Dr. Dobson’s (Comparatively) Liberal Views on Public Education
We believe in a vibrant educational public square that recognizes and accommodates the different moral, religious and cultural philosophies that parents may desire for their children.
In March of 2002, Dr. James Dobson, president and founder of Focus on the Family uttered words he thought he would never say. Addressing some disturbing developments in public schools on a national radio broadcast, Dr. Dobson said, “In the state of California, if I had a child there, I wouldn’t put that youngster into public schools.”
Now this means something coming from a man of Dr. Dobson’s background. He’s taught in public schools and as a trained clinical child psychologist is deeply interested in healthy child development. What would move him to make such a statement? The answer is an orchestrated movement in California’s and other public schools around the nation to teach all children, kindergarten through high school, that homosexuality is as normal and beneficial as heterosexuality. Just one example comes from Marin County, California where second through fifth graders were taught to chant “I’m gay and it’s OK” at a school assembly. Add this to the growing, and often unchecked, problems in too many schools with drugs, violence, teen pregnancy and ever-declining academic standards. The slow emergence of all this is what finally brought Dr. Dobson to qualify his life-long support for public education.
A recent guest commentary in The Colorado Springs Gazette’s pages, as well as comments in other national papers, lamented that Dr. Dobson was calling for an abandonment of public education. That is a distortion of his convictions. Dr. Dobson and Focus on the Family have always resisted the idea of one central authority directing how children should be educated. He holds the democratic view that parents should decide which school setting is best for their children and be able to choose from a wide selection of educational options.
In his comments on California’s schools, Dr. Dobson was not calling for a mass exodus from public education. He was simply saying that if he had a child in schools that strongly contradicted the foundational issues he taught at home, he would take his child out of that school. Dr. Dobson has long supported public education as an important option for parents, right along side private, charter, Christian schools and home schooling.
Our official position statement on education is and remains as follows: We believe in a vibrant educational public square that recognizes and accommodates the different moral, religious and cultural philosophies that parents may desire for their children…. A just [education] system of choice would allow parents from all socio-economic backgrounds to choose the type of education, whether public, private, religious or home schooling, that reflects their values and best meets the academic needs of their children.
We believe that parents should consider all alternatives – home schooling, private schools and public schools—in light of their child and their particular circumstances. There is no one best educational option that represents the best solution for every child.
That is why Dr. Dobson did not say all parents should pull their kids out of all public schools. Believing parents are generally best suited to decide what is right for their own children, it’s the parent’s call. Parents should be aware of how certain options are helping or harming their children. Parents should also take serious, deliberate steps to correct the problem when their children are being deprived or led astray. To do this, mothers and fathers need access to a rich array of educational options.
In fact, this is far more tolerant and freethinking than the position the National Association of Education (NEA) has always maintained. The NEA has consistently been intolerant of educational options that provide parents with choices for their children, specifically vouchers, charter schools, private schools or home schooling. The NEA will only hear of squeezing all children into a one-size-fits-all box that is the current public school status quo.
Ask any parent which philosophy or approach they desire in the critical task of educating the young minds of the next generation? We bet they like the control in their hands and many options at their disposal.
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