Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said Friday during an interview that he does not “respect” parents who speak up at school board meetings.
The Biden administration’s top educator also lamented that adults who have children in government schools have been “acting like they know what’s right for kids.”
The comments were made during an interview with the Associated Press and saw him face heat online.
Cardona was asked about a number of topics ranging from student loan forgiveness to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that bars colleges and universities from considering an applicant’s race during enrollment.
He was also asked about a nationwide interest among parents who want to have a say regarding what other adults are telling their children in classrooms.
When asked about prior comments in which he claimed the education system is “under attack,” the AP asked Cardona if he believed he was the only education secretary to oversee a department that had found itself under scrutiny.
“I’ve been in education, you know, about 25 years,” he responded. “Not including the time I was in higher ed as a student. I’ve never seen it where it is now.”
On parents who have shown emotion during school in board meetings about far-left ideas in classrooms, Cardona told the AP that America has lost “civility.”
”There was civility. We could disagree,” he said. “We could have healthy conversations around what’s best for kids.”
Cardona added, “I respect differences of opinion. I don’t have too much respect for people that are misbehaving in public and then acting like they know what’s right for kids.”
Cardona was heavily criticized on X, formerly Twitter, for the shot at parents:
When they tell you your children are “all of our kids,” believe them, because they intend to treat you like it. https://t.co/h3fW7S6Nrd
— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) September 22, 2023
The Secretary of Education under the Biden Administration demeans parents who speak up to protect their kids and suggests parents don’t know what’s best for their kids ? https://t.co/fSCOKPABhX
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) September 22, 2023
This is demonic, but you’re not going to defeat it with their own gaslighting. Truth, perseverance, and courage of conviction are the fundamentals for our team. Because this isn’t political, it is spiritual. https://t.co/vWtTVWhlLI
— Steve Deace (@SteveDeaceShow) September 23, 2023
Parents are furious b/c schools sexually indoctrinate kids & men are allowed to enter girls restrooms.
Perez voted against the parents bill of rights & to let men into your daughters restroom.
Help me restore parents rights & protect our children- https://t.co/fD86UYnRQX https://t.co/4DQZbQWjpa— Joe Kent for WA-3 (@joekent16jan19) September 22, 2023
REMINDER: “Education Secretary Miguel Cardona solicited the much-criticized letter from the National School Boards Association that compared protesting parents to domestic terrorists…” https://t.co/NZ47jIcLAi pic.twitter.com/KVzrcA23q2
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) September 22, 2023
So nice knowing our hard-earned money pays @SecCardona to threaten us for gently resisting their indoctrination of our kids into Marxist revolutionaries https://t.co/yq9rItvxQP
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) September 22, 2023
Countless videos of parents expressing their displeasure with school curriculum have gone viral on social media throughout Cardona’s tenure heading the Department of Education.
In October 2021, at the direction of Attorney General Merrick Garland, the FBI was tasked with working with local law enforcement agencies to flag parents who were vocal about radical ideas that have been injected into classrooms in recent years.
A memo from Garland shared by House Judiciary Committee chair Rep.Jim Jordan online showed the Department of Justice was told to find parents who were deemed problematic and to “prosecute them when appropriate.”
Cardona has previously faced heat after his department equated parents who have challenged educators on curriculum to domestic terrorists.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.