During her first official campaign event in Iowa earlier this week, former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton praised Common Core and referred to children’s education as a “non-family enterprise.” Clinton’s controversial statements about education, which were captured by C-SPAN, came in response to a question from a participant about how to offer a quality education throughout the U.S.

Clinton initially responded to the question about how to fix the U.S. educational system by praising Common Core. She then said that families today are too “negative” about the current system, a system Clinton described as “the most important non-family enterprise” in the country. After noting what she described as “unfortunate” opposition to Common Core, Hillary Clinton also blithely dismissed the concerns of Common Core opponents by saying they just “do not understand the value” of the controversial top-down curriculum:



Although Clinton said there shouldn’t be “two tiers of education” in the U.S., she opposes school choice, which would help parents in failing school districts send their children to better schools. Her comment that children’s education is a “non-family enterprise” is also likely to enrage families who believe that parents should be key players in the education of their own children.

Here’s a transcript of Clinton’s remarks from the video: