How Are Parents Fighting Back Against Indoctrination of Their Children?

            Children and teenagers suffered in numerous ways from the lockdowns in the fight against the coronavirus. However, forcing students to stay home and attend Zoom classes may be a dark cloud with an unseen benefit. Parents were also locked down to control the spread of COVID-19, and they became more aware of what the schools were teaching their children. Parents saw and heard things that they did not appreciate.

            Some parents decided to homeschool their children, while other parents decided to fight the school system. Parents in Virginia were instrumental in the election Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin because his opponent did not see any reason for parents to be involved in the education of their children.

            States have joined parents on the offensive against schools teaching sex and gender curriculums to grade school children. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently signed The Parental Rights in Education law and added fuel to the fire of conversations about sex education. Critics call the Florida law the “don’t say gay” law, even though the word gay is not mentioned in the law.

According to an article written by Julia Dandoy and John Schoof, the Florida law “addresses teacher conduct and material allowed in classrooms [and] postpones any teaching of sexual orientation and ‘gender identity’ until after third grade.” Other states are now passing their own laws “addressing not just education, but the medical field as well.” One of those states is Alabama. 

            Parents are pushing back and demanding the right to have control over what schools are teaching to their children. Their first targets are “schools and school boards,” but they recognize that the problem is more extensive than their local school district. So, they are examining the “organizations that supply the curriculum and teacher training materials.”

            Dandoy and Schoof concluded their article by sharing “what an ideal proposal would look like” from experts at Heritage Foundation.

In a recent report, Heritage Foundation experts Jonathan Butcher and Lindsey Burke lay out what an ideal proposal would look like. They begin with changing the way schools view students in their care. According to the report, a parent bill of rights must affirm parents as the child’s primary caregivers.

Parents are the ones “primarily responsible for their children’s education and health, as well as their moral and religious upbringing.” Students must also be protected from compelled speech and parents must have the final say regarding health and counseling services that are provided to their child.

To directly address the curriculum developers, lawmakers and parents should ush for transparency in the classroom. This transparency should not only include specifics about the curriculum, but who is providing the school with it.

Parents have a right to know what is being taught to their children, and should have easy access to class syllabi, textbooks, homework, and reading materials. A school should make this easily accessible on its website and learning management system.

            The authors shared good news when they reported that “27 states have put forward proposals for new school choice programs or the expansion of existing ones.” These states understand that “Parents should have the choice to send their child – and their money – to the school that they believe aligns with their values.”