In recently resurfaced comments, Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance asserted that childfree teachers “brainwash” and “destroy” the minds of children. As an educator, I hope women everywhere, in every profession, are listening.
During a 2021 leadership forum hosted by the Center for Christian Virtue, Vance was asked how he’d handle issues with schools while senator. In his answer, he took aim at Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, saying, “You know, so many of the leaders of the left, and I hate to be so personal about this, but they’re people without kids, trying to brainwash the minds of our children.”
“If she wants to brainwash and destroy the mind of children,” he added, “she should have some of her own and leave ours the hell alone.” To be clear, Weingarten is stepmother to two daughters and has publicly described herself as “a mother by marriage.” But her family status is irrelevant to her capacity to lead the nation’s teachers.
When I met my students’ parents to talk about their child’s progress, at no time was I questioned about my reproductive status.
I began my career as a middle school English teacher in New Jersey. When I was studying for licensure, I was required to take university and state exams focused on content knowledge and best practices, all with a foundation in child psychology and the science of learning. I gained experience designing lesson plans, assessments and rubrics that account for the myriad learning styles that populate classrooms across this country each year. At no time during my path to teaching was I questioned about the status of my womb and whether gestation would enhance my ability to work with children and their families.
When I became a teacher, my students and I read books together. I taught them to analyze text and write essays across several genres. In my classroom, students learned about the art of informed argumentation and how — in the words of Plato — opinion is the lowest form of knowledge. They also learned new vocabulary and grammar and everything else that one might expect of a classroom in which literacy development is front and center. I like to think that what my students learned while in my care helped set them up to pursue success in their chosen professions.
When I met my students’ parents to talk about their child’s progress, at no time was I questioned about my reproductive status, or how that status related to my ability to educate their children. All parents simply want to know that the person standing at the front of the room is competent in their chosen profession and cares about their child as a whole person.
I now teach at the college level, in a teacher preparation program. My students are some of our nation’s future teachers. My curriculum includes the nuts and bolts of teaching and has been adapted to account for the issues facing schools, classrooms and students today. We work on how to not only create lesson plans, but also build inclusive classroom communities where all children feel safe and cared for, and where parents can feel confident knowing that their children are in good hands.
It doesn’t even occur to me to wonder about my students’ reproductive organs or their future goals for family planning. Why? Because I’m not weird. A teacher’s willingness to be a mother, or a desire to remain childfree, has absolutely no bearing on their capacity to care for the children who will some day occupy a seat in their classroom. Also, not all of my students have wombs.
It’s fitting that Vance’s comments have resurfaced as a new school year begins.
Which leads me to my next point: It’s no accident that Vance speaks this way about a female-dominated profession. He has a well-deserved reputation for demeaning women and their work at nearly every turn. Just as he denounced childfree women who have cats, and said nothing of the childfree men who also have cats, so too does he also vilify teachers who do not have children, and says nothing of the fact that not all teachers have wombs. Perhaps next, it’s women in any profession with only one or two children who meet his disapproval. Vance has shown us that, indeed, there is no bottom, no misogynistic low for which he will not strive.
It’s fitting that Vance’s comments have resurfaced as a new school year begins. As I type this, all teachers — regardless of whether they have children — are currently digging into their own pockets for supplies that experience and wisdom tells them their new students will need. I personally know teachers who keep drawers stocked with nonperishable food for students to access, no questions asked. Every day, my own social media feed is full of teachers posting links to their classroom wish lists, pleading for assistance that they can’t get anywhere else. Many of the folks I describe here are childfree, but they care and want to do a good job for other peoples’ children, which is why they go into teaching to begin with.
It goes without saying that the Republican Party has long had an axe to grind for educators. For years, GOP lawmakers like Vance and their allies have lobbed misinformed attacks against us and the work we do. Most recently, the Heritage Foundation’s infamous Project 2025 proposes dismantling the Department of Education, which — not coincidentally — is the entity that funds public schools. But Vance’s comments are not really about teachers. He has made it clear to American women: There is nothing we can do outside of raising children and grandchildren that meets his approval. And all coming from a man who can’t even seem to order doughnuts in a way that isn’t cringe-inducing.
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