Randi Weingarten, the head of the American Federation of Teachers, takes her teaching duties seriously it seems, even though she’s no longer in the classroom. Her expert teacher mentality reared itself in a recent interview with Fox News host Martha McCallum, making headlines when Weingarten referred to McCallum as “sweetheart” a couple times in a condescending tone.

Randi Weingarten: “Martha, Martha, Martha — sweetheart, sweetheart, listen to me.”

McCallum: “Please don’t call me sweetheart.”

Weingarten: “…My bad.”

😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/S3odqFSjvy

— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) April 22, 2025

The amusing nature of the exchange – particularly McCallum’s slap down of Weingarten – is undoubtedly why those 10-30 seconds of the interview went viral.

The rest of the interview, however, will undoubtedly be overlooked by the general public. That’s unfortunate given that Weingarten and McCallum discuss an issue that many parents are concerned about, namely, the type of books and instruction that children encounter in the classroom.

During the interview, McCallum largely expresses concern that American academic scores are so low, while also wondering about the wisdom of reading LGBTQ books on pronouns to classrooms of children as young as four, the subject of a recent case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Weingarten, on the other hand, wants to ensure that classrooms make kids feel safe and that they offer a “safe and welcoming environment” that helps children “see differences and accept differences.”

These two women signify the divide over American education today, leaving the public to wonder just what schools are for.

Author Neil Postman asked the same question in his book, “The End of Education.” But according to Postman, the issue was more nuanced than that:

The question is not, Does or doesn’t public schooling create a public? The question is, What kind of public does it create? A conglomerate of self-indulgent consumers? Angry, soulless, directionless masses? Indifferent, confused citizens? Or a public imbued with confidence, a sense of purpose, a respect for learning, and tolerance.

If recent history is any indication, the self-indulgent, directionless, and confused type of citizens are the material today’s public schools are often churning out. Many parents are tired of this trend and want something more – schooling that gives children purpose, understanding, and confidence to become successful adults.

That type of schooling is achieved by “the existence of shared narratives,” Postman says.

Admittedly, “shared narratives” are what Weingarten seems to want to promote – only her shared narratives revolve around safety and acceptance. Such shared narratives are not what Postman has in mind; instead, he suggests the shared narratives of the “American Creed,” saying, “Schools are to provide the lost and lonely with a common attachment to America’s history and future, to America’s sacred symbols, to its promise of freedom.”

Ironically, that vision of schooling is similar to the one Thomas Jefferson laid out in the beginning of our Republic.

“At every [one] of these schools shall be taught reading, writing, and common arithmetic, and the books which shall be used therein for instructing the children to read shall be such as will at the same time make them acquainted with Graecian, Roman, English, and American history,” Jefferson wrote in his 1779 work, “A Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge.”

Why do our children need such instruction in the “American Creed” rather than the stuff of diversity, safety, and inclusion? The reason is because instruction in the basics, history especially, is essential to ensure that tyrannical leadership doesn’t overtake the country. And as Jefferson implies, once these elements are implemented in education, happiness, wise laws, and honest leaders are the natural outgrowth.

Powerful individuals like Weingarten like to throw their weight around these days, telling us that teaching diversity and acceptance is the be-all-end-all of education, and that things like American values will only disrupt such lessons. That may be true. But then, such lessons were never the original goal of schooling in America anyway….

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The republication of this article is made possible by The Fred & Rheta Skelton Center for Cultural Renewal. 

Image Credit: NARA &DVIDS Public Domain Archive