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Claudia McDonnell opined that parents should dictate what their children learn in school in her CNY column, "Faith and the Rights of Parents." (CNY, Oct. 21). I disagree: the purpose of public education in a public school is not to teach children only what the parent wants the child to be taught; it is to teach them what society needs them to know. The client of public schools is not the parent of the student, but the entire community—the public.
Ms. McDonnell goes on to say that "some in the governmental education bureaucracies" are labeling parents "domestic terrorists." When parents who attend school board meetings attack officials in the meeting, or in the parking lot, or on the street, threatening their lives, stalking them outside their homes, with threats and intimidation, isn't that a form of domestic terrorism? These threats of violent, criminal acts are being made to further ideological goals stemming from extremist political, religious, social and racial nature.
