Pro-Life Elementary School Student Harassed for T-Shirt
Jack Yoest at Reasoned Audacity wrote yesterday about Americans United for Life's work to protect the freedom of conscience of health care providers as well as "school-age children."
AUL is headed by wife Charmaine. Charmaine and Jack have combined chromosomes to produce 1 very cool and spunky pro-life kid, affectionately known as The Diva.
Yoest posted a video I hadn't seen, although I'd read the story, of their "union-backed local elementary school" administration's attempt to censor The Diva for wearing a pro-life t-shirt on American Life League's Pro-Life T-Shirt Day last year. Here is her first-person account:
I particularly loved The Diva's answer to, "What would you tell a kindergartner who saw your t-shirt?"
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Free speech is a cornerstone of our society , but not everywhere. As a society, we have acknowledged (through laws and many statements) that parent's have the right to manage the manage the information that their children receive in schools and public locations that cater to children. this is why, for example, that the timing and access to sex education is controlled by school boards in concert with parents. Elementary schools have a responsibility to ensure that topics and material dealing with sensitive issues is not foisted upon their children while at school. I wouldn't want my 5 year old exposed to bloody images of abortions, any more than another parent might not want their child exposed to gaphic images of soliders injured in a battle. We have many personal and divisive issues in our society, and parents should stop their children from taking these topics onto the school yard. Keep them at home, or send your child on playdates wearing their propaganda.
Why is perfectly acceptable for a 10 year old to go around spreading the lie that abortion is "killing babies" but it's not acceptable to let any children be introduced to the idea that homosexuality is ok?
I couldn't make out the pictures on the shirt(watching on my iPhone so maybe just too small of a viewing window), but as long as it's not obscene the child shouldn't be forced to change shirts. However, I don't see the problem in the administration of an elementary school asking a child what they plan on saying at school when asked about such a topic. This is not a pop culture thing, this topic causes real fights and unfortunately for the whiner's, elementary aged kids don't have the logical facilities to understand the very adult complexities of abortion.
It's still very sad that this child has been indoctrinated by her parents to go to school and indoctrinate other children by telling them that abortion is killing babies. Children don't have the rhetorical understanding to recognize an argument from emotion and that is why public schools remain a secular, officially non-political, institution.