Polluting a Child’s Mind
A group of conservative parents is suing their town over a book. An elementary school is using a book in class that teaches children diversity in family life. The book depicts, along with traditional families, homosexual families. The uptight parents are upset that the school is exposing their kids to such controversial material. Welcome to the 21st century.
It’s no secret that much of the world still hasn’t gotten past racism, sexism, religious conflict, homophobia and other prejudices. What’s distressing about this particular case is that the school is making an attempt to promote acceptance, but the parents are trying to stop it. Young children absorb knowledge like a sponge absorbs water. The best time to learn is in the first decade of life. Teaching these kids that homosexual families are no different from normal families will have a lasting impression on them. It could help them grow up to be more tolerant and less prejudiced. Diversity is a natural state. If all children could learn that early on there would be a lot less hate in the world. But parents like the ones in the lawsuit can’t see past their own prejudices and ultimately counteract any positive effects such teaching brings about.
Teaching kids that homosexuality is “bad”, “evil”, or just “not normal” is not conducive to social progress. Our culture will never grow beyond the hatred and violence brought about by blind prejudice if parents like these can’t accept that they are wrong. Passing prejudice down from generation to generation is not what I call good parenting. One only need to watch the daily news to see what that sort of parenting brings about. The school isn’t polluting the chlidrens’ minds here. The pollution is coming from the parents.