Media top headlines October 7
In media news today, FiveThirtyEight sounds the alarm on Biden's polling, an MSNBC panel claims public school protestors are influenced by 'White Supremacist ideology' and CNN's Brianna Keilar lectures Nikki Haley on racism in America
In a message intended to belittle the school choice movement, New York Times Magazine reporter Nicole Hannah-Jones said parents "already" have choice, listing just two options: Homeschool or pay tuition.
"Public schools are about collective shaping of minds through government power," Neal McCluskey, director of the Cato Institute's Center for Educational Freedom, tweeted Wednesday. "Why we need #schoolchoice now."
Hannah-Jones, creator of the controversial 1619 Project that delved into slavery's effects on all facets of American life, replied to McCluskey with a take that was unpopular with many parents.
School choice advocates rejected her limited options, calling it an elitist take that suggested anyone dissatisfied with public schools could teach their own children or afford private school.
"So, if you’re rich, you have a choice," Independent Women's Forum's Inez Stepman said. "Seems like this is one "inequity" we could do something about. #schoolchoice."
Many others fighting for the same cause shared similar interpretations.
"Advantaged families already have school choice," American Federation for Children national director of research Corey DeAngelis told Fox News Digital as a follow-up. "They're more likely to have the resources to afford to live in neighborhoods that are assigned to the best ‘public’ schools. They're more likely to have the resources to afford to pay for private school tuition and fees. Funding students directly would allow more families to access educational opportunities. School choice is an equalizer."
1619 PROJECT NICOLE HANNAH-JONES CALLED ‘HYPOCRITE’ FOR BASHING ‘INCONVENIENT FACTS’
GEORGETOWN PROFESSOR INFURIATES PARENTS WITH ‘ASTOUNDING’ COMPARISON ABOUT THEIR KIDS' EDUCATION
"'Pay tuition,' she says. The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread," McLaughlin, senior writer at National Review, added for emphasis.
It was the second time in two days a tweet managed to infuriate parents and school choice proponents. Georgetown professor Don Moynihan also faced their wrath after appearing to suggest they were arrogant for wanting to have a say in their kids' education. He juxtaposed a tweet from former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying "parents should decide what children are taught in schools," with a cartoon depicting airline passengers wanting to kick the pilot out of the cockpit because they believed they were more equipped to fly the plane.
A day before that, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, who has compared school-choice programs to segregation, was thanked for unintentionally promoting the idea of school choice by tweeting out how proud she was that Michigan parents were "choosing" to drive their children to districts that enforced mask mandates.
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