Republican Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan asked American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten which side started the “culture wars” in schools Wednesday.
“You say most Americans disapprove of the culture wars that have saturated education policy,” Jordan said during a hearing held by the House Oversight Committee’s Select Subcommittee on the Pandemic on the closure of schools during the COVID-19 pandemic, before asking, “Who started the culture wars?” (RELATED: GOP Rep Grills Witness On Whether Banning Pornographic Magazines For First Graders Is ‘Censorship’)
Weingarten tried to deflect the question by discussing the alleged banning of books and efforts to prevent instructors from teaching “honest history.”
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Weingarten twice dodged an earlier question from Jordan about whether parents or teachers cared more about the education of students. The teachers’ union boss also revealed that President Joe Biden’s transition team reached out to the union on the process of re-opening schools.
Parents across the country have raised objections to books with sexually explicit content in recent years, prompting some states to act to remove them from schools.
“Those who think boys should compete against boys in sports, or those who think boys can compete against girls in sports, which one, which side started the culture war?” Jordan asked. “Which one of those positions?”
“When I talk about the culture wars, I’m talking about things like book banning, I’m talking about things like stopping teachers from teaching honest history,” Weingarten said.
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed parental rights legislation into law in March 2022 to address complaints about explicit materials. The state pulled multiple books on the grounds of having explicit content, including “Gender Queer,” “Let’s Talk About It” and “It’s Perfectly Normal.”
“Is it starting a culture war, if you think literature should be age appropriate?” Jordan asked Weingarten.
“I believe the literature should be age appropriate, too,” Weingarten said.
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