The problem is that they think your kids belong to the state, not to you. This is why so many on the hard left are so upset at the notion that parents would have the unmitigated gall to question the material their children are being taught in the classroom.

Author Christina Wyman wrote a piece for NBC News in which she argued that parents should not have a hand in determining what their children are taught. The article is an instructive exercise in the “appeal to authority” logical fallacy, as the author essentially argues that since educators are the experts, they alone are the ones who should decide what goes into the curriculum that is taught to students.

Wyman claims that parents pushing back against Critical Race Theory (CRT) and other problematic ideas is “like entering a surgical unit thinking you can interfere with an operation simply because the patient is your child.”

She wrote:

Part of the problem is that parents think they have the right to control teaching and learning because their children are the ones being educated. But it actually (gasp!) doesn’t work that way. It’s sort of like entering a surgical unit thinking you can interfere with an operation simply because the patient is your child.

The author continued, pointing out that “[t]eaching, too, is a science,” and that “unless they’re licensed and certified, parents aren’t qualified to make decisions about curricula.”

She argued:

In fact, parental interference can actually hinder student advancement. An educator’s primary goal is to teach students to think. Parents who attempt to influence curricula with their personal opinions, ideologies and biases hinder that goal.

Odd that she takes issue with parents supposedly trying to influence education with “ideologies” and “biases,” when it is schools teaching elements of CRT and wokeism who are actually injecting ideology into their lessons. Apparently, ideology in the classroom isn’t an issue — as long as it is in line with so-called progressive thought. Reminds me of the saying: “Always accuse your opponent of that which you are guilty.”

Hyman then goes on to list the various steps she took towards becoming an educator. She rambles on about the extensive education she and other educators received. All of this is supposed to hammer home the message she and her ilk wish to send to parents: We’re the experts. You’re not. So, sit down and shut up.

The author continued:

Which is why the ceaseless effort of parents and politicians to shape curricula by targeting book selection, the type of history taught in classrooms and even specific terms used in classrooms should be ignored. These distractions are nothing more than theater, and school boards and administrators should be protecting their teachers — and students — from it rather than bowing to it.

Hyman also wrote:

But short of that, parents, community members and politicians who aren’t qualified to teach should keep their noses out of school curricula. A teacher’s main goal should be to teach children to think for themselves, and parents’ dictating the curriculum interferes with the nurturing of that independence.

The author’s arguments are flawed for a myriad of reasons. Take, for example, her surgery analogy. What she is missing is that parents are the ones who decide what types of medical procedures are performed on their children. In the vast majority of cases, surgeons would not be allowed to operate on a child against the wishes of their parents.

The same principle applies here. Just because educators have the training necessary to educate children does not mean that parents should not be allowed to chime in on what material their kids are being given in the classroom. Years of education and training does not mean these individuals automatically have the right to indoctrinate children into a particular ideology. It certainly does not indicate that teachers should be able to infuse their curriculum with ideas about “whiteness” and separating students by skin color.

What the hard left struggles with is the reality that parents know what is best for their children. They may not understand the “science” of teaching, but they know what type of material will be damaging for their kids. This is a common-sense notion that the Democrats have failed to grasp. The fact that this specific issue was one of the main reasons why Terry McAuliffe was destroyed in Virginia’s gubernatorial election is because he echoed these sentiments. If this article is any indication, it is clear the left has not yet learned its lesson.