An education activist parent tells Breitbart News she met in front of her home in New Hampshire with Hillary Clinton — who presented herself as a moderate who is for local control of education and supportive of homeschooling.
In an interview with Breitbart News, Lauren Lawless (photo above with Hillary Clinton) states she spoke with Clinton for about 25 or 30 minutes as the candidate and her entourage were knocking on doors in her area.
“What struck me is that she spoke to me like I was the only person there,” Lawless said, explaining that she has never been a fan of Clinton. “Of course, there were cameras and Secret Service everywhere, and it was her demeanor toward me — her presence — it just wasn’t what I expected. She answered in every way I would want a candidate to respond about education and, specifically, about Common Core.”
“She is a master at what she does and she has a vault of ‘correct’ answers,” she explained. “I walked away saying, ‘Man, too bad it wasn’t authentic.’”
“I don’t think she was genuine because I know her history in regards to education,” Lawless continued. “I would love to believe her answer about Common Core, but I would have to question it because I feel like she has changed her mind.”
A homeschooling parent, Lawless said — knowing about Clinton’s book It Takes A Village and her opinions about education — “It’s hard to separate her answers to me from the person she has been.”
Lawless, who has been a Rand Paul supporter and has opposed Common Core, said Clinton told her the original intent of Common Core was positive and that she believes standards are important. The Democrat candidate continued, however, that the backlash against Common Core is understandable and that there have been too many fads in education and too much testing.
“I asked her if she was aware that the current [Common Core-aligned] tests are not even validated, and she replied, ‘yes,’” Lawless said.
The New Hampshire parent said she asked Clinton whether the federal government should control education or force its agenda through funding. In addition, she asked Clinton about her views on local control of education.
“She stated that local control is important, but then began to say what the federal government should ‘tell’ — which is when I interrupted with, ‘No, the federal government should not be ‘telling’ anything,” Lawless explained, noting that Clinton looked somewhat taken aback by her interruption.
“Are you aware that parents feel their role as facilitators in their child’s education (in public schools) is deliberately being squashed by politicians and that parents and educators are very unhappy with the direction that public school is going in?” Lawless said she asked Clinton, who responded that parents’ involvement in their children’s education is extremely important.
Lawless said Clinton discussed the breakdown of the family, heroin addiction, and too much “screen time” for children.
“I said ‘Ha! Then let’s get the screens out of schools especially in the younger grades,’ to which she replied, ‘Yes, good point,’” Lawless said. “She said she supports homeschooling but does not think every single parent is up to the task; however, she said most parents do a phenomenal job. She spoke of HIPPY [Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters] and her book, It Takes a Village.”
“It was amazing that she spent the time to speak with me,” Lawless said, “but if I had no history, if I had not done my homework over the past several years, if I had not been following the problems in education, and I knew nothing, she would have sold me,” Lawless concluded, adding it is easy to see how low-information voters can be persuaded.
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