroses]

15. Bingo Bango. If that's the case, All parents

should have a say, Black, Latinos, Native Americans, Asians, LGBTQ. But I’m sure they are not in favor of those parents having input.

[malletgirl02]

13. It was almost

as stupid as voting for Trumpkin.

[H2O Man]

16. Right.

In my opinion, that is similar to saying, "Defund the police." While parents should not be dictating to schools, it is best if they are involved with the school. That involvement includes open houses, teacher-parent conferences, sports, etc. It does not include being able to force the firing of a teacher that gives their child a C- on a test, or doesn't give their child a starting position on a sports team. Nor does it include their excluding actual history, etc.

I'm confident that Terry McCauliffe would agree with that. However, his response sunk his campaign. In a close sports contest, it is the athlete/team that makes the least mistakes that usually wins. Generally, only a charismatic candidate -- good or bad -- can get past that type of mistake. Most candidates can't.

(There are leaders in law enforcement who have spoken out against defunding mental health positions and services. I watched one sheriff from Florida tell reporters that one service in particular, case management being cut increased his county's case load by double. He said that mental health case managers had been essential in preventing reports of crimes by clients. Sometimes, it's better to focus on changing the tasks people are assigned. If mental health services were increased to include services that have proven effective, that frees up a lot of hours. Reassign officers to spend time at youth centers, where they get to know the area's children and youth.And the kids get to know them. Come up with ways to make law enforcement part of a community, rather than a separate group. Those are non-threatening proposals that do not get the backlash some others do.

[GoodRaisin]

18. The irony is the parents still won't tell the schools what to teach.

The stupids won’t have any more input than they ever did. They will just think the R Governor is protecting their children from “being taught offensive things to white people”, while he works to divert public education funds to the private sector.

[In It to Win It]

19. Considering that legislation can't get passed without Dem support, he's just gonna issue

executive orders pretending that he did something.

[GoodRaisin]

20. Providing we hold on to the state legislature.

But yeah, that much is true.

[In It to Win It]

22. Well, the state senate wasn't on the ballot so we keep that at least until 2023

So any legislation will have to get through state senate Dems.

[GoodRaisin]

24. He'll be governor for at least 4 years.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

33. Only 4 years

He can’t run again in 25, he’s need to wait til 29, like Mcaullife did.

[dsc]

47. half of it was and we lost that half

we lost the House but the Senate wasn't up.

[rampartc]

28. they will believe the repub when he tells them that "critical race theory" is out

virginia was lost at the school board meetings with their "critical race theory" and transgender bathroom/transgender sports crap.

[MichMan]

21. For some voters it came across like he was telling parents it wasn't any of their business

and to STFU. In a close election, one off the cuff statement like that can make a big difference. Remember George Allen and "macacca"?

[rpannier]

25. Pretty much

Close elections, you gotta watch what you say

[Mad_Machine76]

48. It was at the height of parents harassing and threatening

School Boards, which is what he was trying to speak out against. It just came out wrong during a heated debate and it may have been enough to sway the election in Youngkin’s favor. The sad thing is that people will pay far more for their vote for Youngkin due a momentary (fake) outrage

[Duppers]

30. Terry put his foot in his mouth and...

upset a lot of moms who want input in what their kids are being taught - they need the perception that they have immense control over the curriculum.
Re: CRT.

He lost their vote.
Joy Reid explains:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/joy-reid-terry-mcauliffe-lost-white-women-and-specific-messaging-war-on-race/vi-AAQfOAV

My friend.

[Recursion]

29. But, really, they shouldn't, right?

I've worked as a math tutor and I can't tell you what order math concepts should be presented to 8 year olds. I have absolutely nothing of value to add to that discussion.

[betsuni]

32. +1

[KY_EnviroGuy]

34. We need to say things in public that make people feel empowered, not disenfranchised.

KY.......

[LiberatedUSA]

35. That is what I am thinking.

You don’t tell the parents to shut up and hand over their kids. You explain to them we just want the children to understand racial issues better. Then after that (winning) we can separate the kids by race in the classroom and have them do assignments that make sure all the white ones understand how evil and privileged they are. You don’t come out and say it. That doesn’t win votes.

It is like with banning assault weapons. You don’t come out and tell the public we want them to be at the mercy of their betters. You don’t do that. You tell them their weapons are only good in battle, then behind their back you let the cops that enjoy abusing them keep those guns even though the police are not on a battlefield.

People need to feel excitement in what they do. They need encouragement! They need to be excited to have their kids told this or that and they need to be excited to disarm for their betters. It is all about phrasing.

[uponit7771]

36. K&R, ***19% SWING FROM NON COLLEGE EDUCATED WHITE WOMEN***

Last edited Wed Nov 3, 2021, 10:52 AM - Edit history (1)

[Tommy Carcetti]

37. It's an unspoken truth, but no one can openly admit it.

Fact is, most parents don’t have the slightest clue about how to run a quality education.

But we pretend that they do because they’ll fly off the handle if we say it.

Much like businesses have to play “The customer is always right” card.

[fescuerescue]

55. The customer ISN't always right. But the customer

always has the money.

In this case the parents aren't always right. But they always have the vote.

[Act_of_Reparation]

40. He wasn't wrong... but that was a fucking stupid thing to say out loud.

[Dorian Gray]

44. Yeah

it was a stupid thing to say.

Especially because school boards and PTAs and the like are made up mostly of parents.

Parents care, they'll always care, and they'll find the schools that most meet their ideologies.

[lindysalsagal]

49. As if the parents don't already know the quality of their neighborhood schools.

The gqp fabricates crap that actually is insulting to their own voters

[fescuerescue]

51. He was just wrong on that

But he's human and we are all wrong occasionally.

[harumph]

61. It was a dumb fucking thing to say.

Certainly, parents should be a part of education. Although (we get it) he was addressing extreme elements, it was absolutely tone deaf.
Moreover, it makes me question his basic intelligence - he should have already had a canned
comment. We really need smarter people to run.