THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VII, Issue # 259, November 30, 2005
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
THE NINTH CIRCUIT COURT & EDUCATION: AFFIRMING THE OBVIOUS
By Christopher G. Adamo
AMERICAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, SCHOOL CHILDREN, PARENTS, & THE STATE: JUDICIAL AFFIRMATION OF THE LEFTWING
LIBERAL STATIST IDEOLOGY OF AMERICA'S PROFESSIONAL "EDUCATORS" -- THE RULING OF THE NINTH CIRCUIT UNITED STATES
COURT OF APPEALS IN FIELDS V. PALMDALE (2005): SCHOOL DISTRICTS & THE STATE, NOT PARENTS, ARE THE
ULTIMATE MORAL AUTHORITY IN RAISING CHILDREN
FULL STORY:
On November 1, 2005, the San Francisco-based Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled
in the case of Fields v. Palmdale that school districts and the state are
the ultimate moral authority in the raising of children. Parents who naively
assumed that such responsibilities were inherently theirs are outraged. Yet,
although their outrage is fully understandable, they have no excuse for
being surprised.
At issue in the Ninth Circuit Court’s decision was a complaint lodged by parents
in the Palmdale school district of California that their children had been
subjected to official queries regarding such intimate topics as their sexual
thoughts and “touching [their] private parts too much.” Were the gardener
down the street to engage in a discussion of similar matters with passing
children, he would surely be labeled as a sexual predator and appropriately
charged.
In its ruling, the Court merely reasserted the philosophy that has
undergirded the overwhelming bulk of what has passed as “education” in
America for the past several decades. Are Americans just now beginning to
figure out that the little red schoolhouse no longer exists?
Meanwhile, the parents of Palmdale are expected to unconditionally accept
the notion that the possession of “professional credentials” by those
engaging in this prying somehow shielded their children from any harm or
humiliation that might have resulted from these encounters. The state knows
best. Case closed.
But, if any element of surprise should be connected with this situation, it
is that such action by the state is perceived as something new. It has
happened before, and on a frequent enough basis that no one has an honest
excuse to now be caught off guard.
In March of 1996, parents in the East Stroudsburg School District of
Pennsylvania were shocked to learn that, during the course of the school
day, 59 of their sixth-grade daughters had been removed from class and
forcibly subjected to invasive genital exams.
The outrage was perpetrated under the auspices that, by turning guardianship
of their children over to the school system during the course of the day,
parents were effectively relinquishing all authority over them to the state.
Bureaucratic excuses notwithstanding, the harsh reality was that students
were legally subjected to treatment that essentially constituted sexual
assault. It meant little or nothing to the victims that those committing the
assault possessed some official certificate posted on the wall back in the
home office, or that the “exams” were ostensibly conducted in the interests
of their health and well being.
They had been violated, and short of sitting through every subsequent class
with them, their parents were absolutely helpless to prevent any recurrence
of the outrage. Local health officials and school employees held public
demonstrations in support of the action. And more than three years passed
before a token judgment was imposed on the school.
Perhaps the most ironic aspect of this tragedy is that appropriate recourses
are indeed available to parents. Yet most parents remain steadfastly opposed
to their options. From East Stroudsburg to Palmdale, they can, on an
individual basis, not only prevent further assaults on their children, they
also have the ability to impose multi-thousand dollar fines for each child
so violated.
It is hardly a secret that they can simply remove their children from
government schools that condone such behavior, and thereafter homeschool
them or enroll them in private schools.
Furthermore, if this ever becomes the standard response, school
administrators throughout the country will quickly get the message that, in
the end, such actions ultimately impact them where it hurts most -- in the
pocketbook. Thereafter, they would think twice before risking future funding
for the sake of their political & social agenda.
Unfortunately, from most parents, the message sent to the schools is quite
the opposite. On this past Election Day in California (where this most
recent controversy took place), voters overwhelmingly opted against any
reform whatsoever to the state’s disastrous educational system.
The presumption of absolute authority over the moral and spiritual
development of the next generation has always been a cornerstone of every
totalitarian state. But for the immediate future, Americans still have the
ability to pre-empt such a future.
If, however, they continue to go with the flow, the ultimate disgrace will
not fall on those morally reprehensible school districts nor even the
activist courts, but on parents who weigh the costs of protecting their
children, but still find it cheaper and more convenient to place them in harm’s way.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Education & America's Schools
A Practical Guide to Homeschooling
Morality, Decency, & Traditional American Family Values
Legal Issues, Lawyers, & America's Judiciary
U.S. Constitutional Law & Political Philosophy
The Constitution of the United States of America
Christopher G. Adamo is a freelance writer who lives in southeastern Wyoming and works in the field of industrial instrumentation.
He is actively involved in Wyoming's political process, serving as a delegate to successive Wyoming State Republican Conventions
and as a member of the Wyoming State Republican Central Committee. He has assisted Republican candidates for local and state
legislatures and for the United States Congress. His articles, which appear regularly in The Progressive Conservative, U.S.A.,
and on a number of other websites, reflect a major concern with the damage being done to Conservatism and Conservative causes by
the Liberal Leftist faction in the Republican Party as well as by the much larger and more powerful Liberal Leftist faction in the
Democratic Party. During the early and middle 1990s, Adamo was Editor of the Wyoming Christian Coalition's official news organ,
The Wyoming Christian.
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