AZ Teacher Objects to Parental Rights Bill: ‘We All Have Advanced Degrees. What Do the Parents Have?’

Parents aren’t qualified to determine what their children should, and shouldn’t, be taught, an Arizona teacher claimed last week, objecting to a parental rights bill under consideration in her state.

“I have a Master’s degree…what do parents have?” the special education teacher asked at a discussion of a state bill (SB 1700) that would allow parents to review and request removal of materials that normalize pedophilia, are lewd or promote gender ideology, The Arizona Daily Independent reports:

 “Last week, during discussion of a bill that would allow parents to request the removal of school library or classroom materials they find inappropriate, Special Education teacher Alicia Messing questioned what qualifies a parent to parent.”

“I have a master’s degree. We all have advanced degrees!”

“What do the parents have? Are we vetting the backgrounds of our parents?” -Liberal white woman

She says the purpose of public education is to teach kids “what society needs them to be taught.”pic.twitter.com/9DLKlfibiy

— Billboard Chris ???????????????? (@BillboardChris) February 19, 2023

Messing suggested that un-vetted parents are less qualified than teachers with advanced degrees to determine what the parents’ children are taught:

“I have a master’s degree because, when I got certified, I was told I had to have a Master’s degree to be an Arizona certified teacher. We all have advanced degrees. What do the parents have?

“Are we vetting the backgrounds of our parents? Are we allowing the parents to choose the curriculum and the books that our children are going to read? I think that is a mistake.”

Messing claimed that enlightened teachers have the right to determine and teach what children “need” to learn, despite parents’ objections, quoting “one line that I love”:

“The purpose of public education is not to teach only what parents want their children to be taught. It is to teach them what society needs them to be taught.”

As The Independent notes, Messing has also vowed to defy any law prohibiting the teaching of racially-divisive Critical Race Theory (CRT):

“Messing first came to parents’ attention in 2021 during a statewide conversation about Critical Race Theory. At the time, the Arizona Legislature was considering legislation that would have prevented the teaching of Critical Race Theory-based curriculum in the classroom, and Messing was one of 4,200 teachers who signed a pledge to defy the law should it be enacted.”

Contrary to Messing’s claim, under the bill, parents would not get “to choose” what their children are taught.

According to the bill’s text, parents would have the right to know what their children are being taught, and to request the materials be removed – if they violate the current prohibition of lewd or indoctrinating content:

“A parent who objects to a book that is available to students in the school library or that will be used for classroom instruction may request that the public educational institution remove the book from the library or classroom.”

….

“A parent who objects to a book pursuant to subsection paragraph 2 of this section because the parent finds the book to be lewd or sexual in nature, to promote gender fluidity or gender pronouns or to groom children into normalizing pedophilia shall submit the book and the basis for the finding to the department of education pursuant to section 15-249.01.26.”

As noted in the bill, Arizona’s school governing board is already required to exclude materials that are lewd, promote gender ideology or destigmatize pedophilia:

“The governing board shall:
1. Enforce the rules prescribed for governing school libraries.
2. Exclude from school libraries all books, publications and papers of a sectarian, partisan or denominational character, OR THAT ARE LEWD OR SEXUAL IN NATURE, THAT PROMOTE GENDER FLUIDITY OR GENDER PRONOUNS OR THAT GROOM CHILDREN INTO NORMALIZING PEDOPHILIA.”

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