News organizations have taken the side of teachers in the ongoing battle between conservative parents and school administrators over the future of US education. Despite Covid-19 school closures no longer making sense, major news outlets have repeatedly given teachers’ strikes kid-glove treatment, even as they become increasingly unreasonable and self-serving. Furthermore, the press has promoted a negative view of homeschooling, similar to that of leading school officials.
The press and education establishment share overlapping interests and beliefs, which is hardly coincidental. For instance, the Associated Press recently published a headline that read, “As conservatives target schools, LGBTQ+ kids and students of color feel less safe,” thus taking a clear side in the culture war. The article focuses on a group of teenagers, including Harmony Kennedy, 16, who believe that minority representation is being erased from school curricula all over the country, including in Tennessee, where Harmony resides.
However, the article fails to mention the state’s current educational standards, which include the term “African American” 54 times in Tennessee’s social-studies standards. The state’s standards also cover the Civil Rights Movement, Brown v. Board of Education, and much more. The AP’s reporting regurgitates the fears of the teenagers, without correcting their tenuous grasp of reality.
The report concludes by lamenting that conservative politicians and activists are pushing limits on discussions of race, gender, and sexuality, making some students feel less welcome in American schools, which is the one place where all kids are supposed to feel safe. However, this type of reporting is advocacy, not journalism, and it always seems to favor school administrators and bureaucrats. It is essential to consider this bias when analyzing news reports on school-related issues.
