Schools are causing anxiety in children

And sowing unprecedented distrust with parents

This is a very short post. It is just a short series of my tweets from over the weekend about how many of the same people in schools who say they’re concerned about anxiety of their students are actually a major cause of that anxiety.

Many educators —especially those who see their role as one of activism and ideology—believe that in order to create a “safe space” for students where everyone belongs, they must focus on subjects that are way out of bounds by the standards of most parents. This is especially true in the elementary grades where we see a ton of content related to gender identity, sexual orientation and racial division. In the name of “social emotional learning”, schools are increasingly complicit in the destruction of students’ social emotional health. Parents and outspoken teachers aren’t the only ones who see it—mental health professionals (who aren’t ideologues) see it as well. Unfortunately, countless school counselors and social workers (as well as their professional associations) are a big part of the problem, complicit in pushing an agenda on children who still believe in Santa Claus, hide their teeth under their pillow for the tooth fairy, and climb in bed with mom and dad after a bad dream.

Keep in mind that in the vast majority of schools in America, most students do not read or do math on grade level. If schools fail to get the basics right, like how to teach reading effectively, it’s hard to imagine that they are remotely qualified to be wading into highly charged topics with very young children.

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*Every example I include in these tweets comes from real life documented examples that I have seen with my own eyes.

Erika Sanzi @esanzi

Something I'm thinking abt is that many of the people in schools who say they care about student anxiety are creating so much anxiety in their students (& subsequently the parents.) Gender ideology starting in K. Surveys asking 11 yr olds if they've drafted a suicide plan.

Erika Sanzi @esanzi

Teaching children that they are oppressors based upon their immutable traits. Teaching children they have privilege b/c their parents are married. Teaching children to be guided by the principle that it's necessary to disrupt the nuclear family. Race based grouping at school.

Erika Sanzi @esanzi

Teachers announcing their own sexuality to elementary children (and kids coming home asking parents what "pansexual" means.) Adults telling children to keep secrets from their parents. Teachers reading a book to kindergarteners telling them 'whiteness is a bad deal.'

Erika Sanzi @esanzi

Add in the covid stuff: Kids being told they are viral vectors, that they shouldn't be high-fiving or hugging their friends, that they can't let that mask slip or else. Hysterical adults with no sense of costs/benefit have projected their neurosis onto children.

Erika Sanzi @esanzi

This is damaging. It is scaring kids, confusing kids and feels like an effort to drive a wedge between parents and their children. Don't underestimate what all of this, plus school closures during COVID, have done to parent sentiment about their children's education. /fin

When you tinker in the minds of other people’s children and make them say things they don’t believe, you have crossed a line. When you draft policies that are designed to deliberately deceive parents, you have betrayed trust. And when you shame and scare children, you cause damage. All of this is happening more and more under the umbrella of rhetorically manipulative words like “social justice,” “equity,” “inclusion” and “social emotional learning.”

I’ll die on the hill of putting an end to it because children deserve that.