Co-hosts Jennifer Welch and Angie Sullivan of the "I've Had It" podcast have voiced strong criticism of homeschooling, calling it "weird as f—" and a form of "trickle-down stupidity." Their remarks came in response to a caller who expressed concern about parents attempting to homeschool their children.
Sullivan stated that she believes homeschooling is a "bad idea, from soup to nuts," regardless of the parents' background. She questioned the desire for children to be with their parents 24/7, citing concerns about socialization. "I just think it’s just f—ing weird as f— that you want your kids around you all day, every day and all night," Sullivan said. "And just the socialization."
Welch further elaborated on the criticism, accusing homeschooling parents of attempting to "project a script onto their kids" and suggesting they lack critical thinking skills. She linked homeschooling to what she described as "MAGA on steroids," "MAHA," "tradwife," and being "unvaxxed and unjacked." Welch characterized homeschooling as part of a "fundamental crazy Christian problem" in America and suggested it could be considered child abuse.
"I cannot stand these people, but, again, it’s a pretty big red flag when somebody tells you, when you’re like, ‘What’s their deal? They seem kind of awful,’ [and they say] ‘I was homeschooled.’ You’re like, ‘Yeah.’ I just think it’s such a selfish thing for parents to do," Welch stated. She also expressed that pushing a single religion on a child before they are old enough to make their own decisions constitutes child abuse.
In response to the podcast hosts' comments, Corey DeAngelis, senior fellow at the American Culture Project and an education policy advocate, argued that sending children to government schools for most of their childhood is the more unusual practice. "It’s not weird to love your children and want them around. It’s weird to outsource them to strangers employed by the government while pretending it’s for their own good," DeAngelis said. He criticized the government school system, citing documented issues of abuse, bullying, drugs, gangs, violence, and what he called "relentless socialist indoctrination."
DeAngelis also noted that homeschooling has been a historical norm for human learning over thousands of years, contrasting it with the modern government schooling system, which he described as a "factory-model" system resulting from 19th-century Prussian militarism and 20th-century progressive social engineering. He concluded that this educational model has failed many children and that parents choosing to educate their own children is a "natural thing," not an indicator of political affiliation or "stupidity."