One of the cultural conflicts taking place in multiple school boards across Southern California – and likely in many other places across the country – is a debate about whether school personnel should disclose gender-related conversations initiated by students with parents. Many education leaders – including teachers’ unions – are adamant school personnel must not be required to share those conversations with parents. When a student (of any age) raises gender-concerns, these educators believe they should advise students apart from parental input.
This is – in a word – preposterous.
In contrast to this debate, a mother recently told me about her experience – in a public school – of the disclosure requirements for her child to be given a once-daily dose of a prescription medication by school personnel. Getting this done required signing several legal documents, a face-to-face meeting with a school nurse, and agreeing to reporting protocols to keep everyone informed about these treatments – just swallowing two pills before lunch every day.
A quick check of some other requirements revealed parents are still required to be consulted (and to sign permission forms) for students traveling on off-campus field trips, participating on athletic teams, watching any movie (even G-rated), or enrolling in advanced courses with additional fees. In most school districts, a child needs parental permission to do all these things – including take physician-prescribed medication on school property.
In contrast, school personnel are advocating for the right to discuss gender issues – up to and including gender-transformation – without involving parents. In the face of these contradictory standards, the true agenda is blatantly revealed. Educational leaders, as an expression of governmental control, are advancing the gender-choice movement – rooted in a worldview called “expressive individualism” – which ultimately undermines nuclear families and replaces them with a state-centric approach to enculturation.
We are sowing the wind and we will reap the whirlwind. The family has been the foundation for healthy societies for millennia. Without a doubt, there are dysfunctional families and healthy families that do not fit a traditional model. But those exceptions do not invalidate the overwhelmingly positive impact of a nuclear family – a mother and father taking responsibility for nurturing their own children. These families enrich both adults and children, providing a healthy environment for emotional, psychological, physical – and yes, spiritual growth.
If you are a parent, demand access to any and all information anyone – medical personnel, school administrator, classroom teacher – has about your child and talk it over with your children. No secrets from parents! And if you are disengaged as a parent, trusting others to educate your children, reengage and do your job. Children need parents who are fully committed to their well-being, including advocating for them and protecting them from gender-confusion advocates in any context.