Parents in Virginia, many of whom have loudly complained about far-left ideology being taught in their school systems, are now focused on a survey being given to middle-school aged children. The survey contains certain extremely personal questions that parents are concerned may promote “early sexualization” of their children.
The 2021 Virginia Middle School Youth Survey asks children whether they consider themselves transgender, as well as several other questions of an extremely personal nature. While names of students or even participation in the survey are not required, the questionnaire asks kids some pretty personal questions about their home life.
“For us, one of the core areas is parental rights,” Michael Leaser of the The Family Foundation told The Epoch Times. “From our perspective, parents bear the ultimate primary responsibility for the children’s education. We, as parents, permit public schools to educate our children, but it’s ultimately our responsibility. Frankly, for some of these questions we’re concerned about them even being asked. We think they’re a little too personal.”
Known as the Virginia Youth Survey, the questionnaire is conducted in odd years by the Virginia Department of Health. It is funded through a five-year grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and is conducted in cooperation with the state’s Department of Education.
The survey seeks to “monitor priority health risk behaviors that contribute markedly to the leading causes of death, disability, and social problems among youth and adults within the Commonwealth of Virginia.”
Among the questions asked on the middle-school version of the survey:
- Some people describe themselves as transgender when their sex at birth does not match the way they think or feel about their gender. Are you transgender?
- Has an adult or person at least 5 years older than you ever made you do sexual things that you did not want to do? (Count such things as kissing, touching, or being made to have sexual intercourse.)
- During the past 12 months, have you ever been the victim of teasing or name calling because someone thought you were gay, lesbian, or bisexual?
The version of the survey given to high-schoolers is even more sexually explicit, including questions such as:
- During your life, with how many people have you had sexual intercourse?
- During the past 3 months, with how many people did you have sexual intercourse?
- During the past 12 months, how many times did someone you were dating or going out with force you to do sexual things that you did not want to do? (Count such things as kissing, touching, or being physically forced to have sexual intercourse.)
The simple fact that the CDC — the same agency overseeing the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States — has a hand in initiating the survey troubles Cheryl Onderchain, chair for the Loudoun County chapter of Moms For Liberty.
“I did a little research on it and it looks like the Virginia Department of Health got a five-year grant from the Center for Disease Control (CDC),” Onderchain told The Epoch Times, “and based on the CDC’s behavior over the last 20 months I don’t trust them as far as I can throw them.”
Onderchain has opted to excuse her own daughters from taking the survey and questions whether it is a truly anonymous survey. Although students are not asked for their names, Onderchain noted that “the students are asked to put their student ID on it, which makes it identifiable information.”
In addition, Onderchain worries about the fact that many school systems are using Chrome Books from Google, which many privacy experts believe are unsafe for data storage.
“I worry about what they doing with the data. I already don’t trust the schools with protecting student data when they’re using Chrome Books,” Onderchain said. “I work in technology. Google isn’t a technology company. They’re a data company. So every day I wonder what kind of information they’re selling about my students. Are they creating a profile for them? Are they selling this data to God knows who, including Google? I just think it’s extremely invasive.”
It all sounds so innocent. The Department of Health is giving children surveys to monitor how many kids are engaging in what they consider “risky behavior.” But Onderchain and other parents are right not to trust the school system, the CDC, and especially Google. Parents are the ones who have the best interests of their children at heart. Government entities and Big Tech only wish to use children — not protect them.
