THE UNPRINCIPLED FIGHT AGAINST PARENTAL RIGHTS.

THE ISSUE
So, I guess there's been this crazy virus sweeping the nation over the past few years. It's dangerous, it's deadly, and it must be stopped before it destroys humanity. 

Now, before you jump to conclusions, assuming this is yet another post celebrating masks, quarantines, forced vaccinations, or other infringements on American liberty...relax. It's not.

You see, the infection I'm referring to has nothing to do with submicroscopic infectious agents hanging around in Chinese wet markets and passed from bats to humans, or even the viruses that are intentionally manipulated inside biotech labs and spread across the globe as a form of biological or political terrorism. I'm speaking of the ideological mind virus which has plagued countless Americans over the past decade or more; namely, the idea that children belong to the village instead of their parents or parental guardians.

​One of unintended side effects of Covid-19 was that parents were not only mandated to get a vaccination and work from home, but were also forced to play a more conscious and intentional role in the public education of their students. As schools shut down, and stayed that way by the decrees of major teacher's unions, parents began to see a clearer picture of how their children were being taught, what they were being taught, and the ideological bent of those who were doing the teaching.  
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​And here we are—in the Year of our Lord 2023—three years removed from the honorary kickoff of a global pandemic, which forced children and parents to shift their lives into the small confines of their homes, and many parents have been awakened to some of these improprieties within the public education system. They are no longer willing to give dominion and authority for the education of their children to special interest groups with radical progressive ideologies or a government they no longer trust to respect or honor their authority to raise their children with the worldview, values, and principles they determine to be in their best interest. Especially when public education moves beyond academics into unequivocal ideologies and tenets of secular humanism; which not only undermine the values and principles which these students are being taught in their homes but also goes against the very principles and tenets of American liberty. 

THE ISSUE WITH THE ISSUE
It's intriguing to me that any parents would push back against the value and importance of parental rights, but that is precisely where we seem to find ourselves right now.

Maybe it's the effects of Long Covid or simply the predicament that comes when "everything is political". Either way, we now have an active group of parents who are literally pushing back against the efforts of those who are actively petitioning school boards across the nation for the right to raise their own children with the values and principles they have determined to be best; without interference or obstruction from the government.

In an effort to be fair to the positions and opinions of those parents who are pushing back against parental rights, I think it is important to present some of the arguments they have made. An opinion piece was recently penned in our local newspaper, where the author made the following argument:

"From what I have read and researched about Moms for Liberty, it appears they are foot soldiers for those who are trying to undermine public trust in the bedrock of our democracy — our public educational system". Glen Weber—Prior Lake, Minnesota.

This claim got me thinking a bit. Is public education really the bedrock of our democracy? While it would be hard to argue against the significance of an educated populace, when it comes to democracy, it's still a stretch to say that education—especially public education—is the bedrock; when public education simply wasn't intrinsic to American democracy.

The founding fathers certainly saw value in educated citizens, but it wasn't until the early-to-mid 19th century that a systematic approach to public education began to take shape in America. 

In the 1830s, Horace Mann, the politically conservative secretary of Massachusetts's board of education, began to advocate for the creation of public schools. These schools would be available to all children, free of charge, and funded by the state. Proponents of “common schools” emphasized that a public investment in education would benefit the whole nation by transforming children into literate, moral, and productive citizens.

In the opinion piece I referred to earlier, Glen Weber went on to say, "If you claim the public school system is infringing on your religious values and parental rights, you have options. "You can have your child excused from instructional time or activities you object to. You can homeschool your child, send them to a religious school that aligns with your religious values or start your own school for like minded individuals". 

The problem with this assertion is too important to ignore. Common schools were setup to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic along with other subjects such as history, geography, grammar, and rhetoric. Common schools also institutionalized religion into the curriculum for the purpose of instilling good morals and compliance with laws in the populace.

As commonplace as public schools have become in America today, it wasn't until common schools were instituted, that the concept of public schools actually became a reality in America. Not only this, but Christianity was literally included in this education, from the outset. For Weber to make the claim that Christian parents should look elsewhere, if public schools are infringing on their religious values, is a distortion of American history. Religious instruction—Christianity to be more specific—was an essential part of public education in America from its very beginning.

