NOVEMBER 26, 2021, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A7
'Parental choice' is heading in
disturbing directions
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The 'haves' should help the
'have less' this season
We are in the season of giving. But what
are we to do when many households are in
some degree of need?
The COVID pandemic and its ensuing
economic challenges have forced many
families to face shortages in earnings, food
and necessities. The local households in
need are not someone else's problem, but a
community issue.
If each of the nation's billionaires gave
five or 10 percent of their wealth to address
problems of houselessness, hunger and
health, our society would be much different
and stronger. But those in a position to give
should not expect to see a billionaire arrvie
on a white horse. Society's ills begin and end
with society collectively.
Programs that provide for the food inse-
cure, the shelterless and the addicted will
not rid the nation of those ills. Those pro-
grams are a hand up when a hand is needed
the most.
Some say the world is divided between
the haves and the have-nots. A glance at any
story about the wealth of the contemporary
rich would prove that.
There are the have-nots, but there are a
lot more have-less. Tis the season to keep
those in our minds as we plan our holidays.
We can each ask ourselves: How much do I
need? Especially at grocery stores that offer
the opportunity to buy extra items for the
Editorial
food bank, or to contribute cash.
When shopping at a brick-and-mortar
store, or online, we can ask ourselves how
would we be hurt if we bought a few extra
pairs of socks or underwear for those who
desperate need them, or a pair of pajamas or
a warm winter coat for a child who has none.
There is no shortage of organizations
this time of year who are holding drives to
collect clothes, food, toys and cash for the
have-nots and the have-less, starting with
the Keizer Network of Women's Giving
Basket program aiding families in need.
The Keizer Community Food Bank at
Faith Lutheran Church will always accept
non-perishable food items; the bank can
make a $1 cash donation stretch further than
the average consumer.
If you are one of the haves, reach out to
help your brethern, many of whom never
thought they would ever need a donation.
There but for the grace of God go many of
us.
Tis the season for giving, after all.
—LAZ
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By MICHAEL GERSON
The destructive right-wing march
through our institutions continues apace.
There is considerable debate on the
causes of the GOP victory in Virginia’s
gubernatorial election: President Joe
Biden’s dismal approval ratings? Glenn
Youngkin’s talent as an ideological shape-
shifter? But Republican activists believe
their assault on critical race theory (CRT)
in public schools struck a chord—and it now
has national momentum.
The evidence that CRT is actually influ-
encing history instruction in classrooms
remains sparse. Anti-CRT activists have
mainly revealed a growing industry of
expensive, hyper-woke diversity instructors
hired by school districts to coach adminis-
trators and teachers. This issue is worth put-
ting on the agenda of a civil, orderly school
board meeting.
But this is decidedly not the point,
which becomes ever clearer as emboldened
Republican state legislators unvarnish their
intentions. North Dakota’s new law banning
CRT in K-12 education provides this defini-
tion: “For purposes of this section, ‘critical
race theory’ means the theory that racism
is not merely the product of learned indi-
vidual bias or prejudice, but that racism is
systemically embedded in American society
and the American legal system to facilitate
racial inequality.”
Imagine being a history teacher try-
ing to tell the American story under such
constraints. The inequities in wealth accu-
mulation due to centuries of stolen labor?
The zoning and lending practices that have
maintained White neighborhoods? The
systems of policing and incarceration that
regularly produce indignities and injustice
for Black people? Tearing these topics out
of high school curriculums would, at least,
leave plenty of time for field trips. North
Dakota’s definition of racism is so narrow
that it is, in effect, racist.
This activism might appear aggressive.
From a historical perspective, however,
right-wing activists are taking their fallback
position. Cultural conservatives once con-
trolled the ethos of public education, which
often included daily prayer and Bible read-
ing. This type of civic Protestantism lost
its dominance decades ago. Now Christian
activists are turning to a parental veto
instead. A veto over sex education they find
disturbing. A veto over controversial books
in the school library. A veto over the teach-
ing of unsettling historical facts about rac-
ism. With this veto power, a relatively small
group of angry parents can intimidate an
entire school system, resulting in the reign
of self-censorship.
This is defended as an expansion of
parental control. In reality, it can produce
a least-common-denominator educational
system, dedicated to blandness and selec-
tive ignorance.
Most institutions in a liberal democracy
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VOICES
are purely procedural in purpose. An elec-
toral system should be neutral. The appli-
cation of traffic laws should be equal for
everyone. Public education, in contrast, is
unavoidably rich in content. And that rich-
ness brings the risk of controversy. In any
system of learning fit for a liberal democ-
racy, children are introduced to basic ques-
tions about life and history that might bring
them beyond the views of parents. This is
not indoctrination. It is education.
I am not arguing that most public
schools do these things well. But I would
contend (on purely anecdotal evidence)
that most public schools have someone
who does these things well. And that kind
of teacher should not be shackled by absurd
legal restrictions. Of course, parents should
have an active role in the education of their
children. But the role of public schools is
not merely derivative of parental authority.
Teachers are charged with helping chil-
dren to gain the critical core of knowledge
and conviction that allows them to become
informed, independent-minded citizens.
And parents who do not accept this division
of labor have the option of private or home
schooling.
This assertion of parental control seems
headed in even more disturbing directions.
There is scattered, bubbling discontent with
the presence of mental health professionals
in schools, on the theory that they engage
in confidential conversations with children
and assume roles that should be played by
parents.
Of all the targets of right-wing activ-
ism, this is the most reckless. Most teens
with mental health challenges such as clin-
ical anxiety and depression are not likely, I
expect, to get useful help from the kind of
parent who views psychiatry as progres-
sive mind control. The same would be true
of bullying or sexual identity issues. In a
significant number of cases, parental aban-
donment, anger or cruelty is one of the main
problems.
In a nation where suicide is the sec-
ond-leading cause of death between ages
10 and 34, the choice of mental health
resources as an ideological target is morally
monstrous. It is like a partisan attack on the
provision of insulin for diabetic children.
Or like insisting that eye surgery is really a
parental responsibility. It is rare to find such
a potent mix between ignorance and cruelty.
Schools and responsible parents have yet
to hit on a strong public response to the new
language of parental rights. But surely we
can’t grant a veto to the vicious.
(Washington Post)
RECEPTION/
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