{"id":1368046,"date":"2022-03-10T05:10:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-10T10:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1368046"},"modified":"2022-03-10T07:07:02","modified_gmt":"2022-03-10T12:07:02","slug":"3-reasons-parents-are-absolutely-right-to-demand-informed-consent-to-what-schools-do-to-their-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/3-reasons-parents-are-absolutely-right-to-demand-informed-consent-to-what-schools-do-to-their-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Reasons Parents Are Absolutely Right To Demand Informed Consent To What Schools Do To Their Kids"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">34<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2F3-reasons-parents-are-absolutely-right-to-demand-informed-consent-to-what-schools-do-to-their-kids%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1368046&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"row justify-content-center\">\n<div class=\"col-12\">\n<figure class=\"article-thumbnail mb-30 mb-sm-60\">\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>A parent can look at the label on a juice box to decide what ingredients to allow into her child\u2019s body. He should also be able to decide what ingredients a teacher puts into his child\u2019s mind, but that isn\u2019t the case in a growing number of public schools.<\/p>\n<p>When Covid-19 brought the classroom into the kitchen, parents\u2019 eyes were opened to some unsettling revelations, including that their children are being indoctrinated into critical race theory, and that some schools are secretly treating girls as boys and vice-versa.<\/p>\n<p>Food labeling helps parents make informed decisions about what their children eat. In the same way, transparency helps parents make informed decisions about what their children learn. Yet some schools are resisting calls for transparency. Corporate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/us-news\/critical-race-theory-curriculum-transparency-rcna12809\">media<\/a> and teachers\u2019 unions have inaccurately disparaged parents, but these critics are wrong. Here are three reasons why.<\/p>\n<p>Former MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry infamously <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericanconservative.com\/dreher\/the-left-all-your-kids-are-belong-to-us-parents\/\">called<\/a> on her viewers to \u201cbreak through our kind of private idea that \u2018kids belong to their parents,\u2019. . . and recognize that kids belong to whole communities.\u201d Her pitch was strikingly similar to that of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/mcauliffe-saying-parents-shouldnt-tell-schools-what-teach-big-factor-election-poll-1649488\">Terry McAuliffe<\/a>, former Virginia governor and chair of the Democratic National Committee, who said parents shouldn\u2019t be telling schools what to teach.<\/p>\n<p>This view of parental rights is at odds with parents\u2019 fundamental right to direct the education and upbringing of their children. The U.S. Supreme Court recognized this in 1925 in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/supremecourt\/text\/268\/510\">Pierce v. Society of Sisters<\/a>, stating, \u201cThe child is not the mere creature of the State; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As Professor Melissa Moschella <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thepublicdiscourse.com\/2013\/04\/9880\/\">writes<\/a>, parental rights stem from the uniquely intimate relationship between parents and children. Children belong to their families, which are headed by their parents. Therefore, parents have the most direct obligation and authority to care for children until they are mature enough to direct their own lives. Until then, parents mediate a child\u2019s relationship to the larger political community.<\/p>\n<p>The failure to recognize that the family is distinct and relatively independent from the political community, and that parental rights are pre-political and natural rights, is not just wrong, but dangerous. Moschella notes Hannah Arendt\u2019s observation that eliminating the intermediary structures between the individual and the state \u2014 namely the family and the church \u2014 is the essence of totalitarianism.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"2-more-schools-are-crossing-the-boundary-line-between-education-and-indoctrination\">2. More schools are crossing the boundary line between education and indoctrination.<\/h2>\n<p>If schools just taught the \u201cthree Rs\u201d (reading, writing, and arithmetic), parents would not suspect schools were undermining their values, beliefs, and authority. But, as parents in <a href=\"https:\/\/adflegal.org\/blog\/one-school-board-fighting-racism-more-racism\">Albemarle County<\/a>, Virginia, recently learned, some schools are indoctrinating students with so-called \u201canti-racism\u201d ideology. <\/p>\n<p>Instead of condemning all racism, \u201canti-racism\u201d replaces one form of racism with another. Following \u201canti-racist\u201d logic, Albemarle County schools used race, sex, religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity to label students as \u201cdominate\u201d or \u201csubordinate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Parents from five families of diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds <a href=\"https:\/\/adflegal.org\/press-release\/diverse-group-va-parents-join-protect-their-children-radical-ideology\">challenged<\/a> the policy. The school undermined what these parents believe and teach their children \u2014 that all people are created equal and should be treated as such. The school even threatened to punish students for not supporting the policy. <\/p>\n<p>Yet, as Judge James C. Ho of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit wrote in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ca5.uscourts.gov\/opinions\/pub\/20\/20-20215-CV1.pdf\">Oliver v. Arnold<\/a>, \u201cSchools should educate\u2014not indoctrinate. Teachers can teach. And teachers can test. But teachers cannot require students to endorse a particular political viewpoint.