Episode 111: Not so long ago, many of our K-12 schools were hoping parents would pay more attention to what was going on in the classroom. Too often, it seemed, parent-teacher conferences were not well attended, PTA groups were struggling and school board elections were all but forgotten about.

Recently, however, there has been a major shift in our nation, as the parental-rights movement has caused many adults to become much more involved in what’s taught in our classrooms, has turned board meetings into long discussions about politics and culture, and has led to a record number of attempted book bans and restrictions at school and public libraries.

Hosts Richard Kyte and Scott Rada discuss how big of a role parents should have in making sure their children’s education meets their own personal standards and beliefs.

Links to stories discussed during the podcast:

What should we be teaching our kids in a polarized world?, by Richard Kyte

Book ban attempts hit record high in 2022, library org says, by Hillel Italie, The Associated Press

Parents differ sharply by party over what their K-12 children should learn in school, by Juliana Menasce Horowitz, Pew Research Center

Legislative tracker: 2023 parent-rights bills in the states, by Bella DiMarco, FutureEd

Book bans aren’t the only threat to literature in American classrooms, by Jonna Perrillo and Andrew Newman, Time magazine

About the hosts: Scott Rada is social media manager with Lee Enterprises, and Richard Kyte is the director of the D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership at Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wis. His forthcoming book, "Finding Your Third Place," will be published by Fulcrum Books.

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