Know what you are fighting for (or against)

My heart is heavy when I turn on the TV and I watch reports of schools running with higher than usual number of absentees because parents are upset about the new health curriculum and are pulling their kids out for this week.  They are protesting and wanting to put pressure on the government to pull the sections on Sex Education back because they do not agree with the material specified in the guideline.

I am glad I live in the free country where I can freely express my opinions.

I am also glad to see that what is taught is transparent (I have access to what the teachers have access to)

But I wished we would exercise our rights with more awareness and responsibility.

Parents  have asked me if I was pulling my kids off school this week.  And some even commented that they didn't know what to do and would follow suit if other parents pulled their kids too.

Please.  Know what you are fighting for if you choose to fight against this curriculum.

Don't be angry about it - if we say we are doing this for our kids, let's remember they are watching all of this in real time.

I decided not to pull my kids for a very simple reason - my kids are not 'leverage' for my cause.  If I protest, I have to make my voice heard through other means.  Write to the Ministry.  Send a letter.  Talk with trustees.  Talk with the school principal and teachers.  Find other ways.  But let the kids go back to school.  Though I disagree with some parts of this curriculum, I am not as troubled as some parents.  

To the parents.  Be open to dialogue.  Read up from the source.  Talk and discuss.  Listen.  Find out from the schools what they are doing now with the "old" curriculum.  The rhetoric right now assumes that parents know what's best.  I agree we are the closest to knowing what is best for our kids.  But at least for me, I don't believe I know it all.  I am still learning.  I still make mistakes.  And when it comes to sexual education, I definitely don't know it all.  I know where my boundaries and the boundaries I want to instil in my children are.  But society challenges me to question those boundaries and I seek my God for guidance almost every day.  I don't feel helpless, but I don't know it all.

I just attended my kids' Music Monday events this week.  There was cute singing, performances and dances.  But I was not fully comfortable with one of the dances.  A few years back one class danced to the tune of Gangnam Style and I was horrified to see 'innocent' kids dancing and making those moves.

But those experiences remind me to continue to be an actively involved parent.  To me, that doesn't mean ONLY protesting when I feel my kids' educators teach something I don't want them to know about (for whatever reason).  It doesn't always mean pulling them out of the situation I disagree with.  Instead, it means that I need to stay engaged in the learning process all the time.  

Whatever I am apposed to, I have to ask myself:

What EXACTLY am I opposed to?  And why?

I told my kids I didn't want them to dance Gangnam Style.  But WHY?

I have never read the Arts Curriculum (is there one?) and just this week I started reading the Science and Social Studies Curriculum.  The only reason I read the Physical Education Curriculum was because people told me my kids would learn about "S-E-X" in school.  To my surprise, there are areas in the other Curricula that caused me to pause and think about it.  I am not ready to flat out say "I disagree" but it's close...but it's not part of the 'sex' curriculum, so we are not paying attention to that....are we?

All these other things my kids do and learn at school - Do I agree with all of them? No.  Is what is taught in schools in line with what is taught by my faith?  Not all the time.  Are my cultural values in line with the things taught at school?  Not all the time.  Do I agree with some of my kid's friends' lifestyles.  Not all the time.

I heard some parents protesting saying they want teachers to only teach science, math and knowledge.  That caused me to think.  Why do I believe kids need to go to school?  Perhaps this controversy highlights a deeper problem.  Perhaps what educators in Canada believe should be it's mandate is different from what some parents believe. 

What if, for the sake of discussion, the Premier decides to hear us all and accommodates to our view of what education should be and should be not?  What would school Look Like?  Instead of saying what it WOULDN'T HAVE, could I describe it in a positive light?

If I don't want my kids to be exposed to the information in the new sex education curriculum, WHY do I feel that way?  The WHY forces me to ask then, WHEN if not now.  After all, my kids, one day, will learn (right???).  That, in turn, should cause me to ask HOW?   If I say it's not the teachers/schools' job to teach this to my kids but instead it should be us the parents, then HOW will we teach it?  WILL WE?

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When I was little, my parents pulled me out of a course in school every week - "RELIGION" was the name of the course.  My family had become Protestant Christians and my parents believed it was best for me not to participate in a Catholic Class.

I can't say with certainty if this was the 'best' thing my parents could have done.  But I do know one thing - I QUESTIONED my parents' decision only because it was highlighted in my life.  Why are my parents pulling me out of something all my friends are studying?  Is it fair? Unfair?

In my case, it led me to question my family's faith and caused me to turn that faith into my own.  But in the case of our protests against sex education...we are highlighting this not only to the rest of the world but to our kids. 

Did I learn about the Catholic faith despite this 'ban' on me?  Absolutely!  It would come up in other classes and more importantly, I would find things out during recess.  My friends would ask me why again I wasn't taking the class and they would talk about projects or things they were working on during break time.  In essence, if my parents worried about my mind becoming "corrupted" (I don't think that was their reason) they were unable to stop it.

 One could argue that they will not stay innocent either way because we have brought the subject matter into the forefront.

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Before we know it, this piece of news will become old news...and then history.  Something else will replace this issue and this will become something we remember standing up for, struggling with, or standing up against.

What will remain is my relationship with my family; with my kids.  What will remain is my faith and family traditions.  Teachers will come and go.  But I hope I am a constant in my kids lives...That, and I pray, God, will become their constant. Their TRUTH.

No matter your stance, though, I pray we are good role models to our kids.  That despite disagreements that come their way our kids learn to stand up for what they believe because they saw it in us.  That they learn to always listen and learn because they learned that life is full of lessons.  That they witness what it means to exercise our rights of freedom of speech and thought, and that they learn to stand up for what they believe and STILL work together as a united community

Do you know what you are fighting for / against?

and

WHY?