Ultimately, it is about the erosion of the privileges and responsibilities historically, not to mention biologically, we believe – or used to – are, or were, rightfully the purview of parents.
It is apparent, however, that public schools would now parent, having been mandated that authority.
Gov. Jay Inslee signed into law this past Friday, March 27, a requirement that sex education be taught in all Washington public schools, starting in kindergarten.
“Senate Bill 5395 requires every public school in the state to provide ‘comprehensive sexual health education’ to each student by the 2022-23 school year,” according to KING 5 Staff.
Despite protests that generated hundreds in attendance at rallies at the State Capitol; irrespective of the thousands of emails and calls to the legislative hotline lighting up switchboards; never mind the letters in opposition from school boards representing districts from across the state – like that of the board of Clover Park School District (CPSD) whose members unanimously opposed the bill, urging Gov. Inslee to veto the strictly partisan measure, the CPSD calling it “unfunded and volatile curriculum” – Gov. Inslee signed it anyway.
And now Referendum 90 will soon seek to gather 130,000 signatures – petitions available here – in an attempt to repeal this legislation.
In the KING 5 piece, “State Superintendent Chris Reykdal said fears over lessons about the ‘birds and bees’ being taught to kindergartners under the new state law are not true.”
Reykdal also said, “The message of healthy relationships and healthy sexual activity is not getting heard because we think it’s not getting taught.”
And Reykdal says it’s the school’s job to teach it.
“As Washington state’s superintendent of public instruction, my first priority is to make sure our kids are safe and ready to learn,” Reykdal said in a March 1, Tacoma News Tribune Op-ed.
Let alone be safe, how about just learn?
The Report Card for Washington State Schools shows less than half of the 1,147,573 students meet math standards.
And less than half of those students – for each of whom is spent $12,811 – meet science standards.
Such statistics do not bode well for students successfully meeting safe sex standards.
Speaking of flunking, in his new book “Flunking Democracy” Michael Rebell cites author Robin West (“The Case of Homeschooling”) with these reasons for the growing exodus from ‘education’: “gender equality, sex education, and acceptance of gay and lesbian sexual orientations.”
With the shift from educating to indoctrinating “many fled the public schools during the 1970s and 1980s.”
To homeschool.
And now that is under attack.
“This Article describes the rapidly growing homeschooling phenomenon and the threat it poses to children and society,” writes Elizabeth Bartholet in an 80-page 2019 publication she issued from her office where she is the Morris Wasserstein Public Interest Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.
With no pretense, no attempt at subtility and supposedly guileless, Bartholet writes, “A very large proportion of homeschooling parents are ideologically committed to isolating their children from the majority culture and indoctrinating them in views and values that are in serious conflict with that culture.”
So?
So, that needs to change, implies Bartholet.
And to hear her tell it, it is the school’s job to change it.
Bartholet cites Rob Reich (“Testing the Boundaries”) and seems to agree with his conclusion that “at a bare minimum one function of any school environment must be to expose children to and engage students with values and beliefs other than those of their parents.”
No. It is not.
It is not the job of the public-school system to pit the children against their parents.
But that’s what Sex Education is.
And that’s what Sex Education does.
And that’s what this battle is about.
If you are willing to relinquish control, yet again, to what is clearly, unabashedly an agendized curriculum that Rekdayl admits will include “LGBTQ issues, contraception, pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and sexual consent” then never mind.
If, however, as a parent, grandparent, parent-to-be, or non-parent, you are not willing to relinquish that control, then get your petitions here.
Chris Rekdayl lives in his own dystopian reality as to what society is. The vast majority of people in the US are NOT “progressive” in their thinking and hold to traditional morals and values. Chris, sadly, represents those who seek to remake our society into their post Judeo-Christian, secular humanistic, hedonistic, and narcissistic view of how the world should be. Thank God for principled people who choose to home school their children! As a public school teacher of almost 40 years I’ve seen those on the left turn our schools into “indoctrination centers” for “new world” as they see it. Where have these view led us? Just look at the issues that we face more and more each day… the destruction of the family, teen suicide rates, gender dysphoria, narcissism, entitlement without responsibility, and the list goes on! It’s time for everyone with the sense to hold to a Godly worldview to stand up for what we believe… Remember, if you don’t stand for something you’ll fall for anything!!
The editorial page of the Seattle Times on March 31st had a piece by two of the legislators who either sponsored the legislation or supported it. I noticed things about the article. First, the Times did not print an opposing view. This leads me to believe that their agenda is in support of this legislation. Given the liberal orientation of the paper I’m not surprised. But, I am disappointed that the Times failed to be a responsible, professional, unbiased media source.
Second, in the editorial the two legislators made a good case for the legislation covering many of its aspects. But, they clearly failed to address any of the cultural and religious aspects associated with the legislation. I can only conclude from the obvious absence of this information that the legislation does try to indoctrinate our children in various cultural perspectives associated with sex. I wouldn’t be surprised to find that homosexual marriages are approved of and that LGBTQ issues are not presented with dissenting religious and cultural perspectives. It is unconscionable that our educators in classrooms at all levels use their privilege to indoctrinate our kids with matters better left to parents.
American culture has been turning morals and righteousness upside down for many years now. Sadly, there is a price to pay for the perversion of basic morality: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20) The pandemic of fatherless families and broken homes, exploding drug abuse, rampant lawlessness of many American cities, growing violent crime, sexually transmitted diseases, 60+ million abortions of human babies (just in America), and much more all had their roots in the sexual revolution of the 1960s. The continued loss of sexual morality, in the name of freedom from authority, has brought a huge toll of pain and suffering to our culture. Stepping on the accelerator of sexual perversion will not make us more free, but, rather, it will create further pain and destruction in the fabric of our society and enslaving people to immorality. The solution is to move back to a moral underpinning for America. The values of chastity, marital faithfulness, loyalty, honor, respect, and civility would certainly make America a greater, more stable and equitable nation. “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.” (Galatians 6:7) If our culture sows immorality then, that is exactly what we will reap. Forcing our students to accept perverse sexual behaviors and practices will only yield a culture of perversion and lawlessness. Yet, if we sow morality, we will reap a more moral society. A moral society is loving, kind, just and all the good things we were taught, even in school. In many ways, America has devolved into a cesspool of perversion and immorality that will require a miracle from God to change. Let’s pray, and work, for a miracle!