Parental interference in education intolerable

While we smugly berate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the so-called “Don't Say Gay” bill in that state, the underlying motivation for parental control over curriculum and academic freedom proliferates — even here.

A recent news story covered by Bay Area media explained a furor among parents in San Francisco. It was aimed at a lesson plan that included handson touching of cotton plants to show how difficult picking was for African American slaves in the 1700s and 1800s. From my perspective, the point of the lesson was that picking things like strawberries or flowers is easy. Cotton, with sharp elements that endanger bare hands, is not.

When I was in fourth grade, in 1950s New England, my class had a similar hands-on demo. Chewing tobacco was also offered for kids to sample, which we did. It made us all sick, but a point was made. I remember telling my mom how cool school was that day. She smiled.

Today, I suspect that lesson would get a teacher fired. Education has been hijacked by overly concerned parents who are less interested in educating than protecting their precious children from harsh realities.

If we don't teach kids to read, evaluate and discuss basic truths of history and culture, we are raising a generation of kids who reside in a “Hallmark card” reality of their parents' creation. As a parent, grandparent and former teacher, I hold one truth: Happy talk is not a basis for curriculum.

The truth is that protecting our progeny from this necessary information is dangerous and smacks of authoritarianism. I encourage parental involvement, yes, but not parental interference.

— Steve Pollock, San Rafael