Parent Teacher Association
The Parent Teacher Association (PTA) is an organization that has been active since 1897, originally founded as the National Congress of Mothers. Its primary purpose is to foster collaboration between parents, teachers, and the community to enhance the educational environment for children. The PTA addresses a wide range of social, economic, and moral issues, advocating for laws that protect children and youth. With over thirty thousand branches in public and private schools across the United States, the PTA operates under a national model while allowing local units to tailor their activities to meet specific community needs.
Membership is open to parents, educators, caregivers, and anyone interested in supporting the association's goals. The PTA has been involved in various debates, particularly concerning issues of censorship and educational content, reflecting its dual role as both an advocate for children's rights and a participant in broader societal discussions. Its stance on issues can vary among local branches, sometimes leading to conflicts within the organization, as seen in historical controversies like the Kanawha County book-banning incident. Overall, the PTA plays a significant role in promoting education and community engagement, while navigating the complexities of diverse perspectives on sensitive topics.
Parent Teacher Association
Founded: 1897
Type of organization: Nonprofit and nonpartisan organization concerned with the well-being of children
Significance: As a body dedicated to protecting children from harmful influences, the PTA has occasionally advocated various forms of censorship
Long known as the Parent Teacher Association, the PTA began in 1897 as the National Congress of Mothers—a product of the “purity crusade” of the late nineteenth century. Influenced by the utopian and reformist moral ideologies then popular, the movement was formed to combat poverty and prostitution through educational and legal reform. The modern PTA involves itself in a wide range of social, economic, and moral issues, while working for laws for the care and protection of children and youth and fostering cooperation among the home, school, and public. This work has occasionally involved PTA branches in censorship controversies.
More than thirty thousand PTA branches—each organized on a national model—have formed at both public and private elementary and secondary schools. Small permanent staffs at state and national offices develop materials and support annual state and national conventions. Membership is open to parents of school children, teachers, care givers, and other persons who wish to support PTA goals. Local branches develop their own constitutions, following national guidelines, and develop programs to meet local school and community needs.
As a body advocating protection and promotion of children, the PTA has been placed in positions of being both an advocate and an opponent of censorship. When its members have testified before national and state legislatures against pandering pornography to children, the PTA has been accused of advocating censorship by civil libertarian groups. When its members have urged AIDS education in the schools, the PTA has fought against advocates of health education censorship. The national PTA has opposed school censorship in order to keep classrooms open and democratic. However, with seven million members in essentially autonomous local units, individual branches have occasionally taken opposite stances in order to make the PTA a vehicle for their own agendas—as in the Kanawha County, West Virginia, book-banning controversy during the 1970’s. Local branches have also joined with other groups in antipornography campaigns.