Jay Weber Show transcript 4-23-25
Very briefly, yesterday, I talked about a ‘parental rights’ case that the supreme court was hearing oral arguments on...later in the day.
The basic question facing the court is: do parents have a first amendment right to opt their children out of ‘story time’...if their child’s public school is trying to turn it into ‘indoctrination time’....as more and more of our public-school districts seem to be.
The case is ‘Mahmoud v. Taylor...and it has a group of parents from Montgomery County, Maryland who are Muslim, Christian, and Jewish...who sued the Montgomery County school district for refusing to allow them to have their children ‘opt out’ of story time, if certain controversial books are being read.
The district educators insist that they are only teaching lessons with LGBTIQQ-plus themes that ‘today’s kids are going to have to know’...
But these parents are saying: we have the right to raise our own kids-our way-and we want a heads up on this reading material and an option to have our kids ‘opt out’.
No. The district has said. And has dug in.
No. You send your kids to public school...and so you can’t claim they are being coerced...or you are being coerced...into being exposed to this curriculum.
That’s one of the district’s arguments.
These parents are not asking for book bans. They are not asking the district to remove the books from the classroom or the library. They are simply asking for a ‘heads up’ and an ‘opt out’ option.
And my god, these Maryland educators are refusing. Saying no.
Folks-the ‘notify parents of questionable content’ and offer an ‘opt out’ system...has been working well... And has long-standing precedent in public schools for all sorts of things.
Sex-ed is the class it was primarily developed for...but routinely. Routinely. Across this country every day. In both public and private schools. I guarantee you that ‘some groups of parents are being alerted to ‘this material’ being covered this week...we just thought you should know about it in case you have an objection. For religious reasons? Because you just don’t think your child is mature enough for it? Whatever.
We just want you to have a heads up-and an opt out.
There should be no controversy here. There only seems to be in Montgomery County, Maryland, because of the parents want to be able to opt out of. It has to do with transgender issues and family differences.... etc.
Well-the supreme court justices heard the oral arguments in the case yesterday-and it was clear that the school district is bound to lose this case. Too many of the justices expressed deep skepticism as to why this school board was refusing to follow reasonable parental wishes.
This argument caught my attention yesterday, because it’s so counter-productive to the school board’s case. Instead, it rather proves’ the parents’ point: these attorneys argued that they ended the opt-out for parents because...get this.... too many parents kept their kids home that day!
Well-
That’s proof that the educators in this district were not listening. To the parents or the wider community.
It’s proof that they-as educators- were just-by God-bound and determined to decide what was best for the children...and/or what they needed to be ‘indoctrinated into’ before they left grade school.
Correct?
It amazes me that the district’s attorney tried to make that same argument in front of the supreme court yesterday.
Also- notice that he went out of his way to say...and many of the parents’ reasons for opting out didn’t have anything to do with religious reasons...
Well...so?
Folks-the parents in this case decided to use the ‘religious’ angle when they were deciding what the best way was to win this case.
It’s a clear ‘first amendment’ right to practice your own religion and raise your children in it.
Correct?
And so-they chose to use the ‘religion’ argument in front of the supreme court. But....why would any other parent. Need to provide- any? - other reason before they opted their kid out of that lesson?
What I mean is: these educators want to be the decision makers on ‘what reason’ is good enough for parents to opt out. Okay. We kind of...got to...let their kids opt out if they mention religion...but...we don’t think the other parental excuses were good enough.
Do you know what the proper parental response to that is?
Go to hell. I’ll decide whether I want my child to be exposed to that material. What? If I’m not particularly religious...I can’t decide that my child isn’t ready for ‘my two daddies’... Or ‘tina and her gimp?’....
Come on.That’s a foolish excuse. I ran across a very good parental rights opinion piece related to this-in which the mother wrote: parental rights are not optional. Even if I’m not making the call based on religion.
And she’s right.
Some of today’s educators have come out of that ‘woke’, elitist education mill, that has them believing that ‘they know what’s best’ for the child...and they, not the parents should be making the decisions.
Sorry, it doesn’t work that way. Especially when today’s public schools have become such swamps of left-wing indoctrination.
The problem today is not that religion is being forced onto others. It’s not.
The problem is that- woke progressivism- is being sold as ‘secular values’- and is being forced onto the nation’s public-school children.
The left doesn’t’ want religious views, or morals, forced onto children...but they want to force ‘their secular views and morals on children.
Yes.
That’s the problem ‘in general’ with public schools-and the problem specifically as it relates to this supreme court case out of Maryland.
The educators are clearly in the wrong here. Constitutionally and socially.
Which is why the ‘religious’ argument might be strategic- but the wider truth is: no parent should need a reason or an excuse to- not want-their child indoctrinated into the left’s woke secularism.
The reason that more parents don’t even have a choice as to where to send their children to school is also! - because of the activist left!
They want to block all charter schools, choice schools, and on-line alternatives. Home schooling.
These monsters want ‘indoctrination centers’...and no other option for parents. And that makes the decision that the supreme court makes on this- hugely important.
I’m certain that-this court? - will find that: all parents, religious or not, have the right to direct their own children’s education.
photo credit: Getty Images
audio version of the segment here > A win for parents