Public education is not the bedrock for democracy, in America, but an argument could easily be made that Christianity is. And not only that, but the argument could also be made that Christianity is the bedrock for public education as well.

So when Weber went on to say, "You have a right to lock your child in a bubble of ignorance and intolerance, but do not have the right to pressure the public school system to do the same to other children", it would be incumbent on Christians to give a short history lesson of our own. Without Christianity there may not be a public education system in America. In fact, there might not even be an America at all.

​You see, Weber's issue—which is the same issue of many of the opponents of parental rights policies across America—is that they're afraid of Christianity doing to their children, what secularism is already steadily at work doing to ours; namely, undermining the values and principles being taught to our children in our homes.

They don't want public schools teaching their kids that Christ is King. Hey! Good news secularists. They're not! The problem is, I don't want the public schools teaching my children that things which God has clearly called sinful should be accepted, affirmed, or celebrated. And guess what? They are!

If a student is being threatened, lied to, and punished for displaying a Gadsden flag on his backpack I sure as hell don't want to walk into my child's school and see a pride flag on full public display. When it's considered a microaggression for people to exposed to a flag that was literally used by a progressive political group in the 1970's (The New Left)—who advocated for a broad range of social issues such as civil rights, feminism, gay rights, the rejection of gender roles, and drug policy reforms—then let's drop the pretense that public schools aren't trying to rewrite history or redefine terms in order to best fit their narrative and agendas.

THE ISSUE WITH THE ISSUE WITH THE ISSUE
​We live in a post-truth world. Unfortunately what people say and how convincing they can be when they say it, matters far more to many people than whether or not what they are saying is true.

Here's an example of what I mean. Many opponents of "parental rights" initiatives would like you to believe that Christians are trying to push against the establishment clause and introduce a form of Christian Nationalism, into a secular nation called America. This simply isn't true. All one needs to do is take a close look at American history and realize that Christianity shaped much of what made America distinct. Whether it was the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, our first amendment rights, the basic tenets of our freedom, or even free public education...Christianity was a central stakeholder in all of these things. And only a rewriting and retelling of American history would ever suggest otherwise. This is precisely why it matters what our children are being taught and what the ideological bent is of those who are doing the teaching.

This is also what George Orwell was getting at in his book, 1984, when he penned the following:

"Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book has been rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street and building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And that process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped".

You don't believe me? Ask your children what their school plans to do to celebrate Columbus Day this year? How about Christmas, Thanksgiving, or Easter? Are you tracking with me yet? 

DEFINING TERMS AND REWRITING THE DICTIONARY
It doesn't just stop with rewriting history. Words don't matter quite as much as how the people using them, define those words. In a recent post on his website, titled Sly Dog Teachers, Douglas Wilson said the following:

"All of our cultural battles are actually over editorial control of the dictionary. Who shall have control of that dictionary? Shall we let the liars have that post? Remember that a house divided cannot stand, which is why—in any given society—there can only be one dictionary".

The claim Wilson is making is that our opponents (like those who oppose parental rights initiatives) "use words like identity, and acceptance, and affirmation, and diversity, and equity, and non-discrimination, and inclusion, and harmony, and unity. And they lie. They lie like dead flies on a window sill".

They lie by trying to manipulate the rest of us into believing that the words they use, no longer mean what all of us once knew them to mean. That's why it's no longer racism for a teacher to suggest there are innate distinctions between students—based solely on their skin color. It's also why calling out the privilege of white students, regardless what their actual privilege is, isn't considered prejudiced. Judging a person, by the color of their skin instead of the content of their character, used to be considered wrong. Now, it's considered necessary in order to shed light on the systemic racism and implicit biases white people ignore, every single day.

It's also why books, like "This Book is Gay"—which was available to 12-year-olds at a local middle school in our district—are given a green light even though concerned parents are told it's inappropriate and unacceptable to read the same book at school board meetings; in order to publicly call out the pornographic content within its pages.

