Should public schools be allowed to teach whatever they deem "appropriate," against wishes of the community?

Question

Recently, a US District Court in Massachusettes ruled that a "Under the Constitution public schools are entitled to teach anything that is reasonably related to the goals of preparing students to become engaged and productive citizens in our democracy" (Parker v. Hurley). In this particular case, a public school taught that diversity education included acceptance of gay marriage, against the wishes and beliefs of many parents. But what if the school taught that 9/11 was an inside job, or gays should be isolated from general society? According to this court ruling, that would be okay, because, as Judge Mark Wolf said in his ruling, "The constitutional right of parents to raise their children does not include the right to restrict what a public school may teach their children."

Do schools now overrule the community which they serve?

Source: http://jewishworldreview.com/jeff/jacoby030507.php3

Answer 1

The important part of your question is the following quote:

"Under the Constitution public schools are entitled to teach anything that is reasonably related to the goals of preparing students to become engaged and productive citizens in our democracy" (Parker v. Hurley).

Teaching them that 9/11 is an inside job is not "preparing students to become engaged and productive citizens in our democracy". Teaching them tolerance and respect however, prepares them for it.

Both sides have dangerous aspects. Schools could be used to endoctrine kids instead of educate them. If "being a good citizen" means never questionning government, maybe it would be part of the curriculum.

However, if you let parents and communities decide what is to be taught to their kids, you risk allowing missinformation to be passed on because the parents do not have the right information. An example of that is sexual education, where many myths and missconceptions still endure regardless of the data available on that subject. (EG the impact of sexual position in regards to the gender of the child)

Either way its a lot of gray areas and not one side is totally right.

Answer 2

School districts are to be representatives of the people of the district, via the election of members of the School Board. That being said, any school district must also follow mandates and guidelines of the state and federal governments. For example, Title IX mandates that girls be given equal treatment in regards to having sports teams (and so since the '70s we've had girl's basketball, etc). If a School Board funded a boy's athletic program but refused to fund one for girls, they could be sued for violating this federal law.

If a school district decided it was not going to make students take the state mandated tests, would not take attendance, would not enforce state safety codes, it is likely it would lose all its state funding and might be shut down if it was found that the schools didn't have fire alarms, for example.

What I need to know to properly respond to your question is what is the state law in Massachusetts in regards to diversity instruction. I would assume that those laws were crafted so that citizens could be engaged and productive--not only in school but also in the workplace. Since gay marriage is the law in Massachusetts, it makes sense that the schools would have to state that fact in a positive light. I think it would also be fair to say that in a state that does not recognize gay marriage or civil unions favorable statements about these topics would be missing from the school curriculum.

I would have trouble seeing that saying 9/11 is an inside job in any way could be construed as teaching diversity, as 9/11 was an event and not something to do with interpersonal relations. Isolating gays would be against the laws in MA as I understand them, and would be working against the concept of diversity.

I'm sure this court case will be appealed.

Answer 3

Friend, the school system is truly at the mercy of the court. The Court's decisions are based on society's overall desires.
This does make things odd, in the question of Gay marriage the fact is that most people don't vocalize their disdain on the subject.
This is no surprise, because to vocalize any disdain publically singles one out as having a prejudice. "Prejudice is a bad thing", well at least that is what I have heard over and over, but the fact is that the word prejudice means to judge before.
So until people feel comfortable about saying that "I don't like the homosexual lifestyle", in their day to day lives, lawmakers, judges and everyone else involved will not get the message.
It is ok to not like a lifestyle, I do not like homosexuality because of the number of lives I have seen suffer because of it.
If someone chooses that lifestyle then so be-it, but don't expect me to approve.

Answer 4

The real answer is that there shouldn't be public schools. If that isn't politically possible, then there should be some sort of school choice and voucher system so that parents and children can choose schools which better meet their needs and beliefs. The competition would improve schools and the ability to choose would allow parents to put children in schools which didn't try to teach values instead of actual academic material.

Answer 5

public schools in Australia anyway, have a set list of outcomes based on a curriculum developed by the board of education. the introduction of topical issues is however a good thing, the thing that schools and teachers have to remember though, is that we shouldnt impose our personal beliefs on the students, lessons should be structured so many points of view can be discussed and thus we provide the information to students who then go on to make their own informed decisions. parents may object to the inclusion of topical subjects (gay marriage for example) but as long as the school is not pushing one point of view over another, there really isnt a problem

Answer 6

Since public schools are subject to the local community, they should be teaching whatever has been deemed appropriate by the elected members of the local school board.