At least 12 Democrats are blocking legislation to require transparency in the curriculum at public schools. Teachers fear that parents could access their children’s learning materials online, causing censorship and backlash against educators.
Parents who have a child in a public school can ask for the curriculum. It is not required to post the curriculum online. Twelve Republican states have passed legislation that requires schools and universities to upload all teaching materials online. This includes articles and videos.
Teachers warn that parents who don’t like the way their children learn may be reluctant to teach material they don’t want.
Missouri Republican Doug Richey would sponsor a bill to accomplish this. Democrats argue that the curriculum transparency bills won’t empower parents to censor specific materials or training.
Richey’s bill, the Parents’ Bill of Rights, is a proposal. Schools would be required to notify parents if a teacher intends to teach a controversial topic. This would violate a parent’s belief in equal treatment for all people regardless of their race or ethnicity.
The ACLU, a leader in transparency in government for over 100 years, has suddenly declared that transparency is not good.
Emerson Sykes, a staff lawyer at the ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, reiterated last Wednesday the ACLU’s position regarding Fox News Digital, saying that it is “actively pursuing litigation to block” legislation relating to curriculum transparency.
Sykes stated transparency must be a goal for government agencies. The ACLU supports all efforts to make public education more transparent for parents and communities. These “curriculum transparency laws” may be disguised as attempts to prevent students and teachers from discussing race and gender in schools. The same was true of their sponsors.
This is a valid point. It is an acceptable point. It is possible that valuable historical lessons could be lost in the rush to ban CRT from schools and promote “gender fluidity”. Teachers may feel pressured not to teach certain legal subjects because they fear that they might violate a too broad law.
This situation calls for cooperation, not fighting. Teachers who wish to teach using a political agenda should not be allowed to do so. Parents don’t want children brainwashed by the left or right. Parents don’t want their kids taught how to propagandize for the sake of advancing a candidate, party or candidate.
Teachers, their unions and school boards that approve curriculum are distrusted by parents. Without trust, it is difficult to solve the problem intelligently.
