Asking Kids About Masturbation

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Yes the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals actually wrote this:

...there is no fundamental right of parents to be the exclusive provider of information regarding sexual matters to their children, either independent of their right to direct the upbringing and education of their children or encompassed by it. We also hold that parents have no due process or privacy right to override the determinations of public schools as to the information to which their children will be exposed while enrolled as students. Finally, we hold that the defendants' actions were rationally related to a legitimate state purpose...In summary, we hold that there is no free-standing fundamental right of parents "to control the upbringing of their children by introducing them to matters of and relating to sex in accordance with their personal and religious values and beliefs" and that the asserted right is not encompassed by any other fundamental right...we conclude only that the parents are possessed of no constitutional right to prevent the public schools from providing information on that subject to their students in any forum or manner they select.

Thanks to the 9th Circuit, if a school wants to ask 8-year-olds how often they think about wanting to touch "other peoples' private parts," it's within its jurisdiction and parents just have to accept it.

It was one of many questions in a survey given to children at a Palmdale District elementary school without parental consent or notification. A few parents filed a lawsuit claiming they had privacy rights on behalf of their children, but the most liberal circuit court in the country made it clear that parents have no rights to their children when they're in school.

The justification for the survey was to determine if there were any "psychological barriers to learning," though I can't seem to understand how that can be determined based on a child’s response to "touching my private parts too much."

The language in the ruling is extreme and radical to the highest degree by opening the door to anything by allowing schools to teach a subject "in any form or manner they select" without objection. Basically, the 9th Circuit Court has just given permission to any school that wishes to present graphic pornography as an educational tool to kindergarteners.