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Parental rights don\u2019t end at the schoolhouse gate. Parents must be able to protect their children from policies that place burdens and privileges on them according to their immutable characteristics.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"3-backed-by-the-biden-administration-schools-are-even-engaging-in-unauthorized-treatment-of-students-mental-health\">3. Backed by the Biden administration, schools are even engaging in unauthorized treatment of students\u2019 mental health.<\/h2>\n<p>The U.S. Department of Education has <a href=\"https:\/\/www2.ed.gov\/about\/offices\/list\/ocr\/docs\/ed-factsheet-transgender-202106.pdf\">promoted<\/a> \u201cgender support plans.\u201d An official fact sheet instructs schools to maintain \u201cconfidentiality\u201d for students who identify as transgender at school by not using the student\u2019s birth name or \u201csex assigned at birth if the student wishes to keep this information private.\u201d But there is no mention of notifying, much less involving, parents in such a consequential decision to adopt a new name and pronouns that correspond to the opposite sex.<\/p>\n<p>The agency tells schools to support a student\u2019s gender transition by using \u201ca checklist of issues to discuss with the student <em>or<\/em> their family\u201d (emphasis added). Without an explicit requirement that schools inform and obtain parental consent to treat the child as a member of the opposite sex, it is reasonable to assume that notification to parents is optional. The schools may also perceive parental notification as a matter that depends on whether the child views their parents as \u201caffirming\u201d of gender transition.<\/p>\n<p>Schools\u2019 use of \u201cgender support plans,\u201d like those recommended by the Biden administration, have shocked parents around the country. After learning that schools sought to hide their children\u2019s emotional distress from them, they challenged these policies in <a href=\"https:\/\/adflegal.org\/case\/doe-v-madison-metropolitan-school-district\">Wisconsin<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/childparentrights.org\/lawsuit-alleges-12-year-old-attempted-suicide-twice-after-school-held-secret-meetings-on-her-gender-identity\/\">Florida<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\/california-mom-teachers-daughter-transgender-education-school\">California<\/a> courts. <\/p>\n<p>Alliance Defending Freedom <a href=\"https:\/\/adflegal.org\/sites\/default\/files\/2022-01\/Letter%20to%20Harrisonburg%20City%20Public%20School-2022-01-14_0.pdf\">recently informed<\/a> Virginia\u2019s Harrisonburg City School District that its policy of using different names and pronouns amounts to \u201ca psychosocial treatment that will increase the odds of long-term persistence,\u201d according to <a href=\"https:\/\/adflegal.org\/sites\/default\/files\/2022-01\/Letter%20to%20Harrisonburg%20City%20Public%20School-2022-01-14_0.pdf\">Dr. Kenneth Zucker<\/a>, an expert in treating gender dysphoria in children. Up to <a href=\"https:\/\/adflegal.org\/sites\/default\/files\/2022-01\/Letter%20to%20Harrisonburg%20City%20Public%20School-2022-01-14_0.pdf\">90 percent<\/a> of children with gender dysphoria eventually become comfortable with their bodies if they aren\u2019t encouraged to live as the opposite sex. Schools should not endanger students by hiding information from parents about their mental health or engage in unauthorized treatment of gender dysphoria.<\/p>\n<p>Lockdowns allowed many parents to see the ingredients inside their children\u2019s education. That prompted them to support laws that provide more transparency into curriculum and policies. Parents should be able to decide on the education that best suits their child and their family\u2019s beliefs. <\/p>\n<p>Too many schools are hiding crucial information. They must be held accountable through policies that require transparency, so parents won\u2019t receive more nasty surprises.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Emilie Kao is senior counsel and vice president of advocacy strategy with Alliance Defending Freedom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A parent can look at the label on a juice box to decide what ingredients to allow into her child\u2019s body. He should also<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1368046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1368046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1368046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1368046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1368046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1368046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1368046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}