Canadian Newspaper Runs Full-Page Anti-Gay, Anti-Transgender Ad
lfar:
Canadian Newspaper Runs Full-Page Anti-Gay, Anti-Transgender Ad
I’m not sure how I feel about this. I don’t disagree with providing an education that discusses a wide variety of human sexuality, especially as it might help prevent hate crimes. At the same time, however, I’m not sure that beginning this education as early as Junior Kindergarten is fruitful either. Is an eight year-old really ready to tackle a subject area that can be as confusing as sex ed?
I also object to any curriculum that removes a parent’s right to choose what kind of education their child receives, one that doesn’t allow them to excuse a child from a certain subject, whatever subject that may be. Part of the responsibility of raising a child is ensuring that said child receives a proper education, and there is something horribly impersonal about the state educating children in place of their parents. Not to mention the degree to which it absolves parents from this responsibility - a problem that plagues classrooms now more than ever.
By and large, the education provided by the state is a good one. But if a parent is motivated by a strong belief that their child should or should not be educated in any given subject, I’m not sure the state should have the right to over-rule that parent’s responsibility to raise their own child. Suppose the state’s curriculum was trying to teach your children that Scientology is the right way to live life - would you want the ability to step in? And if you would, how is it much different from parents that want to shield their own children from something that they believe is wrong?
One’s own beliefs might disagree with other parents’ beliefs, but I don’t think the state should provide an education that favours one set of beliefs over another. Parents from both sides of any given issue pay the same taxes that support this education, and both should be allowed to participate in a discussion over curriculum. (Or if they’re not, they shouldn’t have to pay the same taxes.)
