American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten was recently struck by a startling statistic:
115% of mothers with young children left their jobs in 2020 because of childcare responsibilities. https://t.co/VImJlOeWlQ
— Randi Weingarten (@rweingarten) April 16, 2021
115%? Wow.
115%…??
— Corey A. DeAngelis (@DeAngelisCorey) April 17, 2021
115% of that tweet is stupid.
— Sensible Bosh (@BoshSensible) April 17, 2021
In addition to being AFT’s president, Randi Weingarten is also a teacher. We can only hope she’s not a math teacher.
Hi Randy have you heard of math?
— Schültzie (@muffnbear) April 17, 2021
do you need a math teacher or a copy editor?
— Cranky Federalist, Simón Bolívar Mythicist (@CrankyFed) April 17, 2021
Common Core math
— Anthony Bialy (@AnthonyBialy) April 18, 2021
I see that Common Core math is finally coming in handy.
— Angela Pickel ✝️?? (@AngelaPickel) April 17, 2021
Common core at its finest. No wrong answers.
Teacher – There are 100 mothers with children. If 100 moms quit their jobs, what percentage of mothers is that?
Student – 115%
Teacher – Correct. Next question.— OldSchoolCoug ? ? (@OldSchoolCoug) April 17, 2021
Critical Math Theory
— Jason (@jasonhsv) April 17, 2021
It took her a while, but Randi finally caught on to her mathematical mistake:
Yikes, made a typo in my original tweet of this article. The stat is 11.5% of mothers w/young children left their jobs in 2020 because of childcare responsibilities, not 115%.Glad so many seized on it-hope it’s not a gotcha but a desire 4 both schools to reopen safely & childcare https://t.co/ju7vkfU0BO
— Randi Weingarten (@rweingarten) April 17, 2021
Randi’s decidedly tenuous grasp on math is certainly a strong argument in favor of homeschooling, but not every family has the means. So there are a lot of parents who need to send their kids to school. Unfortunately, Randi Weingarten and her ilk have fought tooth-and-nail against reopening schools, and, consequently, some mothers have found themselves with no choice but to leave their jobs, sometimes at great financial risk.
But for some reason, math whiz Randi doesn’t seem capable of putting two and two together.
because teachers unions kept the schools closed
— Corey A. DeAngelis (@DeAngelisCorey) April 17, 2021
Because schools closed for no reason. I fixed it for you.
— Vlindy (@vlindy33) April 17, 2021
…foisted upon women in large measure bc SCHOOLS, that provide crucial caregiving, remained shut or nominally "open" in such unpredictable + insubstantial ways it became untenable for many moms to work outside the home
Childcare crisis = inextricable from school closure crisis
— Dr. Natalia Mehlman Petrzela (@nataliapetrzela) April 17, 2021
Why did they stay home, possibly because you idiots won’t go back to school? https://t.co/WaaujxybP1
— Herd Level Immunity Prison Mitch (@MidnightMitch) April 19, 2021
Wow ? Randi. What an insight! Keeping schools closed had zero effect right ?? My god. Open the schools already!!! You’re destroying an entire generation of working women with your continued attacks on students / parents.
— Marie (@MarieIngrisano) April 17, 2021
Everyone is dunking on the percentage but this is obviously largely due to schools being closed. If you care about reversing this trend you care about accelerating reopening. In other words, you aren’t Randi Weingarten.
— Nick Pappas (@NickAPappas) April 17, 2021