There seems to have been a victory on the parental coalition front. That victory was made manifest through the distraught complaining of woke teachers. According to Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson:

A report published by the RAND Corporation on Wednesday found that of a nationally representative sample of 8,000 teachers, one-quarter said they had revised their instructional materials or teaching practices to limit or exclude discussions of race and gender.

Teachers have had to change tactics and can no longer indoctrinate? They might actually have to teach the academic subject they were hired to teach? Shocking.

Parents and state law have already started to rein in the activist teachers. In fact, Natanson coauthored a piece back in October that bemoaned the number of laws restricting what teachers could and couldn’t teach. Sixty-four new state laws dealt with instruction on LGBTQ+ indoctrination, critical race theory, “transgender” children participating in sports against their biological sex, parental rights, and school libraries. States like Illinois, New Hampshire, and Delaware passed laws to allow activist teachers to carry on with their indoctrination. The rest of the state laws highlighted in Natanson’s article were the fruits of parents sticking up for their rights and wielding the government to back them up.

Natanson went on to say that these strictures were causing anxiety among the teachers. They have had to change books so as “not to offend anyone”; they have had to think twice before putting up a pride flag or Black Lives Matter flag in the classroom; and they have had to change reading material or lesson plans involving the LGBTQ+ agenda and/or critical race theory for fear of being prosecuted under the new state laws.

Why weren’t these teachers already being considerate about their actions and political statements in the classroom? If a teacher is a thoughtful and caring individual who takes their job seriously — a job that is by nature supposed to be selfless — then appropriate anxiety and worry should be a constant in their lesson planning anyway. Teaching is an enormous responsibility. A teacher is acting as the authority figure and is being entrusted with someone else’s precious children. Striving to be the best role model and working in concert with each child’s parents are part of the job.

This sentiment may be more pronounced amongst the elementary school teachers, who really strive to create a team of support for the children among parents and administrators. Middle school and high school teachers expect less parental involvement and more student self-motivation. That contrived lack of parental involvement might have given some educators a power trip. That god-like attitude might even feel justified because a fraction of parents have abdicated their role in teaching. These parents treat school like day care. To their credit, many of these parents had their eyes opened during the COVID lockdowns as to just what sort of “teaching” was going on in their child’s classroom.

Instead of rejoicing to see parents actually invested and caring about the academic growth and development of their children, the activist teachers are upset. Natanson laments the fact that the American public has lost faith in its teachers and public schools. She writes:

A Gallup poll this month found that Americans’ belief in grade-school teachers’ honesty had dropped to an all-time low of 64 percent, while a July poll found that just 28 percent of Americans have substantial confidence in public schools — the second-lowest this number has fallen since Gallup began asking about this topic in 1973.

Parents have every right to be angry at schools and activist teachers. The Gallup poll is merely reflecting what they have seen in their own children’s classrooms and read in the news. After all, Loudoun County (Virginia) Public Schools actively covered up rape due to deference to the transgender ideology; parental rights in states like California are purely dependent on compliance to the LGBTQ+ agenda; and Chicago Public Schools are handing out condoms to 10-year-olds.

Parents see the fallout. The leftist woke ideology disseminated through the public schools is hurting their children’s well-being, their academics, and their familial relationships. Teachers, school boards, and administrators are being put back in their rightful place.

All that is left to be said is this: Parents, keep fighting for your kids and for your right to parent them. Good teachers will have your back. You’re making headway, and the leftists are noticing.