I am a teacher who does not have children. JD Vance thinks that means I am “brainwashing” students.

In comments that have resurfaced recently, Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance claimed that childless teachers “brainwash” and “destroy” children’s minds. As an educator, I hope women everywhere, in every profession, are listening.

During a 2021 leadership forum hosted by the Center for Christian Virtue, Vance was asked how he would handle issues with schools while a senator. In his response, he took aim at Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, saying, “You know, a lot of the leaders on the left — and I hate to get so personal about it — but they’re childless people, trying to brainwash our children.”

“If he wants to brainwash and destroy the minds of children,” she added, “he should have some of his own and leave ours alone.” To be clear, Weingarten is a stepmother to two daughters and has publicly described herself as a “mother by marriage,” but her family situation is irrelevant to her ability to lead the nation’s teachers.

I began my career as a high school English teacher in New Jersey. While pursuing licensure, I was required to take college and state exams focused on content knowledge and best practices, all with a foundation in child psychology and the science of learning. I gained experience designing lesson plans, assessments, and rubrics that account for the myriad learning styles that populate classrooms across the country each year. At no point during my path to teaching was I asked about the state of my uterus and whether pregnancy would enhance my ability to work with children and their families.

When I became a teacher, my students and I read books together. I taught them how to analyze texts and write essays in various genres. In my class, students learned about the art of informed argument and how, in Plato’s words, opinion is the lowest form of knowledge. They also learned new vocabulary and grammar and everything else one would expect from a classroom where literacy development is paramount. I like to think that what my students learned while in my care helped prepare them for success in their chosen professions.

When I met with my students’ parents to discuss their children’s progress, at no point was I asked about my reproductive status or how that status related to my ability to raise their children. All parents simply want to know that the person at the front of the room is competent in their chosen profession and cares about their child as a whole person.

I currently teach at the college level in a teacher preparation program. My students are some of our country’s future teachers. My curriculum includes the practical aspects of teaching and has been tailored to take into account the issues facing schools, classrooms, and students today. We work not only on how to create lesson plans, but also on how to build inclusive classroom communities where all children feel safe and cared for, and where parents can feel at ease knowing their children are in good hands.

It doesn’t even occur to me to ask about my students’ reproductive organs or their future family planning goals. Why? Because I’m not weird. A teacher’s willingness to be a mother, or her desire not to have children, has absolutely no bearing on her ability to care for the children who will one day occupy a seat in her classroom. Plus, not all of my students have uteruses.

Which brings me to my next point: It’s no accident that Vance speaks this way about a female-dominated profession. He has a well-deserved reputation for disparaging women and their work in almost every way. Just as he denounced childless women who own cats, and said nothing about childless men who also own cats, he also vilifies teachers who don’t have children, and says nothing about the fact that not all teachers have uteruses. Perhaps the next problem is women in the workplace. any Vance has shown that there is no bottom, no misogynistic low to which he would not aspire.

It’s fitting that Vance’s comments have resurfaced now as a new school year begins. As I write this, all teachers, regardless of whether they have children or not, are currently digging into their own pockets to get the supplies that they have learned and know their new students will need. I personally know teachers who have drawers full of nonperishable food items that students can access without questions asked. Every day, my own social media wall is filled with teachers posting links to their classroom wish lists, asking for help they can’t get anywhere else. Many of the people I describe here don’t have children, but they care and want to do good work for other people’s children, which is why they go into teaching to begin with.

Needless to say, the Republican Party has long had issues with educators. For years, Republican lawmakers like Vance and his allies have launched ill-informed attacks on us and the work we do. Most recently, the Heritage Foundation’s infamous Project 2025 proposes dismantling the Department of Education, which, not coincidentally, is the entity that funds public schools. But Vance’s comments are not In fact As for teachers, he has made it clear to American women that there is nothing we can do other than raise our children and grandchildren that will meet with his approval. And all this from a man who doesn’t even seem capable of ordering doughnuts in a way that doesn’t provoke embarrassment.