When words no longer have objective meaning, words can be intentionally misused to manipulate people. You don't believe in anti-racism? I guess you're racist. You refuse to affirm the preferred gender and pronouns of children who suffer with gender dysphoria? I guess you'd rather have a dead son than a live daughter.

​WHEN DID PARENTAL RIGHTS BECOME TABOO?
So, we're left to ask the question we still need an answer to. When did parental rights become impermissible? 

I run in many of these "liberty circles". While I don't know all of the goals or mission statements of these groups, what I am sure of is that none of these groups seek to make demands of the public education system. At no point in time have I heard any of these groups say, as was suggested by Weber, that "parents should decide what schools teach". 

While parents are the primary stakeholders in their children's education, they certainly aren't the experts in the area of public education. Public education has played and continues to play an invaluable role in the formation of students. America is not unique, in this sense. Public education has a place in every civilized society and we need it. 

That being said, there are limits and boundaries to what parents need to be OK with, when it comes to the education of their children. As the culture moves in progressive directions, parents have the responsibility to ensure what their children are being taught in schools is not only true, but also moral. When questions arise about content being taught to students, parents have the responsibility to press in and push back.

And as parental rights movements gain traction, parents should expect detractors. The loudest opponents against parental rights initiatives always assert that it's "special interests" behind these efforts. Yet, they fail to admit the special interests that have been in the mix in public schools for decades. Teachers unions across the nation have an overwhelming amount of power, influence, and control in how public schools operate. But the duty to educate students is a privilege, not a right. Teachers work for the taxpayers of their independent districts, not the local, state, or national special interest groups they belong to as members. When teachers cross lines or infringe/overstep their responsibility or authority, they should be held accountable. Not as an effort to micromanage them, but rather as an important reminder that even though we give the village access to our children, they still belong to us.

​WHOSE KIDS ARE THESE ANYWAY?
That's the point of all of the pushback. Teachers have a responsibility and they also have a difficult job. I've yet to meet anyone who fails to see or recognize the good that teachers do. If you have children you already know the overwhelming responsibility of finding unique and effective ways of educating students; especially in a culture where outside distractions are increasing as rapidly as the national debt.

I'm grateful for teachers. I'm proud of our teachers. I come from long line of family members who were public school teachers and I do what I can to support teachers as well. But make no mistakes about it, my loyalty to teachers ends where my parental jurisdiction begins. What I mean by this is that I will stop at nothing to ensure my rights as a parent are not being infringed upon. When a school district walks outside their role—and the boundaries established within the district—or makes intentional efforts to hide things from parents, we have a moral responsibility and obligation to remind everyone whose kids these are.

THE PATH FORWARD
The chasm is large and obstacles seem rather overwhelming, but the stakes are high. In a culture and climate, where everything has some kind of political impact, it's hard to imagine a path forward that leads to anything other than more division. However, when push comes to shove I believe most rational people—who are willing to think critically about things—will see the importance of ensuring parental rights are being honored and respected; while also ensuring teachers are feeling valued and supported.

In our local district, a local parent petitioned the school board to consider a parental rights policy. This policy clearly lays out a set of expectations where parents and the school district have healthy boundaries around where certain responsibilities begin and end. It places the primary role of parenting children in the hands of parents, while recognizing the significant role which teachers and public schools play in the education of children.

Efforts like these, if viewed with a rational lens, empower both parents and schools with the ability to fully and faithfully live into their responsibilities with clear expectations and boundaries. As the political divides grow, policies like these offer a solution which paints neither parents nor teachers as victims nor villains, but instead as partners in the education and wellbeing of the children they both aim to shape.

If you live in the Prior Lake Savage Area School District, we encourage you to find out more information about the Parental Rights and Transparency resolution that was presented to the school board. If you find yourself in alignment with the idea of parental rights, we also encourage you to sign the petition which will help the school board understand the significance and importance of this issue to the parents and taxpayers in their district.

You can find both the petition and the proposed resolution [ HERE ]. 

God bless you Pilgrims. Stay Pugnacious.