There are many similarities and much overlap between the responsibilities of parents and teachers, but there is a definite, though often thin, line that separates the two. English teacher Jackie Roehl and her colleagues at Edina High School crossed that line when they developed and required students to take an English class designed to end white privilege.
The tenth-grade class, Pre-AP English 10, has been – and still is – a required course since 2013. After much wailing and gnashing of teeth by the liberal students, parents, and teachers after Hillary Clinton failed to make history as the first female U.S. president, 80 staff members co-signed a Trump-bashing editorial in the student paper.
Thankfully, as leftists are wont to do, they wailed and gnashed loudly enough that someone outside the school system finally noticed. It was only after the story in the school paper that a Minnesota-based think tank began investigating Edina public schools. Fox News reports:
“Pre-AP English 10 constitutes an abuse of parents’ trust, taxpayers’ money and — most importantly — vulnerable children,” Katherine Kersten, a senior policy fellow for the Center of the American Experiment, told Fox News. “Edina citizens should hold district leaders accountable for substituting political indoctrination for a real education.”
Public-school teachers have only two roles in our children’s lives, and neither of them is parent, preacher, or political organizer.
Specialized Subject Matter Experts
The primary responsibility of educators is to educate children – about all the little intricacies and technical details of whatever subject they chose as a specialty. Rare is the parent who can fill the role of educator in math, physical science, history, language, and arts nearly as well as at least five specialists working together. Oh, and let’s not forget that regardless of their chosen subject, they were all specifically trained to teach kids in a certain age range.
Over-Qualified Babysitters
Aside from the fact that the law requires all children to attend some form of state accredited school or homeschool program, there is one other important reason this is an absolute necessity for most families. Children can’t be trusted without supervision – that goes for teens too, more often than not. If Mom and Dad have to be out of the house for at least eight hours a day for work, then the kiddos have to go somewhere. Aside from teaching our children the finer points of their chosen fields of study, we need teachers to keep the students from hurting or killing themselves or each other.
A Note to Teachers: Stop Overstepping Your Bounds
Teachers, you have two very specific jobs to do, and that’s all. Keep the children as safe from physical harm as possible and teach them what Mom and Dad can’t. Then stop. It is not your place to teach other people’s kids your morals – political, religious, or otherwise. Give them the unbiased facts and nothing else. Let the parents take care of the rest.
A Note to Parents: Do Your Job
Parents, stop letting state employees raise your children. It is incumbent on you to guide them through the early parts of their lives and teach them your religious, political, and behavioral values – along with a host of other very important life lessons.
It takes a lot of hard work to bring a child up to adulthood with proper morals, a well-rounded education, solid social skills, and, hopefully, at least a little common sense. At least half of that is the parent’s responsibility, but teachers play an important role too.
Educators can’t help their students grow if they’re too busy trying to instill their own ideology – like by teaching some of those kids to hate themselves for being white. So know your role, teachers, and don’t cross the line.
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