President Joe Biden told a group of teachers at the White House that children are “like yours” when they are in school.
“We always talk about ‘these children.’ They’re not someone else’s children. They’re our children” Biden said on Wednesday at a Teachers of the Year event, per the White House transcript.
He continued, “And they are the kite strings that literally lift our national ambitions aloft in a literal sense. Think about it.”
He went on:
“If you got to do one thing to make sure the nation succeeded in the next two generations, what would you do? You’d want — I would say, literally, have the best-educated public in the world. Have our students gain confidence enough to know what they can do, to reach in.”
After saying that educators have an “obligation to help them teach and reach their potential,” Biden reiterated, “You have heard me say it many times about our children, but it is true, they’re all our children. “
“And the reason you are the teachers of the year is because you recognize that. They’re not somebody else’s children. They’re like yours when they’re in the classroom,” he added.
Watch the video below:
Joe Biden says students are “all our children” and “they’re not somebody else’s children, they’re like yours when they’re in the classroom.” 🤨pic.twitter.com/JUkG17ivpb
— Abigail Jackson 🇺🇸 (@abigailmarone) April 27, 2022
Biden’s comments did not go over well with American Principles, an organization that is focused on the upholding the vision of the “American Family,” tweeted, “No, Joe, they are not ‘somebody else’s children.'”
“They are OUR children,” it added.
Joe Biden says to teachers about their students "they are not somebody else's children. They're yours when you're in the classroom."
— American Principles 🇺🇸 (@approject) April 27, 2022
No, Joe, they are not "somebody else's children."
They are OUR children. pic.twitter.com/A5wW3ytRQk
The president also claimed that teachers have become a “target” of the culture war.
“Teaching is one of the hardest jobs in this country to be able to do it well, and one of the most important,” Biden said.
He continued, “Today, there are too many politicians trying to score political points, trying to ban books — even math books. I mean, did you ever think — even you younger teachers — did you ever think, when you’d be teaching, that you’d be worried about book burnings and banning books, all because it doesn’t fit somebody’s political agenda?”
Today, as he honored an Ohio educator who teaches high schoolers about race, gender, and oppression, President Biden accused conservatives of making teachers "a target of the culture wars." pic.twitter.com/a5TCUI4OrH
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) April 27, 2022
Biden added, “American teachers have dedicated their lives to teaching our children and lifting them up. We got to stop making them the target of the culture wars. That’s where this is going.”