Virginia schools should not conduct social experiments with our children
Virginia | August 12, 2021
Over the past year, perhaps no group has felt a greater impact from coronavirus lockdowns than our nation’s schoolchildren. In many ways, the widespread school shutdowns resembled a cruel social experiment with predictably disastrous results: plunging grades, rising mental health issues and, most distressingly, a surge in suicide attempts. But after the horror that was the 2020 to 2021 school year, a recent edict by the Virginia Department of Education promises to impose even more radical changes that could soon make the commonwealth’s public schools unrecognizable.
The deceptively titled “Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Virginia’s Public Schools” would put all “gender-based practices” in Virginia schools on the chopping block for the coming school year. For instance, schools would have to end gender-based homecoming prom courts and father-daughter dances. Districts would also assign overnight lodging for field trips based on students’ gender identity rather than on their biology. And, of course, students would have the right to use sex-segregated facilities such as bathrooms, locker rooms and showers based on their subjective gender identity.
Most disturbing, Virginia educrats appear to see no rational reason any parent or student would oppose these changes. The document defines the only recognized motivations for the opposition as “societal prejudice” or “lack of awareness or understanding.” That people might hold to biologically grounded genders receives not even a passing thought.
Of course, many parents do hold to this view and are deeply concerned by the proposed changes. Hundreds have packed into school board meetings across the commonwealth, such as in Loudoun County on Tuesday night, to register their opposition. Nevertheless, the Loudoun County School Board voted to reject those reasonable concerns, and other school boards that have sided with parents face the prospect of lawsuits for failing to go along with the program.
At the core, we should all have the same goal for students. As the edict rightly puts it: “Schools should provide a safe educational environment for all students and treat all students with dignity and respect.” On this, every parent and educator can surely agree…. (Excerpts from the Washington Post)