An article in the Washington Post recently made this bold statement, “Parents claim they have the right to shape their kids’ school curriculum. They do not.”

The October article asserts that the current movement of citizens pushing for parental rights in education is nothing more than a political tactic of the conservative wing. The author attempts to further this point by referring to historian Richard Hofstadter’s 1964 essay in which the term “paranoid style” is coined to describe the actions of conservative citizens who dare speak out or attempt to exercise their fundamental individual rights. This is the picture of paranoia that the legacy media and the social programmers would have you believe about parents and our rights in education.

For years, educational elites have told concerned parents that “no one is trying to indoctrinate your children.” For years we have been gaslighted by the educational establishment making us feel as though our concerns are invalid, even laughable. The idea is to get you to accept the notion that you have no say in your child’s education and that you’re paranoid if you think otherwise. Worse yet, you might even be a danger to society for expressing your opinion.

Parents are now being labeled as “domestic terrorists” by the U.S. Department of Justice for simply speaking out against curriculum designed for social engineering (think Critical Race Theory and Diversity Equity & Inclusion) rather than practical education.

In response, parents are waking up and making their presence felt at the ballot box, as recently seen in the Virginia election. Thousands of others are beginning to realize that we still have rights, and we need to exercise them while we can.

Fortunately for Alaska parents, there is a group whose sole focus is to ensure that parents have a voice in the education of their children.

If we lose this freedom of ours, history will record, with great astonishment, that those who had the most to lose did the least to prevent it’s happening

There are so many areas of clear establishment overreach that we must resist. Many of these stare us directly in the face [mask] while others move quietly to erode our footing as we attempt to make a stand.

Of all the issues we face, few require more immediate attention than the proper education of our children in their primary years. This is not alarmism. Any rational mind can deduce that our children are susceptible to any number of influences, good and bad, which will have dramatic and long-lasting implications – both for them and for us. Standing in the gap for our children is simply decent parenting – not political posturing.

Any parent who has leaned over their child’s school computer screen this past year can see that there is certainly reason for concern regarding what schools have decided to teach (or not teach) to our children. We must act together and fulfill our duties to protect kids from content we know to be dangerous, immoral or divisive. We need to advocate for solid curriculum that revolves around fundamental and primary subjects like math, literacy and science.

A recent report ranking the academic performance of states across the nation puts Alaska at 48, and the trend has been in a relative continual decline since 2011.

No matter personal views on current social issues, improving the education our children should be at the top of every educator’s to-do list. The only way that this will occur is for each of us to exercise our own individual parental rights in education.

I would like to invite you to attend an event, not only to celebrate November as “Parents Rights in Education Month,” but to meet other concerned parents who have established the Alaska chapter of Parents’ Rights in Education. This organization is part of the national Parents’ Rights in Education nonprofit which stands-up for the fundamental right of parents when faced with powerful teachers’ unions and school boards.

The event will be held on Monday, Nov. 15, at 6 p.m. in the Loussac Public Library (4th floor commons area). Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson will be on hand along with newly elected Mat-Su School Board Member Jubilee Underwood, Anchorage Assembly candidate Stephanie Taylor and Anchorage School Board candidate Mark Anthony Cox. All members of the community are welcome, and we encourage you to bring your children.

Come learn about how to be involved in shaping your child’s school curriculum, how to have your voice heard by school boards and how to exercise your parental rights. Whether you are a parent with kids in public, private or home schools, you have a voice. If you don’t’ have school-age children but are concerned about the direction of education, please come join us.

To paraphrase Ronald Regan, “If we lose this freedom of ours, history will record, with great astonishment, that those who had the most to lose did the least to prevent it’s happening.” 

We still have our freedom and parental rights. We must not let them atrophy.

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