From my America Out Loud Pulse podcast with Dr. Diana Blum –https://www.americaoutloud.news/i-have-5-words-for-these-legislators-stay-away-from-our-children/
Who on earth came up with the idea that having a race to the bottom would close the achievement gap among minorities and Whites and Asians. Some schools are going gradeless, and cancelling honors classes, and not informing students that they received National Merit scholarships. This is carrying diversity, equity, and inclusion too far. As Booker T. Washington said, “No greater injury can be done to any youth than to let him feel that because he belongs to this or that race, he will be advanced in life regardless of his own merits or efforts.” The whole point is to raise the achievement level of underachievers, not to stunt the progress of the high achievers to even things out.
This reminds me of various programs in 1964’s War on Poverty that sought to raise people out of poverty but resulted in, for many, intergenerational dependence on the government and for many, stagnation at subsistence level.
The tactics of the War on Poverty included AFDC—Aid to Families with Dependent Children—where if there was a man in the house, there were no welfare benefits. What happened to keeping a family together during troubled times? What happened to encouraging families to lean on one another and discuss and hopefully resolve their financial issues?
The thought process behind AFDC was only the beginning of the state’s new role of in loco parentis. This goes beyond co-parenting: parental rights are under assault. Laws are emerging that allow teachers more control over the intimate details of our children’s lives than their parents have. In multiple states children can have abortions with no parental involvement, irrespective of possible harm due to abuse in several states.
A proposed California law (AB665) would allow any minor as young as age 12 to seek mental health services and go to a government “residential shelter” without their parents’ knowledge or consent. Current law quite reasonably allows parents to be out of the loop only if the child presents as danger of serious physical or mental harm to themselves or others or to be the alleged victim of incest or child abuse.
Another California bill (AB957) that has passed through the assembly “would include a parent’s affirmation of the child’s gender identity as part of the health, safety, and welfare of the child.” This would become as factor in determining whether as parent is guilty of child abuse in custody hearings. How is this in the best interests of the child when this bill applies to children of all ages, not just, for example, 12 and up? So, the parent who “affirms” gets custody and the other parent is labeled a child abuser.
I have five words for these legislators: stay away from our children.
My guest and I will discuss some policies of some of our schools that intrude on parental rights, many times resulting in harm to children medically and educationally.
Bio
Dr. Diana Blum is a board-certified neurologist who completed her medical school training at the University of Chicago, Pritzker school of Medicine and her Neurology Residency training at Stanford University Medical Center. She is currently in private practice in Silicon Valley, California where she focuses on the chronic management of patients with Parkinson’s Disease. When not practicing clinical medicine, Dr. Blum is a fierce patient and physician advocate, defending Hippocratic oath medicine and the sanctity of the doctor-patient relationship through education and activism.
