“So Emily, did you know we are having an election this year to pick the next President?”

“Yes! And I hope the girl wins!” 

Not having expected my six year old to know anything about civics, much less the sex of the candidates, I was taken aback and pleasantly surprised – my tax dollars at work!

“Why do you want the girl to win?” 

Then came the dreaded response, “Because my teacher told me – this would be the first time a girl was president! That would be awesome!” Dreaded because it’s the first time Emily has come home having been taught a viewpoint counter to that which her mother and I would prefer her to hold.

“Emily,” I said, “we don’t pick someone to be president because they are a boy or a girl. That would be like picking someone because they are tall or because they can cook. We pick someone because they will do the best job.” 

“But I want the girl to win!”

“Will the girl do the best job?”

“I don’t know… will she?” – throwing the argument back into my court. 

“I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter if the President is a boy or a girl. We pick the person who will do the best job.”

In the end she was disappointed, but she eventually understood that we need to pick a President based on merit, not skin color or sex – both of which will obviously be played up in this year’s election. What makes me mad is that I have to be the one to correct her teacher’s feminist viewpoint. I thought teachers were supposed to teach things like critical thinking and objectivity. Maybe I just truly underestimated the “girlpower” that Clinton brings. Makes me shudder to think that many people in this country will be placing their fate in the hands of someone based on gender. I wish teachers do more educating and leave the indoctrinating to the parents.