Director of Education Morten Rosenkvist claims in VG that raising the rainbow flag and celebrating pride is “completely in line with the fundamental values the school is built on”. But what values is he really talking about? Is it the school’s official value base, as formulated in the Education Act and the overall part of the curriculum? It is clear and speaks against Rosenkvist. According to Education Act § 1-1, the school's education "shall be based on fundamental values in Christian and humanistic heritage and tradition, such as respect for human dignity, freedom of thought, charity, forgiveness, equality and solidarity."“
The overall curriculum reiterates this and emphasizes that all forms of discrimination should be opposed and that the school should show respect for the beliefs of individuals. Note the word “all”.
How can the school system's value system be reconciled with forcing the entire school community to celebrate pride? Some believe that pride only represents love and diversity, but in practice pride is a political celebration. Pride is used as an arena to influence society at large with its ideological beliefs about gender and sexuality. For many, the politics behind pride are undesirable and that makes pride political, which is why the problem of pride in schools arises.
Should the values in our shared school really be linked to the use of symbols and an ideology that many parents and students experience as offensive, incompatible with their beliefs and values, and which is increasingly used to question biological gender, norms of cohabitation, and parental rights?
When Rosenkvist uses terms like “safety”, “acceptance” and “human dignity” to defend pride celebrations, he does so with words that are already defined in the legislation – but he empties them of their original content. Human dignity, as it is anchored in the Education Act, is built on a heritage where the child should develop their identity in an inclusive and diverse community – not be shaped according to a completely new gender and sexual policy norm that many parents experience as an overstep.
A safe school environment is not one where children are forced to participate in pride parades, create pride art, or learn that gender is “a feeling.” A safe school environment is one where children are allowed to be children—and where students who identify as a third gender and students who stand up for only two should both feel equally valuable. This is the core of the school’s values: everyone should be seen, heard, and respected—even those who say no to pride.
It is time for the Norwegian Directorate of Education and school leaders around the country to remember what the values actually say – and stop using them as a rhetorical shield to promote one particular orthodoxy. The school's values are not actually pride-colored. They are preferably red, white and blue. It is easy to agree that the Norwegian flag unites the people and brings together all students, while we can safely conclude that the view of and use of the pride flag divides us.
The obvious right choice is to stop pushing pride into schools and kindergartens. It is everyone's right according to the schools' values. With the law in hand, parents can safely propose not to fly pride flags in schools, kindergartens and public buildings where they live.
