Many on the Left are ensconced in identity politics. And, therefore, many on the Left are imprisoned by it.

Well, what do you do when two of your favored groups go head-to-head?

In Great Britain, just such a collision occurred.

At Parkfield Community School in Saltley, Birmingham, young children were being taught a program called “No Outsiders.” The lesson? That “families look different.” Translation: Gay is A-Okay, and trans is trantastic.

From The Guardian:

Children from reception age through to year six were being taught five No Outsiders lessons a year, each one covering topics to meet requirements in the Equality Act. Books being read by the pupils include Mommy, Mama and Me, and King & King – stories about same-sex relationships and marriages.

Parkfield’s Allah-honoring parents were none too impressed. Hence, last month, 400 mostly-Muslim moms and dads signed a petition calling for the removal of the initiative.

Protests were held in front of Parkfield, complete with signs heralding messages such as “Say no to promoting of homosexuality and LGBT ways of life to our children,” “Stop exploiting children’s innocence,” and “Education not indoctrination.”

The school called the objection “upsetting and disruptive.”

Surely more disruptive was Friday’s mass withdrawal: Approximately 600 Islamic lads and lasses, ages 4-11, were kept from school for the day in protest.

That seems to have worked. The Parkfield sent home a letter to parents:

Up to the end of this term, we will not be delivering any No Outsiders lessons in our long-term year curriculum plan, as this half term has already been blocked for religious education (RE). Equality assemblies will continue as normal and our welcoming No Outsiders ethos will be there for all.

More from The Guardian:

The school made clear that it had never intended to continue the No Outsiders lessons this half term and confirmed that the lessons would resume only after a full consultation with every parent.

The gay campaign was created by teacher and school assistant head Andrew Moffat, who’s been nominated for a Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize.

Moffat, who is gay and left his previous job because of a backlash over his sexuality, said he was delighted to have made it to the shortlist for the prize, which he hoped would give his work on equality and tolerance a global platform.

Asked about the protests, he said: “I’m quite pragmatic. We’ve got to find a way to engage parents on some issues that many find challenging. Yes, at the moment we are having challenges in my own school. But it’s about not running away from those challenges. What alternative is there?”

That doesn’t count for much to parent Fatima Shah, who pulled her 10-year-old out of the school:

“We are not a bunch of homophobic mothers. We just feel that some of these lessons are inappropriate. Some of the themes being discussed are very adult and complex and the children are getting confused. They need to be allowed to be children rather than having to constantly think about equalities and rights.”

Nevertheless, Amanda Spielman, chief inspector of the UK’s Office for Standards in Education, insisted in the grave importance of children knowing about “families that have two mummies or two daddies.”

Sounds like the parents don’t care what she thinks.

There was once a time when education was about students attaining knowledge and skill in the area of academics. We — the U.S., like, apparently, our British brothers and sisters — have drifted far from that sole emphasis. These days, rather than teaching kids how to think, Big Brother is ordering the leaders of tomorrow what to think. Schools have taken the ball from parents, in the way of socialization and even diagnosis and medication. We’re living in a world where parents matter less, even as educational institutions are insistent upon teaching the importance of different kinds.

Schools need a return to the 3 R’s. And parents need a revival in the area of the 1: Responsibility. The strength of the family is no match for the power of the school, when the family unit is a crumbling mess.

So long as the home continues to fragment, the government — it seems to me — will move in to replace it.

“Family” should mean autonomy. But in order for that to be the case, parents have to take up the mantle of their post. Only then can they raise their children in that old fashioned manner of influence: No Outsiders.

-Alex

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