The issue of parent rights has emerged as part of a larger strategy to control what topics can be taught in school and which books students can read. Teacher professionalism has been pushed aside as Republican politicians advance legislation to protect parent rights.
Jan Resseger points out that basic parent rights already exist: parents can decide whether to enroll their child in a public or private school. But the issue becomes heated when politicians seek to give parents power over curriculum, reading lists, and teaching.
The issue of parent rights is directly related to the manufactured controversy of “critical race theory” and conflicts over COVID protocols. “Parent rights” politicizes decisions about mask mandates and vaccinations. Some very noisy parents insist that they can send their children to school without masks or vaccines. Their “right” to ignore public health requirements puts other children’s safety at risk. Similarly, rightwing ideologues are using the CRT issue to claim that parents have the right to control or censor what their children are taught.
Children too have rights, she maintains, and among them are the right to learn free of outside political interference.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“Children too have rights, she maintains, and among them are the right to learn free of outside political interference.”
The fact remains that the public schools are inherently political. Always have been and always will be. The question becomes what political discourse is allowed and that is pertinent to the teaching and learning process.
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inherently — an exactly right word
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One way to isolate students from outside political interference is to use charter schools that are not responsible to local school boards. Students can learn in peace.
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What makes you think charter schools are isolated from outside political interference?
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Dr. Ravitch,
The endless criticism of charter schools here based for the lack of political influence on their operation. Have you not noticed?
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Haven’t you learned here that charter schools are funded largely by rightwing billionaires who hope to destroy unions? And believe in school discipline that controls the bodies of black and brown children. Charters are deeply embedded in politics. They are favored by Wall Street elites not only because they undermine unions but because they bypass the right of minority parents to be heard and respected. They lose their democratic right to participate in the choice of school board members, becoming nothing more than consumers with as much power as an individual customer has at Amazon.
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And that consumer power is zilch when dealing with Amazon.
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One way to isolate citizens from actual political engagement based on ideas is to create entities with no accountability. The authoritarians and those they favor can rule in peace.
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GregB,
Isn’t Janet Resseger arguing that it is best if there is no accountability for curriculum, reading lists, and teaching?
I do note that Janet Resseger does say that parental rights exist as “parents can decide whether to enroll their child in a public or private school”. That is certainly true for parents who can afford private school or decide where to live based on student catchment zones, but it does not work for the relatively poor in the country. Perhaps Janet Resseger does not think parental rights are particularly important for that group of parents.
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