I was taking care of some personal business at a county building adjacent to the school board offices when the ‘protest’ — pictured in the Florida Today article mentioned in Part One — occurred. What I saw was about two dozen people milling around, some leaning on their signs, until a TV camera crew started filming. At that point the protestors became animated – waiving their signs.
They proclaimed support for the teacher for “not violating the rights of the student”. I suppose that’s one way of looking at it.
Of course, there is a different point of view.
Consider what can go wrong if it’s acceptable for teachers and students to keep secrets from parents. Possibly this statistic from Psychology Today may provide a clue.
About 10 percent of students will experience educator sexual misconduct by the time they graduate high school.
Anyone who has worked in law enforcement, as I did for 30+ years, recognizes red flags of possible child sexual predators. Among the most significant is encouraging ‘keeping our little secret’ from parents.
Acclimating kids to keep secrets from their parents is a crucial component of “grooming”. Thwarting grooming was a primary objective of the Florida parental consent law.
There is a serious debate over whether the introduction of gender ideology to students facilitates grooming, particularly because secrecy from parents seems to an element of that ideology — as reflected by the Maryland school board policy now before the Supreme Court.
But the Florida teacher doesn’t get to resolve that debate by willfully violating the law — which is why she will no longer be employed. She withheld a student’s psychological distress from the parents, and apparently did so because of her embrasure of that ideology.
As one who contributes to her salary through my property taxes in Brevard County, I no longer require her services – or of any other public school employee who intentionally breaks a law expressly enacted to facilitate communication between parents and children.
So now we come to a discussion of the grammatically challenged high-schooler’s email, mentioned in Part One.
To her credit, she subsequently publicly apologized for her vulgarity. Nevertheless, I have a few observations about her email. Let’s take them individually:
“I learn more off of social media than your stupid (expletive) teaching lessons.”
I don’t doubt that’s true. Having seen some of the ‘teaching lessons’ in our current public school system, it seems to me those lessons are dumbed-down to the least intellectually gifted in the class.
From personal experience, I understand being compelled to sit in classrooms while being bored because the subject matter was not challenging. That’s a clear memory from elementary through high school (and a couple undergrad college classes as well).
Then there is the obvious question: What else might she have learned from social media? That parents “have no right over there kids”? I don’t doubt that either.
She goes on to complain that “The Brevard public schools has done nothing but prepared me for failure so I hope you’re happy.”
Another obvious question comes to mind: ‘prepared’ for what? She can obviously read and write.
Is she not prepared to learn a trade? Not prepared to get an entry level job and work her way up? Did she expect to walk out of high school with a diploma right into a six-figure paycheck?
The way colleges are now dumbed down I doubt she’s even unprepared for that. Especially since admission requirements are almost non-existent in some institutions of higher learning.
The second question about that remarkable statement is this: What stopped her from supplementing her public school education herself?
If you “learn more from social media”? So “prepare” yourself — and don’t rely on the government to do it for you. (That may be the most important thing you ever learn.)
And finally, there is this astute observation, “The way you guys run (expletive) is not right and it’s stupid.” She’s got me there.
Though not expressed as articulately as I may have expressed it previously, I agree with the sentiment — if not the motivation for its expression in this instance.
As I wrote, after my own experience and that of three generations of my progeny, I’m convinced the only solution to the problems in our public schools is to dismantle the whole structure and start over — without any teacher unions.
My only disagreement with the student on this point is the reason for her email — which is her displeasure with the school board for not renewing the errant teacher’s contract. The student lacks the experience of maturity to understand that not renewing the contract was a step toward fixing the problems she laments.
The Brevard parents who complained to the school board because the teacher mis-named their kid without their consent, in violation of state law, understand — as do the parents who sued the Maryland school board for violating their First Amendment right to freely exercise their religion —by forcing gender ideology on their children. The case now pending before the Supreme Court may result in a step toward fixing the problem.
I’ve been a lawyer long enough not to venture a prediction on how the Supreme Court will decide this case. I have my own opinion – but until I’m appointed to that court, my opinion doesn’t mean squat. Same goes for any so-called ‘legal expert’ who makes a prediction.
What I do know is that until public schools are purged of teachers, administrators, and all others who put their political ideology above parental rights, those schools will never improve.
That’s why I wholeheartedly support home schooling, and charter schools. Teach kids to read, and encourage their curiosity about things appropriate for their age. Then take them to a library to choose from what interests them — so they can educate themselves.
But keep the gender ideology indoctrination out of the public schools — unless each student’s parents individually consent.