News Host Doesn’t Think Government Should Have Any Involvement In Education
A news host from a major media outlet voiced her opinions that she doesn't think schools should have any government involvement.
Lisa Kennedy, a Fox News host, was not holding back when she first said that there should not be any government involvement whatsoever in education. She then doubled down on that statement by suggesting that the nation should completely do away with public school systems. Her remarks came during the Outnumbered segment that had the crew discussing the legal ramifications surrounding the firing of high school football coach Joe Kennedy.
The case has made headline news as Kennedy claims he lost his job because he was holding post-game prayers on the field. The Supreme Court now has the case. “This is not a case of the government compelling speech. A public sector school teacher forcing a classroom to engage in prayer,” said Fox News host Kayleigh McEnany via the Salon. “This is someone who is a government employee saying hey, I want to silently, free exercise my right to religious speech.” McEnany is the former press secretary for former President Donald Trump.
Kennedy responded by saying that Kennedy v Bremerton School District “will be a very important case for religious liberty, but also may be a great time in our country’s history where we rethink whether or not we have public schools.” She is not a fan of government involvement in education. “Maybe we should not have the government involved in education at all so parents and teachers and administrators can make those decisions themselves instead of having the government impose it on them because it is the public school aspect of this that is creating the legal challenge.”
However, host Harris Faulker had her doubts about removing government involvement and the public school system in general. “And what do we do with the people who can’t afford private?” she asked Kennedy. “Like, what does that look like? Because each state allots some money so they would get that money, I would assume.”
“Yeah, you could have – we could entirely rethink – OK, I’ll tell you why I say that,” Kennedy said via The Hill about government involvement before pivoting. “It’s because the two most powerful teachers’ unions in the country are opposed to coach Kennedy. They are using their heft and their influence to make sure that he loses this case.”
In the case of Kennedy v Bremerton School District, government involvement is at its highest level as the Supreme Court is now listening to oral arguments that centered on if Joe Kennedy, the former football coach at Bremerton High School, was a state employee when he was praying with students in the middle of the field or if he was a private citizen. Kennedy says his rights were violated when he was told he could no longer pray in the middle of the field with players and students after games. The Bremerton school board claims that the former coach used coercion to get students and players to pray, which gave them eventual grounds to fire him.
“He insisted on audible prayers at the 50-yard line with students,” said Richard Katskee, a lawyer for the Bremerton School District to The New York Times. “He announced in the press that those prayers are how he helps these kids be better people.”
According to reports, Kennedy was never reprimanded for his praying after games until students and players began to join in. But as oral arguments began in his case, a number of conservative justices appear to be giving Kennedy a sympathetic ear. Justice Brett Kavanaugh even said, “This wasn’t ‘Huddle up, team.'”
This discussion by Kennedy and the Outnumbered crew comes at a time when parents are asking for more involvement in school curricula. While Kennedy says less government involvement is what’s needed, lawmakers are the ones who are siding with parents and passing bills left and right giving them more parental rights. It is a fine line between removing government involvement in schools and making sure they are involved enough to make sure parents are heard.
