VOA教育报道--美国家长希望对学校课程有更大的影响力

US Parents Look to Have More Influence over School Curriculums

A big debate in American schools is over how much control parents should have in their child's education.

Parents around the nation have been protesting how certain topics, such as race, history and religion, are taught in schools. Some have gone to school board meetings and demand their politicians take steps to control what is taught in the classroom.

A school board is a group of elected officials who control educational policy and finances.

At least 12 Republican-led states have recently introduced bills that require school districts to post their teaching materials online. Some of the bills permit parents to bring legal action against schools that do not follow the rules. These are called "transparency bills."

And in the United States Congress, Republicans have introduced a "Parents Bill of Rights." Included in the proposal is a list of rights parents should have when it comes to their child's schooling¹.

For example, parents should "have the right to know what their children are being taught," and "have the right to see the school budget and spending."

Republicans that support the proposal said in a statement that Democrats² "want to take power away from parents and hand over more control to politicians and teachers unions to dictate³ what our children should be taught in classrooms." The bill of rights has gained popularity among conservatives in response to things like critical race theory and mask and vaccine⁴ mandates⁶ in schools.

Critical race theory is based on the idea that systemic racism⁷ has deeply shaped American society, laws and policies.

The bill was first introduced in November and is unlikely to pass the Democratic-controlled Congress. But it may have caused some Republican states to introduce similar measures.

Georgia's state Senate last week approved a measure that protects parental⁸ rights in public education. The measure says parents have the right to examine all classroom materials, the right to see all records relating to their child, the right to remove their child from sex education, and the right to prevent the creation of photos, videos and voice recordings⁹ of their children except for security purposes. Many of the rights already exist.

A December survey by EducationWeek found that most teachers say parents should have a say in the curriculum, or the subjects and materials that are being taught. But just 33 percent of teachers surveyed said parents were involved in selecting curriculum and materials in their district.

The survey also suggested that parents and teachers may have differing opinions on what topics should be taught. For example, just 51 percent of teachers said they believe parents want them to teach about race. But 80 percent of teachers said they should teach about race and racism.

In Virginia, Republican Glenn Youngkin made parents' rights a big part of his campaign for governor, an election he won. He has said that parents should be in charge of their kids' education.

But teachers and educators say transparency bills are unnecessary because information on curriculum and spending is already publicly available. Opponents of the bills say it would make teachers' jobs even more difficult.

In a Washington Post column, authors Jack¹⁰ Schneider and Jennifer Berkshire argued that parents have no legal right to determine their child's curriculum. United States law supports "the idea that education should prepare young people to think for themselves, even if that runs counter to the wishes of parents," they said.

Robert Estice is a middle school science and critical thinking teacher in Ohio, one of the states that introduced a transparency bill. He said the bill is a way to control what is taught in the classroom.

He told The Associated Press the bill is a way "to get into the classroom to pick through what they see and point us in different directions or stop us from doing things."

Words in This Story

district — n. an area established by a government for official government business

mandate⁵ — n. an official order to do something

transparency — n. the quality that makes something obvious or easy to understand

dictate — v. to say or state with authority or power

survey — n. an activity in which many people are asked a question or a series of questions in order to gather information about what most people do or think about something

curriculum — n. the courses that are taught by a school, college, etc.

counter — adv. in a way that goes against or does not agree with something

1 schooling   

n.教育；正规学校教育

参考例句：

• A child's access to schooling varies greatly from area to area.孩子获得学校教育的机会因地区不同而大相径庭。
• Backward children need a special kind of schooling.天赋差的孩子需要特殊的教育。

2 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 dictate   

v.口授；(使)听写；指令，指示，命令

参考例句：

• It took him a long time to dictate this letter.口述这封信花了他很长时间。
• What right have you to dictate to others?你有什么资格向别人发号施令？

4 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

5 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

6 mandates   

托管（mandate的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Individual mandates would require all people to purchase health insurance. 个人托管要求所有人都要购买健康保险。
• While I agree with those benefits, I'm not a supporter of mandates. 我同意上述好处，我不是授权软件的支持者。

7 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

8 parental   

adj.父母的；父的；母的

参考例句：

• He encourages parental involvement in the running of school.他鼓励学生家长参与学校的管理。
• Children always revolt against parental disciplines.孩子们总是反抗父母的管束。

9 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

10 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。