The early days of the COVID-19 outbreak coincided with ongoing efforts in multiple states to keep radical, agenda driven comprehensive sex education (CSE) out of children’s classrooms. Parents in Washington state have been working to repeal a recent mandatory comprehensive sex ed law, finding ways to creatively connect with other parents and get the word out during a pandemic, while in Texas, parents have been fighting Austin Independent School District’s explicit sex ed program that was expected to be taught in May. After the state prevented schools from using Planned Parenthood’s curriculum, the school district opted for an even more radical curriculum from a Canadian abortion provider.
Concerned parents had planned an organized sit out, which then moved to an online event. As schooling shifted online, the school district suddenly chose to cancel sex education for the year. While they did not cite parental concerns as their reason for the sudden decision, the number of parents speaking up probably did not make the school eager to bring this controversial curriculum into students’ homes. If Austin ISD had not cancelled their sex ed program for the year, what might those parents have discovered being taught in their children’s online classrooms?
With school taking place at families’ kitchen tables, parents are getting a closer look at what their children are learning, and as families have adjust to home-based learning, a growing number of parents have expressed increased favorability toward online schooling and homeschooling, as well as high levels of support for school choice. The increased time that families have spent at home together during the school day has reemphasized the fact that, regardless of which schooling option parents choose for their child, parents are the ones who have ultimate responsibility for their child’s education. That includes sex ed.
CSE curriculum is often designed to begin in Kindergarten, introducing LGBT ideology to children at an early age and incorporating material with inappropriately detailed content by late elementary or early middle school. One Planned-Parenthood-endorsed CSE book used in Minnesota elementary schools had illustrations that were deemed too graphic for social media.
Family Research Council has pointed out that many parents have turned the task of sex education to local school teachers that they know and trust, but the teachers themselves are often not in charge of developing or selecting the curriculum. Rather, they come from powerful, well-funded organizations that see sex ed as a “vehicle for social change.” It’s important that parents find out not just who is teaching their child, but what their child is being taught.
Involvement on this issue matters because children matter. Subjecting children to radical, agenda-driven sex ed programs robs them of their innocence. With many parents becoming more closely involved in their children’s education due to the changes brought about by COVID-19, perhaps there will be a shift away from comprehensive sex ed as parents opt out and speak out about what their children are exposed to in the classroom.
