The basic right of parents to transmit their religious and moral beliefs to their children overrides arguments in favor of a bill passed May 11 in the state Senate requiring that the historical contributions of homosexuals be included in public school textbooks, say Catholic leaders.
Following the Senate's 22-15 vote approving SB 1437, the "School instruction: Prohibition of discriminatory content" bill authored by Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica), Carol Hogan of the California Catholic Conference said the bill is problematic because it legislates propagandizing in the schools. "There's a difference between promoting tolerance and indoctrination," said Hogan.
All 14 Republican Senators voted against SB 1437 as did Sen. Dean Florez (D-Shafter). The bill now heads to the Assembly, generally considered less willing than the Senate to pass "liberal" legislation. It also has to be approved by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who vetoed a gay marriage bill last year.
SB 1437 reads in part: "No textbook or other instructional materials shall be adopted by the state board or any governing board for use in the public schools that contains any matter reflecting adversely upon persons because of their race or ethnicity, gender, disability, nationality, sexual orientation or religion."
In addition, the bill requires the adoption of instructional materials that "accurately portray in an age-appropriate manner the cultural, racial, gender and sexual orientation diversity of our society, including…the contributions of people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender to the total development of California and the United States." Textbook implementation of the bill, if passed, would not take effect in classrooms until 2012.
Ned Dolejsi, CCC executive director, said passage of the bill could "shift California public school curriculum into a politically correct values-based education and alter instruction from good pedagogy to propagandizing." Similar sentiments were expressed in a May 9 Los Angeles Times editorial, which called the measure "misguided."
The proposed measure, said the Times, represents "a twisting of what history textbooks are supposed to do: tell about the most important contributions, and misdeeds, of people in history, regardless of their beliefs and orientations."
According to Dolejsi, the bill could also cause "balkanization" of California's educational environment. "More parents may choose to 'opt-out' their student from a social science or a history class that they find 'morally objectionable' --- which is their right under the Education code. And some parents may feel compelled to withdraw their children for alternative schooling."
"This legislation is not in the best interests of the common good of the public schools in California," declared Dolejsi. |