A few weeks ago on Rate That Reform, I reported the story of a little girl in California who was not allowed to give a history presentation on Harvey Milk because his sexual orientation made the material too sensitive. And they used a loophole in the sex ed regulations (i.e. they classified her history presentation as sex ed) to do it.??The girl's parents, the ACLU, and others objected, of course, and the district did let her give the presentation finally, though during a lunch period and only to students whose parents had signed a waiver. You can read the update on the story (and see a copy of the presentation for yourself) here.
What I actually find interesting about this story is the issue of parental opting-out. A plethora of questions arise. In what subjects is this appropriate? And how far can a parent go? Could a parent, for example, opt their child out of history class because they don't agree with the curriculum's rendering of events? Or science class because they don't believe in evolution? (These seem ridiculous...but they're the logical end of the argument if opting out is taken to the extreme.) Futhermore, how large a burden lies on the school to "inform" parents about "sensitive" topics? (And, of course, how are we defining "sensitive"?) And what role does the "public" part of "public school" play, especially in terms of spending taxpayers' dollars on objectionable materials? Will states, districts, or the federal government (or the courts?) decide? Would schools still be responsible for a child's achievement if their parents opt them out of math class for disagreeing with the Pythagorean Theorem?
I don't have any answers to these questions, though parents have solved the problem (or deferred it, at least) by homeschooling their children. But as we move towards national standards, we're going to have to make some decisions about what should be taught in the basic subjects, even if they're not that specific, and maybe this is ridiculously obvious, but letting parents "opt out" doesn't seem like a viable long term solution.
