Opinion: Proposition 8 and Santa Claus in the schools

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Credit the Yes on Proposition 8 campaign for its clever ability to poke people right in their discomfort zones. Generally, the target is getting people to believe that the children of California will be indoctrinated into tolerance of the gay population. The latest wave of ads, from what I read (Nope, I still don’t watch or listen to campaign ads.), grabs one high-profile case of a Massachusetts teacher who read her students the picture book ‘King and King,’ about a prince who’s supposed to find a princess to wed but finds another prince instead.

And really, I don’t know what the teacher was thinking. The book’s writing is lackluster, the characters undeveloped, and the illustration a downright mess.

But it’s a theoretical reach from there to the Prop. 8 mantra that same-sex marriage equals schools teaching children as young as kindergartners all about gay marriage. The state has an Education Code and an instructional framework that don’t call for teaching marriage at all until kids get older, and even then in only the most bare-bones way, like the difference between dating and marriage. State law also is quite clear on the subject of parents’ rights not to have their children attend lessons on sexual and other highly personal matters.

Yes, first graders in San Francisco attended their teacher’s lesbian wedding as a field trip. Parents have to sign permission slips for field trips, too, even if it’s to the post office. (Two parents opted out.) The parents could well have given permission for their children to attend a civil-union celebration. Prop. 8 wouldn’t change what teachers read to children or whether students see their teachers in a loving same-sex relationship. All the things that scare Prop 8’s proponents the most could happen even if it passed.

One way or another, kids are going to learn things at school, whether from teachers or fellow students, that go against their parents’ beliefs. Part of learning tolerance is learning that people think differently and believe differently; this is a lesson that both schools and parents teach, and that’s not to even mention what the kids learn from playing Halo.

(Attention, those who believe in Santa Claus -- spoiler alert!)

I’m reminded of one of my son’s own kindergarten lessons, when the teachers talked someone into dressing up as Santa to hand out gifts -- without advance warning to parents. ‘Mommy, Santa does exist!’ Sam came home and announced, despite our frequent teachings otherwise. ‘He was at school today.’ When I argued that this was a man dressed up to look like a make-believe character, he countered, ‘Oh, no, this was the real Santa. Mrs. H told us so.’

So the authority figure spoke, and then the real authority figure spoke, and he learned that sometimes teachers say things that we don’t agree with, or even things that are downright wrong. Sorry, Santa.

Image of the ‘King & King’ cover courtesy of the Ten Speed Press website.