Six Challenges Facing Public Schools, Part 2
The stark reality is that children’s performance in schools cannot be separated from the problems occurring in society at large.
Articles within this series
- Overview
- Pop Quiz: 20 Questions Parents Should Ask About Their Children's School
- Six Challenges Facing Public Schools, Part 1
- Six Challenges Facing Public Schools, Part 2
- Next Steps / Related Information
Part one of this article examines public schools’ unsafe environments, teachers’ unions skewed priorities and public schools’ minimal results. Part Two looks at promotion of liberal ideologies, the erosion of religious freedoms and the erosion of parents’ rights.
4 . Promotion of liberal ideologies
Homosexuality
Hundreds of public schools have opened their doors to GLSEN—the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network— which sponsors more than 3,000 pro-gay clubs (“gay-straight alliances”) in nationwide middle and high schools. These clubs are used as tools to get pro-gay books into school libraries, lobby for curricula promoting homosexuality and sponsor weeklong events celebrating homosexuality. Massachusetts’ education department even gives $5,000 grants to school gay-straight alliances.1 And as the only state that has legalized full-fledged gay marriage, Massachusetts clearly demonstrates how the battle over the sanctity of marriage will play out in public schools—parents there can no longer exempt kids as young as 6 from lessons about homosexual relationships.2 “If somebody wants to challenge me, I’ll say, `Give me a break. It's legal now,’ ” said one eighth grade teacher, who gives her students sexually explicit information about homosexual behavior.3
Sexual promiscuity
The majority of nationwide public schools also espouse a “safe sex” ideology—promoting condoms and abortion to kids without emphasizing condoms’ failure rates, or the emotional and physical consequences of promiscuity.
- In a national survey released by The Kaiser Family Foundation, the majority of public school officials reported that their school uses “comprehensive” sex education—i.e., promotion of condoms and birth control. Only 33 percent of teachers described their school’s main message as “abstinence-only-until-marriage.” 4
- A small minority of public schools is promoting abstinence-until-marriage. But at least 12 measures are currently being proposed in Congress that would eliminate federal funding for abstinence education in those schools. 5
Evolution
Many public school teachers are also banned from mentioning documented flaws in Darwin’s evolution theory. Even in the conservative state of Utah, the state legislature recently voted down attempts to allow teachers to include critical analysis of Darwinism. 6
5. Religious freedoms under attack
Ironically, as liberal advocacy groups are welcomed to speak in public schools, students with deeply held religious convictions find themselves censored. A quick search of news articles over the last three years reveals religious freedom battles occurring in public schools almost on a weekly basis. Some examples include:
- School officials in Nevada censored a high school valedictorian—turning her microphone off mid-speech— after she tried to thank Jesus and talk about God during her commencement speech. 7
- According to a lawsuit filed in June 2006, public high school seniors in Everett, Washington, were told they couldn’t play the “Ave Maria” during an orchestra performance because it was too religious. 8
- School officials in New York censored the art work of a kindergartner who drew a picture of Jesus.9
The good news is that religious liberty groups like the Alliance Defense Fund are aggressively challenging these actions—and winning a large number of cases in federal courts.
6. Parents’ rights disrespected
However, there is still one group of citizens who are losing in the courts—parents. For instance:
- In Kentucky, a federal judge recently denied parents the right to opt their kids out of a pro-homosexual “diversity training.” 10
- The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against parents in California’s Palmdale School District who protested their elementary-age kids being given a sexually explicit survey. 11
- As a result, some public schools have felt free to give kids condoms or even refer them to abortion clinics without their parents’ knowledge. 1213
Though the U.S. Supreme Court has stated that parents have a constitutional right to direct the upbringing and education of their children, the high court rarely reviews parental rights cases—so many parents are left without recourse. Our legal system is basically sending the message that “once the kids are past the school gates, parents have no rights,” said Marie Amiel, a Rutherford Institute lawyer.14