A recent flap about a privacy-invading questionnaire in the Minnesota public schools proves how arrogant they have become in treating schoolchildren like guinea pigs. The incident also shows how outraged parents can successfully force the schools to back down and respect parental rights.
What happened earlier this month was that seventh to twelfth grade children in the Minnesota public schools began reporting that they had been required to fill out an hour-long 189-question survey about sex, suicide, drugs, and family behavior. When parents found out about it, they demanded copies from the reluctant schools, and the controversy hit the press.
First, the survey made the children answer questions about all sorts of private family matters, such as “Do you think of yourself as a religious person?”, “Whether your parents are divorced or were never married?”, “Whether your mother lives with another man I am not related to?”, and “Whether your parents are employed?”
Then the survey takes the child through a long series of questions suggesting that he is worried about many things. Options for these worries include “dying soon, a nuclear bomb being dropped on America, one of my parents dying, one of my parents hitting me so hard that I will be hurt, my parents getting a divorce, killing myself, and someone may force me to do sexual things I don’t want to do.”
Then the survey asks, “How often do you use the following: cigarettes, clove cigarettes, chewing tobacco/snuff, beer/wine, hard liquor, marijuana, PCP/angel dust, acid/LSD/psychedelics, bindro (stars/hex), inhalants (glue/poppers), speed/amphetamines, sedatives/downers, cocaine (coke/toot/snow), crack/rock cocaine, heroin, codeine/morphine/other opiates, look-alike drugs?”
The questionnaire then moves into an explicit interrogation about the child’s sex habits. “Have you ever had sexual intercourse (‘gone all the way’)? If yes, how old were you the first time you did it? How often do you have sexual intercourse? What kind of birth control do you most often use? When you think or daydream about sex, do you think about (a) males, (b) females, (c) both?”
Imagine the poor seventh grader wrestling with the next sex-related question, and note the sequence. “Which of the following best describes your feelings: (a) I am ONLY attracted to people of the SAME sex as mine, and I will only be sexual with persons of the same sex. (b) I am STRONGLY attracted to people of the SAME sex and most of my sexual experiences will be with persons of the same sex as mine. (c) I am EQUALLY attracted to men and women and would like to be sexual with both. (d) I am STRONGLY attracted to persons of the OPPOSITE sex and most of my sexual experience will be with persons of the opposite sex. (e) I am ONLY attracted to persons of the OPPOSITE sex and I will only be sexual with persons of the opposite sex.”
Another set of questions would tend to alienate children from their parents. “If you had the chance to see a doctor, nurse or counselor without your parents knowing about it, would you have gone?” “Do you know of a place to go to see a doctor, nurse or counselor without your parents knowing about it?”
Then comes a long line of questioning practically guaranteed to give the child a case of depression. “Have you felt so sad, discouraged, hopeless, or had so many problems that you wondered if anything was worthwhile?” “Have you worried that you might be losing your mind or losing control over the way you act, talk, think, feel, or of your memory?” “Have you felt anxious, worried or upset?” “Have you ever had a nervous breakdown or lost your mind?” “Have you ever tried to kill yourself?” “In the past month: (a) I don’t have any thoughts about killing myself, (b) I have thoughts about killing myself, but I would not carry them out, (c) I would like to kill myself, or (d) I would kill myself if I had the chance.”
The survey winds up with a list of 40 statements which the child must rate as “never or not true,” “sometimes/somewhat true,” “often or very true.” You can get the flavor of the 40 by these: “I cry a lot…. I try to hurt/kill myself on purpose…. I lie or cheat…. I run away from home…. I think about killing myself…. I am unhappy, sad, or depressed…. I feel lonely.”
Answering this questionnaire would be a depressing psychological experience for an adult, much less a teenager. Yet the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services financed the writing of this garbage to the tune of $408,000. The University of Minnesota sponsored its development and distribution, and it was administered by local schools without the knowledge or consent of the parents.
Indignant parents were able to stop further use of this survey. But it’s no wonder why parents believe that Federal spending on education should be cut, and that arrogant public school educators should be forbidden to engage in psychological manipulation.
