Parents Excluded – Gender Issues
Sept 20, 2023 Marches in Canada
Tasha Kheiriddin: School ‘inclusion’ excludes parents. No wonder they marched
(Title in hard copy of paper: ‘Inclusion’ excludes parents
Wednesday’s protest is a symptom of deep dissatisfaction with schools
Tasha Kheiriddin Sep 21, 2023 https://nationalpost.com/opinion/tasha-kheiriddin
Tunya
The One Million Marches 4 Children, Sept 20, ’23, are indeed a “symptom of deep dissatisfaction with schools”. As a long-time advocate for parent rights, I have noted with alarm how pervasive has been the growing trend to exclude parents from their biological duties.
I think the Marches tell us we should really buckle down and ask WHY they ensued. And, why and how the counter-protests were so speedily and defensively organized.
There obviously is a lot at stake for both sides in this momentous event.
As an advocate for parents, I see this as an opportunity to examine why it is that parents are so much feared and deterred. Why have the criticisms about such things as illiteracy, poor math, absent civics lessons — and now the urgent matter of gender ideology — been dismissed?
It was the philosopher Roger Scruton (died 2020) who commented on the current education methods this way: “ . . . one thing is certain: that each generation would know less than the one before . . .The teacher who loves his subject and cares about his students is concerned that the rising generation not know less than the one that preceded it.”
This National Post article concludes: “For all their talk of inclusion, school boards merrily exclude one group who cares deeply about that [education]: parents. It’s no surprise that parents are mad. “
• Reply by Susan Hirshorn. Reply to Tunya Audain
The baby-boomer generation onwards has bought into the notion that governments and institutions (including schools and media) should rule our lives. This has eroded the authority of parents and with that loss of authority, their sense of responsibility for what and who their children should be exposed to. This trend, however, is shifting. The Parents March here, similar protests and parental rights legislation in some parts of the US are evidence of this. Personally I welcome the change.
Reply by Tunya Audain. Reply to Susan Hirshorn
Yes, the Marches are significant for several reasons. First — parents across Canada have voiced their concern about this issue of children being exposed to questions, materials and events that are age-inappropriate. Secondly — the Marches also raise the wider question of why parents accept the notion that government and institutions should rule our lives. Is this something that families have voluntarily bought into or is there a long-term process by which parents have gradually become excluded? If the latter, why and who are behind these moves to diminish parent involvement? Thirdly — equally important, is the matter of school choice. Should the state both fund AND provide public education that is uniform and prone to penetration from outside practices and ideologies that are not welcomed by the font-line consumers, the parents?
Yes, these questions are more frequently dealt with in the United States where political policies and laws are being more frequently used — both for curricular matters and widening of school choices. This National Post article asks the question: What is the purpose of public education? These Marches should be a wake-up call for politicians, public and parents to address this question more directly.