Parent's Rights and Responsiblities

I have always been an avid supporter of parental rights. Yet, I have also worked and been involved in various settings that have tried my beliefs. We all want to believe parents have their children’s best interest in mind, but this is not always the case. I have been involved with many cases of horrific child abuse. I’ve know and even testified against a parent who killed their own child. I know of parents who have burned their children, kicked them across the room, molested them sexually or even sold them for drugs. There is no question that some parents should not have the right to raise children. However, what about the parents who are well meaning but their belief systems are unconventional, fundamentally religious or even cultic in nature? Should parents have the right to keep their children sequestered from the world, traditional education, traditional medicine or other established benefits of society? These questions are not easily answered. I just reviewed a court decision where a judge is forcing a divorcing couple to place their children in public school. See http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,509687,00.html. Many groups consider this an attack against homeschooling parents, but this decision was primarily to allow both parents to be equally influential to their children in a joint custody resolution. Others feel this was a just decision and limits the influence of a potentially mentally ill mother who has been brainwashed by a cult.
Parents should have the right to point their children in the direction they feel is best for them. However, I do not believe that parents should ignore other routes youth can travel as well. Teaching our children to think is paramount. Rather than simply teaching them what is holy and evil, teach them to be discerning, logical and use reason to identify solutions for themselves. Parents may have the right to teach or program creationism, intelligent design or religious faith to our children, but it is much better to educate them to use cognitive tools to discover these mysteries for themselves. There is nothing wrong with giving our children direction and our opinion on specific issues, but it is important to point out our own bias and the reasons why we made the decisions we have. To give glib, simplistic answers that are intellectually bankrupt are hurtful to our children. We need to give them the “Why” with the “What”. If we tell our children, that being a Baptist is important; we need to explain why. If our answers are simplistic and full of logical fallacies, we do a disservice to them. This form of training is not much different than the reports we hear of the indoctrination of hate from Islamic schools of Hamas or Hezbollah. Public schools are far from perfect, but they do expose us to others; people of different beliefs and different cultures. They allow us to give our children a different frame of reference than ourselves and help them discover answers for themselves rather than relying on parents or other authoritarian figures. When I try to find the truth, I don’t exclusively listen to people with whom I agree; instead I intentionally seek out those who make me think and challenge me. I still may come full circle, such as those beliefs handed down by my parents, but they are now my own. I think one of the saddest things in this world, is when people hold beliefs that are not their own. They have not been taught to listen, learn, and think and to take ownership and responsibility for their own views and destiny. While blindly believing and obeying in authority figures is easier, I believe many suffer or will suffer for their ignorance and laziness.