families

I heard on NPR about how some families were suing a teacher/school district due to questionable material presented in an elementary school class. The lesson was on types of families, and the book being read included a family with a same sex couple as parents. I can see where this is going, but have a hard time understanding why.. but I'll get to that in a minute.

So, some parents are upset that the teacher did not alert them of the lesson, so they could exclude their child from it, due to its 'questionable material', stating that same sex couples were against their religious beliefs. Again, I understand, maybe you want to be alerted so that you can discuss how your personal beliefs fit in with the lesson.

However - my issue is - you can teach your child that their religion is intolerable of certain things, or holds certain beliefs, but as members of society, these children need to be aware of what is in their world. If they make friends with a kid who has two moms, or two dads, do you forbid them from hanging out just because your religion does not allow same sex unions?

People love to overreact. The parents really need to take responsibility themselves and say to their kid, Yes, you learned this is part of society, however our religion believes in 'x'. And then, they have to be prepared to deal with the questions the kids have, and the possible revolt against religion that their kids could have. It is not the teacher's responsibility to make the religious connection for kids (in a public school). Maybe these parents should home school !