Renowned Professor Labels Parental Rights Issue as ‘Fabricated Crisis’

Jeani Isaken, a New Jersey mother of four, recently raised the question, ‘where does the boundary lie?’ concerning coverage of gender-associated topics in schools.

On a local ABC News affiliate program named 'Crisis In The Classroom’, held last Wednesday, a professor from Michigan State University declared the parental rights concern as a 'concocted crisis'.

Dr. Joshua Cowen, the esteemed Professor of Education Policy at the University, made the comments during a panel discussion that later veered towards the idea of school choice.

When queried about the necessity for parents to be informed about their children's educational content, Texas State Board of Education member Staci Childs expressed a positive view, while expressing concerns over potential information manipulation.

However, Dr. Cowen subsequently downplayed the issue of parental involvement.

He reasoned that parents already can participate in numerous parent-teacher meetings, and implied that the problem might be overly exaggerated.

In the same conversation, Cowen was critical of school voucher strategies, stating that they largely fail to deliver promised benefits.

Corey DeAngelis, a Senior Fellow at the American Federation For Children, responded to Cowen's remarks, emphasizing that all families should have the choice that Cowen himself had to attend a private school.

Clarifying his stance, Cowen expressed to Fox News Digital that his expertise lies more in school vouchers, stating that research indicates larger, newer voucher programs often have weakened academic outcomes.

Cowen stressed that his arguments should not detract from the tangible academic erosion due to COVID-19.

DeAngelis' rebuttal accused the left wing of dismissing parental grievances with public education, offering his view that parents can voice their disagreement through the voting system.

The intensive debates highlight the burgeoning concern among voters over educational issues, which were further inflamed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

These concerns range from the execution of parental influence on children's education to the controversial legislation linked to content restrictions in classrooms.

Most controversial among these is Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' law – deemed by critics as a suppression of instruction on 'sexual orientation' or 'gender identity' in K-12 classroom environments.