(Background: Alberta, eh?)
Jason “I don’t get caught up in the details” Kenney, my all time best friend and favourite politician, is back in the news again after having responded to a survey proposed by my other all time best friends and favourite lobbyists, Parents for Choice in Education (PCE). After admitting he was pro-theft–as long as Christians are the ones doing the stealing–Kenney went to PCE to talk about his support for some of the most egregious weaknesses in Alberta’s education system.
Among his answers and accompanying commentary, Mr. Kenney indicated:
- He supports allowing different approaches to curriculum in publicly funded schools, as well as different approaches to school clubs. He indicated the strongest level of agreement, 1.
- Parental approval should be required for any instruction related to sex education, sexuality and gender identity, and parents should be allowed to pull their children out. 2.
- Parental consent should be mandatory for a child’s participation in all extra-curricular activities, including student organizations and clubs. 2.
- Parental permission should be required for children to attend any event involving an outside facilitator or program. 2.
- All materials and resources used by students in instruction or extra curricular activities should be made available to parents. 2.
- Taxpayers should provide “equitable” funding for independent, religious, charter and alternative schools, plus all forms of home schooling. 1.
- Alberta should reintroduce and strengthen standardized testing for Grades 3, 6 and 9 and continue such tests in Grade 12. 1.
Of course, in this context, references to school clubs mean the gay-straight alliances required under Alberta law passed by the province’s last PC Government under premier Jim Prentice. Pastor Brian Coldwell, chair of the Independent Baptist Christian Education Society that has openly defied the legislation at two schools it runs in the Edmonton area, sits on the board of Parents for Choice.
Yes, it has long been a thorn in my side that our province has allowed bigots to tailor-fit which aspects of reality will be taught to their children. It’s not like we’re the country’s STI capital or anything OH WAIT YES WE ARE.
Despite the fact that the single strongest predictor for anti-queer prejudice is a lack of exposure and education, Alberta’s education system has had an opt-out system for sex ed. So, you know, there’s a slough of parents pulling their kids from fact-based sex ed–which is soon to include mentions of homosexuality–and giving their kids what they want to teach instead.
Sure, I suppose it’s possible some parents are still giving their kids a comprehensive “talk,” but, you know, STI capital. Chances are, most kids being pulled from class are being fed incomplete bullshit or outright lies. But hey, compromising the health and education of our citizens is worth it, as long as we do it in the name of the Bible. Jason “I don’t get caught up in the details” Kenney for Premier 2019!
-Shiv
A very similar thing has happened on this side, as Republican states (where children are barred from learning about safe sex, because Jaesus) tend to have the highest teen-pregnancy rates.
You’d think they’d want to do something about it, but I guess prayer seems like it might work.
I have always opposed the idea of parental veto on any kind of “essential life stuff” class (e.g. comparative religion, sex and relationships education) on the basis that it is usually the kids whose parents will want to remove them from that class, who are most in need of it.
Yep, it’s not MY kids who are in desperate need of some actual sex ed, or somebody who tells them that yes, being gay or bi or trans is just as normal as being straight and cis, just a little less frequent.