When I was in school we used to play truant on the simple principle that we could learn more interesting things outside school than inside; our parents would take the contrary view, hinting that, if we continued in this direction we would come to no good. Now, parents of primary school children are removing their charges from school to avoid tendentious homosexual indoctrination. Who can blame them? The Waltham Forest Council can, apparently:
Parents face court action for removing children from gay history lessons.
Parents face possible court action for withdrawing their children from lessons on gay and lesbian history.
More than 30 pupils were pulled out of a week of teaching at a primary school which included books about homosexual partnerships.
The controversial content was worked into the curriculum at George Tomlinson School in Waltham Forest, East London.
A spokesman for Waltham Forest Council said: ‘As part of the borough’s policy of promoting tolerance in our schools, children are taught that everyone in our society is of equal value.
‘The council does not condone any unauthorised absence from school and action has been taken.’
A part of the borough’s policy of promoting tolerance is evidently being completely intolerant of parents who don’t agree with the school curriculum. And they clearly think that everyone in our society is of equal value as long as you are not someone challenging the prevailing cultural prejudices; if you are, they will sue you.
In the 21st Century, we call this academic freedom.
I don’t know if I agree with what you are saying… are you saying that if I did not want my child to learn about black history and I pulled them out of school during all of the lessons where it was being taught you would be alright with that?
They would sure miss a lot of school.
Laura,
Disagreeing with teaching young children about homosexual behaviour is not equivalent to disagreeing with teaching them black history.
Homosexual activity is something forbidden by Christianity and other major religions: it is an ethical issue. Being white, pink, black or yellow is a skin condition
Intermarriage between blacks and whites also used to be forbidden…
It’s not an issue of ethics to me, it’s an issue of discrimination.
Pulling children out of school so that they won’t learn about homosexuality will just produce more ignorant hatred of this group.
To me learning about gay/lesbian history and black history is the same–learning about the history of a minority group that continues to face discrimination and adversity.
Plus, isn’t school part of the state, not the church? There should be a separation there.
Laura,
Marriage between a black person and white person is not something biblically forbidden; homosexual activity is.
I don’t see any evidence that the parents mentioned here are either ignorant or hate homosexuals, do you?
This is a state school; the school exists to serve the people who pay the taxes that make the school possible. Why should the parents not have a say in what is taught? It seems to me that the parents have correctly concluded that the school is prosecuting an agenda of social engineering rather than education.
I think it is obvious that the parents do not like homosexuality or they would not be actively pulling their children out of school time so that they will not learn about any gay or lesbian history.
Taking children away from this knowledge will only make them grow up ignorant of this group (homosexuals) and make them think that they are “bad” in some way.
I’m not saying that the parents are ignorant, but rather that their children will be affected by being taken out of school during these weeks and not being allowed to learn about gay/lesbian history.
My opinion is that if the parents want to have a say in what is taught then they should consider homeschooling.
The school is not overstepping boundaries here: they are not teaching the children to “be gay,” they are simply telling them about gay/lesbian people and that they do exist in society.
If parents cannot handle their children having this knowledge then I really think that they should pull their kids out of school altogether because as a student myself I know that hear a lot worse than this merely by being around other kids my age.
Laura,
As a matter of interest, do you think there are any topics that should not be taught in school to young children on ethical grounds? If so, what, and who decides?