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Michael Berkowitz's avatar

I largely agree with your take on these matters, which is well expressed here. I would add, though, that in weighing the competing interests and responsibilities of parents and the State in rearing citizens (and you correctly note that we're talking about child-rearing, not just education), sex is generally considered way to the parents' side -- especially at such a young age.

It's significant, too, that there's not a lot of fundamental disagreement in today's America about issues of race and equality, but there's a very large segment that prefers, to a greater or lesser extent, traditional sexual mores. For a teacher to tell his students that, say, "all kinds of love are equal" and answer the the parents' outrage with "What? What'd I say?" is either disingenuous or -- more likely -- obtuse.

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Jenna's avatar

I primarily agree with Mr. Jilani's well-written article and his proposed ways to resolve these issues. Parents have to be involved, and as a parent I always kept informed of what was going on in the school my child attended. "Erudit0rum" above posted clearly why so many of these decisions have to be kept private at some levels, so we can all live and work together, considering our divergent values and beliefs in this country. When I was in elementary/middle school, my parents attended the parent screenings and discussions of films to be shown on sex and drug information. I always had permission to attend (parental permission was required), but my parents had already educated me on most of what was in sex education films so they were mostly reinforcements of what I had already been taught at home. To my surprise, many of my peers were not that fortunate and didn't know even the basics from their parents, and so it is sometimes necessary for parents to be reawakened to their responsibilities as a parent and as a parent of a public school attendee. If public sector schools push curriculum on parents or students, there will be many more local board elections with parents taking leadership and private education may grow and appeal to more parents as the demand grows.

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