Written by Brock Johnson
Parents across the country have been critical of the lack of transparency of the curriculum from K-12 public schools that is being taught to their children in class. Just as the FDA requires every food item to have a disclosure of each and every ingredient so the consumer knows exactly what they are eating, parents would like to know the curriculum that is getting fed to their children.
There has been a nationwide concern as of late that public schools have become indoctrination camps for progressive beliefs. There have already been 19 states that have introduced bills that would require transparency of curriculum but surprisingly there has been quite a bit of backlash. From who? Most of the arguments against transparency are coming from teachers unions. In 2021, a mother was sued by the Rhode Island state affiliate of the National Education Association for requesting a public record of what her daughter was going to be taught in kindergarten, and in Utah and Indiana, teachers unions are fighting against bills that would promote curriculum transparency.
Why would teachers be against transparency? A California Teachers Association state council delegate and teacher in the Sacramento City Unified School District, Owen Jackman, made a joke saying that he has “a reason to be concerned about the appropriateness of what your child is learning outside of school” mocking the concerned parents. New York Magazine writer Sarah Jones shares that same belief as she calls these parents “household tyrants” for wanting to know what their children are being taught in class.
It should be noted that billions of American taxpayer dollars go to public education which makes it all the more reasonable that parents should be in the loop with what the schools are teaching to their children. It shouldn’t be so hard for people to understand that parents just want to know what curriculum their children will be consuming before they are sent to consume it just as we want to know the ingredients in the food we eat before we eat it.
Photo Cred: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
