Quote (NetflixAdaptationWidow @ Mar 14 2022 04:16pm)
Except it isn't a judgement call, and if it was a judgement call the legislators aren't the ones who's judgement we should defer to. They should be deferring to the experts in the field.
They made a political bill for political reasons. Stop hiding behind democracy. We both know you don't really care about it. If it were the other way around you wouldn't be saying it's a judgement call left to legislatures. You'd be calling it a serious overreach that violates religious freedom.
Of course it's a judgement call. What science governs whether we should teach children about homosexuality at five versus six versus eleven? Where are the peer reviewed scientific articles? And even were you to study it, all policy recommendations are merely going to be a reflection of the values of the one giving the recommendation. Is it "good" to teach children about homosexuality at 12 as opposed to 7? Good in terms of what? Nor are school educators experts in this context. The white collar parents protesting in Virginia are in all likelihood better informed and more intelligent than the teachers who serve those communities. We don't pay teachers or administrators nearly enough to attract our best and brightest. And as we learned via Covid-19, even experts within one specific field can make catastrophic, life altering errors when allowed too broad a control over public policy, including aspects over which they know comparatively little.
I took the time to read the bill, and as usually seems to be the case, the outrage is specific to a few lines deep within the text. The focus is on equipping parents with the resources with which to properly assess their child's education. Schools can't withhold resources from parents, they can't hide curriculum from parents, and they can't hold secret sessions with underage children without the advice and consent of that child's legal guardian. This is an issue of autonomy. The parents are legally responsible for the children, and have almost complete discretion over how their children are raised. If activist educators can't understand that, they should be fired and replaced.