BrianGarst.com

How much private information should you have to hand over to enroll your student in a government monopoly school? Roseville, California apparently thinks it should be a lot:

Parents hoping to enrol their children in the Dry Creek School District have to complete an application form that asks if their child was delivered naturally or by caesarean section.

Those mothers who tick the ‘C-section’ option are then asked to explain why the procedure was performed.

…I really don’t feel think the school asking if the child was delivered vaginally or by C-Section is appropriate,’ a mother of two identified as Heather told the local CBS13 station.‘What’s next? This is an invasion of our privacy,’ she said.

Heather said she had asked the school to explain their reasoning behind the invasive questions, but had yet to receive a reply.

According to the article, the school has offered no explanation for its line of questioning. My guess is that it’s due to research which indicates that traveling through the birth canal exposes newborns to bacteria which builds up their immune systems.

But that fact ought not justify this inquiry. While the manner of a child’s birth might indicate susceptibility to certain conditions, they can be observed directly. Simply ask about what actual health conditions the child has, and that should be sufficient.

Finally, two things occur to me from this story. 1) Almost anything can be connected to health in same way, and so the more interest government is given in your health, the more it will seek to acquire such private information. 2) If schools were not under monopoly control of the government, they would have to be more responsive in explaining things like this (and no doubt less likely to try and get such information in the first place), and would not so easily get away with brushing off parents.