Just the facts ma’am.
Just the facts, not biased woke ideology.
That is what parents want their children to hear in Canadian classrooms, says a newly released survey from the Fraser Institute.
The study, authored by Fraser’s associate director of education policy Paige MacPherson, shows that a whopping 86% of parents surveyed believe teachers in grades K-12 should direct their attention to providing their students with facts and should offer a culture in the classroom that allows students to freely explore the facts.
The study was conducted by Leger between Mar. 25 and Apr. 8. Some 1,202 parents with children ages five to 18 in public and independent schools across Canada were surveyed through an online panel.
Some 76% of parents feel that students should be offered both sides of the story – particularly with respect to controversial issues – or if not, the issues should be “avoided entirely.”
This is of course contrary to what is occurring in many school boards right now where woke teachers offer a highly biased view of charged issues like anti-black racism, oppression vs. the oppressed, gender ideology and LGBT activism, and since Oct. 7, the Hamas-Israel conflict.
Sadly, often students are either too young or afraid to speak out or question for fear they will be targeted by their teacher and their peers.
The most impactful question related to whether parents felt that material presented on controversial topics should be “age appropriate.”
We’ve heard of so many instances as of late where students as young as five are being asked their gender or being taught about pronouns and gay rights.
The most offensive, in my view, are the efforts to ram trans ideology down the throats of prepubescent children in grades 7 and 8 and trying to make these kids believe they’re in the wrong bodies.
Nine out of ten respondents felt instruction on such topics should be “age appropriate,” with 62% of those surveyed in strong agreement.
Only 7% of those surveyed disagreed.
The other flashpoint is parental consent to allow their children to be part of instruction on controversial topics.
A total of 81% of those surveyed believe advance notice should be given to parents before a controversial topic is discussed in class or during other formal school activities.
Another 70% thought they should have the right to remove their kids from a classroom lesson involving a controversial topic “without impacting on their child’s grades.”
It is interesting to note that the majority of those parents who felt that the children should not be removed, thought kids should “learn about all topics/viewpoints regardless of their parents’ bias.”
Study author MacPherson says it shows a “clear consensus” among parents with kids in K-12 schools across Canada.
“They want teachers and curriculum to present facts, rather than opinions, and if schools are going to discuss controversial subjects, parents want advance notice,” she says. “When it comes to exposure to controversial topics, this poll shows Canadian parents want to make these decisions for their own children.”
She adds the fact that “a strong majority” of parents with kids in K-12 schools favour age-appropriate, fact-based teaching and curricula ”should inform provincial and school-level policies.”
“These topics are sometimes presented as unsettled or hotly debated, but clearly it’s not amongst parents, where there is a clear consensus,” MacPherson adds.
The results of her survey reflect resoundingly the sentiments expressed by parents who have come to woke school boards to speak about transparency, parental involvement, board accountability and the push to expose young kids to far too sophisticated and sexualized classroom instruction.
They have been tormented, harassed and ridiculed by school trustees for expressing the same common sense ideas, proving how tone deaf so many school boards are, not to mention the unions who have too much power over them.
Every single school trustee in Canada should be expected to read through this survey. It shows how disconnected from reality so many of them are.
