Kindergarten Application Asks Intrusive Questions About The Kid’s Birth. Like It’s ANY Of The School’s Business

I write this as somebody who's never given birth – but still… Why does ANY school need to know this information?

According to this, a kindergarten application from a public elementary school in West Hartford, Connecticut, asks some pretty intrusive questions. Particularly about the circumstances surrounding the child's birth – Was the baby delivered by Caesarean or vaginally? Did the baby come home from the hospital? Were there complications at pregnancy? (and please describe in all the glorious detail you can muster). And at least one mother is raising a stink about it and refusing to fill out that section of the application (as well she should). From the article –

Among the questions the admission form at a public elementary school in Connecticut asks parents is whether the child was delivered into the world via “vaginal” or “Caesarean” birth.

 

The taxpayer-funded school is Aiken Elementary in the serene, perfectly suburban town of West Hartford (pop. 63,268), reports local CBS affiliate WFSB.

 

West Hartford mother Cara Paiuk encountered the question under the general topic “BIRTH HISTORY” on the complex Aiken Elementary enrollment form.

 

“Were there any problems with your pregnancy?” the purplish form demands to know. “If YES, describe,” it then commands.

 

The form also inquires about birth weight and whether the child was delivered prematurely in addition to the “vaginal” or “Caesarean” question.

 

Are there more bizarrely unnecessary and intrusive questions? Yes!

 

“Were there any problems at the time of birth or in the next week?” the form asks.

 

And then: “Did your child come home from the hospital with you?”

 

Paiuk, the mother who contacted local news media, has a son who is a kindergartner-to-be. He is scheduled to enroll at Aiken Elementary in the fall.

 

“There’s so many different questions you could ask, and it isn’t anyone’s business, and it has no relevance,” the mad mom told WFSB. “I was stunned to see this form, and I couldn’t understand the relevance of it.”

You know, the ONLY people that really have a need to know how the child made his or her entrance in the world is the kid's parents and the doctors who facilitated the birth. School officials are NOT medical doctors, so why in the heck do they need to know about the pregnancy and birth in such specific detail? And if there ARE special considerations about a child that would be helpful for a school and teacher to know about, it's up to the PARENTS to tell them (who's been raising the kid to this point, again?)

Intrusive big government at work, per usual.