No Parents, You Don’t Have a Say in Your Kids’ Education – Opinion

Former Virginia governor and current gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe was supposed to win next week’s race against Republican Glenn Youngkin in a walk. At least, that was the consensus of most Democrat strategists. McAullife, however, is in a neck and neck race because of several missteps. One such misstep is the veteran Democrat’s insistence that parents should not have a say in the education of their children.

Yes, just like all good Democrats, McAulliffe’s soul belongs to the teachers’ unions.

The all-powerful American Federation of Teachers was responsible in this instance. “Shockingly,” the union rolled out a pro-McAulliffe ad program on Sunday, featuring public school parents and educators singing the praises of McAuliffe’s education proposals while trashing Youngkin’s plan

Two liberals who share McAulliffe’s belief that parents need to stay the hell out of their kid’s education are Jack Schneider, self-proclaimed “scholar of education history policy,” and Jennifer Berkshire, “education, policy, and politics podcaster.” The duo penned an article for The Washington Post titled:

Parents claim they have the right to shape their kids’ school curriculum. They don’t.

Parents claim they have the right to shape their kids’ school curriculum. They don’t, write @Edu_Historian and @BisforBerkshire @PostOutlook https://t.co/FUZUSDTQTR

— Washington Post Opinions (@PostOpinions) October 22, 2021

Democracy in DarknessWaPo declares that. It does. You can see why. Education Dies in IndoctrinationYou can also.

Like the good Democrats they are, Schneider and Berkshire began their op-ed by slamming Republicans for having the audacity to “circle around the cause of ‘parents’ rights.’” Via WaPo (emphasis, mine):

In their search for issues that will deliver Congress in 2022, conservatives have begun to circle around the cause of “parents’ rights.” In Indiana, Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita recently introduced a Bill of Rights to Parents, which asserts that “Education policy and curriculum must reflect Indiana’s values.”

In Florida, the legislature passed an even more comprehensive bill, assuring that the state and its public schools cannot infringe on the “fundamental rights” of parents. Parents are being allowed to sue schools that teach prohibited concepts in a growing number of states

Virginia is a Republican state. Glenn Youngkin has made parents’ rights a centerpiece of his campaign for governor, staging “parents matter” rallies and declaring, “I believe parents should be in charge of their kids’ education.”

The notion that parents shouldn’t have a say in the education (indoctrination) of their children is insane; for the sake of the kids,Not the parents. In this respect, I’d argue that what we should be talking about is as much a Children’s Bill of Rights As a Parents Bill of Rights — You have the right Not to be indoctrinatedThey are judged on their skin colour or the predisposed beliefs held by teachers and school boards.

Scenes taken from @POTUS’ first stop in NJ today at East End Elementary pic.twitter.com/uILl66x3KJ

— Molly Nagle (@MollyNagle3) October 25, 2021

This is what the authors did:

One might conclude from this frenzy that radicals seek to end American control over the education sphere. But what’s actually radical here is the assertion of parental powersThese are new possibilities that were not possible before.

Then came the “but” card, meaning, as is the case in general, whenever someone in a debate, argument, or whatever tosses in a “but,” everything he or she said before the “but” should generally be discarded.

However, parents shouldn’t have complete control over what their children learn. However common law and case law in the United States have long supported the idea that The goal of education is to teach students how to think independentlyEven though it may be against parents wishes.

In the words of legal scholar Jeff Shulman, “The effort might cause a separation between parent and child, not because socialist educators wish to indoctrinate their children but because children learn to think for themselves..”

Oh, c’mon — you clowns are making it way too easy.

When teachers force Critical Race Theory, White Supremacy and Climate-Change Armageddon on young students, how are they supposed to think for their self?

If young kids object to “any of the above,” are they excused from such indoctrination?

And how does a young mind know what’s right and wrong with his or her education — particularly when know-it-all teachers and school systems push their beliefs on kids? In that reality, Ms. Berkshire and Mr. Schneider, where is the independence of children’s thinking? Give me a break.

Let’s wade through one more chunk of this blatant propaganda, then I’ll leave it to you to determine how much more of it you can stomach. Next the authors tackled the issue of parents and children’s divergence of interest.

Is it possible for parents to have different interests? It’s usually not. occurs when a parent’s desire to inculcate a particular worldview denies the child exposure to other ideas and values [like Critical Race Theory, systemic racism, climate alarmism, et al.]A young independent person may wish to accept or entertain.

To All decisions should be handed over to the parents [as opposed to teachers and school boards]The risk is that young people might not be able think for themselves. Rob Reich, the political scientist, has put it this way:

“Minimal autonomy requires, Particularly because of its civic significance [please] that a child be able to examine his or her own political values and beliefs, and those of others, with a critical eye [uh-huh].”

If we valueThis end, “the structure of schooling cannot simply replicate in every particularity the values and beliefs of a child’s home.” [But it can replicate the values and beliefs of the radical Left.]

OK, I’m done with this, gang — click on the link at the top and continue if you so desire.

We are now facing this. Not dissimilar to an old Twilight Zone episode, perhaps, in which The State pushes parents out of the way — or locks them up — so as to avoid any interference in the “proper education” of the leaders (and followers) of the future utopian state.

If you haven’t already, check out these related RedState articles.

Condi Rice Stuns ‘View’ Hosts With Knockout Argument Against Critical Race Theory

Terry McAuliffe Just Gets Embarrassed by A Reporter During a Heated Exchange on Critical Race Theory

‘We Are Not Victims’: Black Father’s Impassioned Plea on Critical Race Theory Leads School District to Ban It

Watch: Angry Moms Crash School Board Meeting to Read ‘Pornographic’ Excerpts From Books Assigned to Kids