From kindergarten through 12th grade, I attended public school right outside Washington, D.C. Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) is considered to be one of the best school districts in Virginia with reading levels above the national standard, top teachers from the best universities, and countless opportunities for their students.. However, with the benefits also came the disadvantages.
My primary years (from kindergarten through eighth grade) were filled with memorable moments in school, like doing a musical about bugs in the second grade, learning how to play the flute in fifth grade, and even having countless opportunities to go to multiple Washington, D.C., museums and learn about a multitude of different subjects. I am so grateful every single day for all the opportunities and for the amazing education I have received. In 2015 when I entered high school, things began to change when it came to the materials we were taught in our classes.
I remember the very first book we had to read, before even starting high school, for my ninth-grade English class, was called Brown Girl Dreaming, written by Jacqueline Woodson. Everyone from ninth to twelfth grade had to read this book for our summer assignment that year, and as soon as the school year started, we would be tested on this book. This book is a poetry book talking about the author’s personal struggles of growing up in a Jehovah’s Witness household in Ohio, South Carolina, and New York during the Jim Crow era. She made important points about her identity, race, and family structure throughout the book.
I remember telling my mother I enjoyed reading the book as a thirteen-year-old entering high school, but I also remember her telling me not to look up the author for any other books of hers. Later, I came to learn that many of her stories highlight race, gender ideology, and other topics that my parents did not necessarily feel comfortable with me reading as a young pre-teen.
As grateful as I am for FCPS, as time has progressed since graduating in 2019, I have heard countless stories of friends who are still in the school district and have been influenced by their progressive agenda. And it does not seem to be happening only in Fairfax County. Recently, schools such as West Springfield High School in Springfield, Virginia, located about 16 miles from the nation’s capital, have been teaching leftist ideology when it comes to simple English as a second language classes. Most parents do not even know such subjects are being taught until their child says something to them; oftentimes, no notice is given before something is taught. That is why Mahmoud v Taylor, heard this past week in the U.S. the Supreme Court, is so important.
In Montgomery County, Maryland, which is only a couple of miles outside Washington, D.C., the public school system approved LGBTQ-inclusive books for their English language curriculum for elementary-aged students. Several parents from different religious backgrounds (Islam, Roman Catholicism, and Ukrainian Orthodox) have sued the school board. This case asks the question of whether public schools burden parents’ religious exercise when they compel elementary school children to participate in instruction on gender and sexuality against their parents’ religious convictions and without notice or opportunity to opt-out. The parents argue that the denial of notice and opt-out options violated their religious freedom and parental rights. Instead of arguing for a complete ban on curriculum, these parents are arguing for control over what content their child should be exposed to and that they receive some sort of notification on what their child is learning while in a public school system.
If the Court rules in favor of the parents, this will allow them to have a say in what their child is reading and allow them to have more notice of what exactly their child is being taught in school. This allows parents to fully understand what their child is being taught, opt out of topics they would feel more comfortable teaching their child, and have more control over topics on which they want their child to be educated.