Before I started writing this column, I helped launch The Education Game with a Houstonian committed to changing the way kids learn moving forward.
The Education Game’s theory of action was to educate parents about how most public schools were providing a sub-par learning experience for most children, including their own. Once these parents became dissatisfied, then they would be motivated to create other types of learning opportunities for their kids, other than the traditional public school.
My Houston partner and I continue to be convinced that the only group that is going to improve learning for kids in this country aren’t state legislators, not state board of education members, not local school boards, not school district leadership, but parents.
But committing to parent empowerment can provide a slippery slope for people like us these days, especially with groups like “Moms for Liberty” demanding attention these days.
Recently, EducationWeek online interviewed Tiffany Justice, one of the co-founders of “Moms for Liberty.” The article states,
“Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice rejects the idea that her organization has stoked division or cultivated a mistrust of teachers and schools.”
“An Education Week reporter spoke with Justice during the Florida-based group’s annual Joyful Warriors Summit in a brief interview…”
“Moms for Liberty has risen to national prominence over the last few years as local chapters have contested schools’ COVID-19 precautions, advocated for schools to remove books – often those featuring LGBTQ+ characters, people of color, and others from marginalized groups – from their libraries, and flipped school boards to conservative control. Its influence has grown in Republican circles, in particular.”
“The summit, spanning three days, brought together around 650 Moms for Liberty members from across the country to hear from presidential candidates – including former President Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley – as well as four conservative state education chiefs and activists who hosted member training sessions.”
“’Parents absolutely should be concerned about the fact that they can’t trust their schools,’ Justice said.”
“The event was engulfed in controversy and attracted protests as Moms for Liberty has recently drawn high-profile criticism.”
“The group provoked widespread backlash recently after an Indiana chapter used an Adolf Hitler quote in a newsletter.”
“The following interview with Justice has been edited for length and clarity.
EW: What does Moms for Liberty hope attendees gain from this summit that they’ll take back to their local communities and school boards?
TJ: The breakout sessions are amazing. They’re learning so much about different issues that are happening.
Comprehensive sex education, for example, it’s shocking. If people haven’t even [gone] and read about comprehensive sex education, they really need to. We need to be more honest about things that are actually being taught in American public school classrooms, and every time I talk to someone and I tell them what the tenets of comprehensive sex ed are, they’re shocked.
We titled the name of the session, ‘Comprehensive Sex Ed: Education or Sexualization?’ and it really does feel like the sexualization of our kids.
EW: How does the work Moms of Liberty has advocated for at the state and local levels help improve student achievement?
TJ: Because no one’s going to fight for a child like a parent. Love is an expertise. You as a mom know your kids better than anyone else. So parents being more involved in their education is a win-win for the parents, for the kids, and the school.
EW: Could you respond to criticism that say Moms for Liberty has stoked division in local communities and also contributed to mistrust of schools and teachers?
TJ: I think that that’s kind of the iron law of woke projection, to be honest with you. Parents absolutely should be concerned about the fact that they can’t trust their schools.
Right now in America, there are numerous lawsuits that are happening where children have been taken into private spaces with adults and have gone through pages of forms to talk about; what name they want to use at school and what name, when the teacher calls the parent, they’ll use with that parent; what bathroom that child will use; what sex the child will sleep with when they go on overnight field trips – all of this behind the backs of parents.”
“When January Littlejohn of Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida, went to the school when she found out about it, she wanted to see the forms and they said, ‘Well, we’re going to need your 12-year-old’s permission.’ So this idea that somehow we’ve stoked distrust or chaos or whatever it is that people say, again, it’s projection. We’re calling them out for this nonsense that’s happening in American schools and they don’t like it. Tough.
EW: An Indiana Moms for Liberty chapter [recently] quoted Hitler in a newsletter and later apologized for it. Is support for Hitler something that is common among Moms for Liberty members?
TJ: Never in a million years would that mom have ever thought that anyone would think that she’s supporting Hitler.
One of the things that we wear on our T-shirts is that we do not co-parent with the government. The idea that they would support the government indoctrinating children is ridiculous, and we reject it completely.”
Given the latest spewings from Moms from Liberty, you can understand my partner and my concern being associated with an idea like parents should be empowered to make the right decisions for their children’s learning.
But here’s the difference between Moms for Liberty and real parent empowerment. Moms for Liberty, and other groups like them, want to project their narrow, conservative ideas onto the wider public while pretending to speak for parents who might not even know who the Moms for Liberty are or what they represent.
Real parent empowerment is when a young learner’s caring adult helps them define, plan, execute, and evaluate a learning plan customized to that young learner’s individual learning plan. And, to define, place, execute, and evaluate that learning, it sometimes takes that young learner’s caring adult to receive training regarding learning plan development and sometimes receive assistance from a professional learning coach.
Beware of those who say they have the best interests of all children in mind. They might just be serving their own petty interests.
Til tomorrow. SVB
A Better Path to Learning 
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