MSNBC Host Melissa Harris-Perry narrating a new MSNBC “Lean Forward” spot, laments that we in America “haven’t had a very collective notion that these are our children.” She said, “we have to break through our kind of private idea that kids belong to their parents or kids belong to their families, and recognize that kids belong to their communities.”
Harris-Perrry who is a professor of political science at Tulane University also argued, “Once it’s everybody’s responsibility and not just the households, then we start making better investments.”
By investments she means things like spending “as much in public education as we should have.”
The hubris in this video is amazing. While my child is not “my property” my wife and I are the ones who are responsible before God to raise, clothe, feed, educate, and most importantly train up to follow Christ. My child is not part of “the collective.”
This attitude is harmful and fosters irresponsibility which is already present with many parents today.
“I’ll send my kids to youth group. It’s their job to disciple my kids.”
“I’ll send my kids to school. It’s their job to educate.”
Obviously as a society we do have an interest in the education of all children, but that doesn’t make them “our children.” This mentality is disturbing and frankly it is a Communist mindset as Ken Shepherd pointed out at NewsBusters the notion of collective responsibility “was a philosophy that undergirded the Cultural Revolution in Communist China under Chairman Mao.” Gretchen Logue at Missouri Education Watchdog made the following observation:
She is speaking about education investments in children and must think of children as communal property and return on investment. If you ascribe to that theory, then her comments make perfect sense. If children are “human capital” rather than “human beings”, then the state should have control over their upbringing.
It is obvious that this mentality has permeated our culture somewhat, but if it becomes sold on it we can say goodbye to our parental rights as the state will claim itself to be the primary stakeholder, not parents in the upbringing of our children.