One of the things that parents complain most about in the public schools today is the surveys that are so frequently given to students, usually without parental knowledge or consent. These questionnaires are very offensive both because they take up so much valuable time that should be used for academic skills and subjects, and because they are grossly privacy-invading.
Many of these surveys ask the child to reveal all sorts of things that are private family concerns and are none of the school’s business. Other surveys are psychologically manipulative. Let’s take a look at some recent surveys and note their variety of subject matter and depth of nosiness.
Death Education is a trendy survey subject. In Oriskany, New York, pupils were asked to answer the following depressing questions in a required “Health” class.
“You just read that a 19-year-old boy was in a car accident that left him completely paralyzed with some degree of brain damage. Would you: (a) Refrain from giving him medication that may save his life? (b) Keep him alive as long as vital signs are normal and/or stable? (c) Ask him if he would like to live or die? (d) Tell him of the consequences and then ask him what the doctors should do? (e) Let him die?”
Here is another morbid question inflicted on Oriskany schoolchildren. “You and your spouse just had your first child. The doctor has informed you that your baby is Mongoloid and also has a small hole in her heart. With several expensive operations and much treatment, she may eventually be saved but will need constant care. What would you do? (a) Allow her to die? (b) Refuse to allow the operation and medication and take what comes? (c) Use any means possible to keep her alive but, if she lives, place her in an institution? (d) Use any means to keep her alive, and if she lives, keep her? (e) Tell the doctors it is up to them?”
The child is also asked to rate a list of statements as very acceptable, acceptable, unsure, unacceptable, not acceptable at all. This deathly list includes “Being killed in an auto accident … dying slowly … dying of cancer … choosing how you will die … living but unable to function … being very sick and close to death but not being told.”
Here are some nosey questions from a “Family Life” survey given to schoolchildren in Baldwinsville, New York. “Does your parent have any of the following? Alcoholism, drug dependency, mental illness, physical disability, chronic illness, institutionalization.”
“Has there been a death in your family? Mother, father, brother, sister.” “Have you ever been pregnant? Had a baby? Had an abortion?” “Do you consider yourself a heterosexual? a homosexual?”
In a “Stress Mess” survey in Irvine, California, elementary schoolchildren were given a list of stressful situations and asked to put the letter “S” by the things that would cause stress. Here are some of the stress samples.
“Your bike got a flat tire on the way to school.” “Mom is fighting with Dad.” “The playground supervisor blamed you for a fight another kid started.”
If the child didn’t admit to having stress in any of these situations, the child was told to “Write your own example of a stress for you.” A child who was not in a stress mess before taking the survey would surely be in one afterwards. In a survey that purported to teach “Critical Thinking Skills” in Twin Lakes, Indiana, children were asked to respond to dozens of statements by checking strongly agree, agree, uncertain, disagree, strongly disagree. Here are some of the statements which involve leading the children to make critical decisions in areas of ethics and parental concern.
“I can trace my own attitude change to confrontations with problems and conflicts in myself.” “When parents differ with their high school-age children, they should let them form their own opinions.” “In choosing a term paper topic, I would use a topic the teacher suggested in order to be sure I have what the teacher wants.”
“In choosing an elective course, it is most important that the course requires little effort to get an A.” “When asked to remove controversial books, the librarian should stress the constitutional rights to freedom of speech, press, and free thought.”
I have in my hand a survey about sex that was given this year to children in a Chicago, Illinois, school. It is literally too indecent to be published in a family newspaper, so I can’t quote from it here.
Why aren’t the schools teaching the basics and fundamental knowledge instead of treating children like guinea pigs for psychological probing?
