Parents are viewed as gatekeepers for their children. For teachers, who have certain ideas and values they want to share, the gatekeepers can help or hinder this process. If the parents provide resistance, some teachers may see them as supporters of the status quo rather than as defenders of the underrepresented and marginalized. In such situations, it leads to a question of who should prevail.

The difference in values between parents and teachers can lead to this struggle over whose values should be shared or taught in the classroom. The metric for determining what is right or wrong is often measured through a critical lens for teachers, which means looking for who has and does not have power and or who is representing the powerless and the powerful. If a teacher is convinced that they stand with the oppressor and the parents do not, a teacher may believe that their values and beliefs are of a higher moral character than the parents (by being more inclusive/respectful). When this happens, the teacher may be convenience that subverting parental values may be necessary by any reasonable means.

Goals of Queer Teachers

The goal of many teachers is to directly disrupt social norms. Often these teachers are inspired by Queer theory or any other critical-inspired belief system, which essentially states that societal norms exclude people who do not conform to existing norms from full participation in society. Therefore, the liberation of these oppressed individuals can only happen when norms are destroyed. Of course, there is no safe space for people who disagree with the idea of a world without norms. People who cannot function in a world without norms would now be just as oppressed as the current people who cannot conform to the existing norms of society. Funnier still, having no norms is a social norm in itself which means there is no such thing as a normless society.

Queer-inspired teachers challenge almost everything. They are against the idea that heterosexual relations are normal (heternormativity). They are even against the idea that homosexual relations are normal (homonormativity). The reason for this is that the war of the queer is against whatever is normal.

Queer-inspired teachers are also against the idea of childhood innocence concerning sexuality. Inspired by Alfred Kinsey’s research, proponents of this believe that children are sexual beings from birth and should be treated as such. This is one reason for the increased introduction of sexual topics to children at younger and younger ages in schools because this is intended to be liberating.

Many teachers are also focused on investigating multiple viewpoints (as there is no objective truth). The focus is also on political problems to stir angst about injustice through the abusive norms that marginalized individuals and groups. From all of this, the goal is to encourage social action against the current structure and function of society.

How to Address Parental Challenges

To raise normless revolutionaries, teachers have had to find ways to bring their values into the classroom without raising the concerns of gatekeeping parents. One approach that has proven to be successful is inserting controversial ideas into a broader, vague curriculum.

For example, a curriculum may be focused on problem-solving, which is a vague topic to address. During such a curriculum, topics on sexuality, racism, and or classism are covered from a perspective of problem-solving. If parents object the teacher can point to the problem-solving emphasis of the curriculum while sharing norm-busting values with the students.

Another way this tactic is used is through inserting side topics from a main curricular topic such as speaking on sexual relationships during a history lesson. Another strategy is using project-based learning which can incorporate almost anything.

The focus is to make sure the controversial material is not taught in isolation but in connection with something that is considered acceptable. This is similar to the wolf in sheep’s clothing analogy. Bad ideas mixed with good do more damage than bad ideas in isolation. Whenever a teacher is attacked about controversial stuff (ie sexuality) they can retreat to the main “theme” of the curriculum such as problem solving.

Accommodation is another strategy. In this situation, when the parents complain the teacher acknowledges their concern and states that their child does not have to participate. When controversial information is being taught the child is removed from the classroom. This is essentially an isolation technique that may frustrate the child. When isolated, the child may believe they are missing out and that the main problem is their parents which can drive a wedge between them. The weakness of this approach is that too many kids may need accommodation. This can shut down the teacher’s plans as too many kids cannot be accommodated.

Dialog is the final strategy here. With this approach, the teacher hears the concerns of the parent but doesn’t change anything. The teacher explains things to the parents, stands by their subject matter expertise, and explains how teaching this material prevents the horrors that happen to marginalized people.

Conclusion

The end game is the same. Find a way to win over the parents or to work around them. Parents who resist these values are the ones who need to change in the eyes of these teachers. Even though they believe in freedom it is only a place in which their values are accepted rather than any other.