If your child is applying to college, the form might not ask about your child’s mother and father.
Instead, it may provide a gender-neutral option: Parent 1 and Parent 2.
Curry College, a private college in Milton, Massachusetts, is among the handful of schools that are now using the term.
Lasell University, a private university in Newton, Massachusetts, is among the schools that asks its applicants for this information.In the section titled “Family Information” on the application, there is room for both “Parent 1” and “Parent 2.”
Additionally, the form asks prospective students which one they live with: Parent 1, Parent 2, both, a legal guardian, if they’re a ward of the state, or if they have an “other” living arrangement.
Curry College, a private college in Milton, Massachusetts, also asks its applicants about their living arrangements, offering those same options.
However, the “Family Information” section on Curry’s application form does not ask for the information of “Parent 1” and “Parent 2.”
Similarly, Middlesex Community College asks prospective students about “Parent 1” and “Parent 2”; the school has a location in Lowell and another in Bedford.
The term shows up on the school’s dual enrollment application; dual enrollment is when a high schooler enrolls in a community college so the student can earn college credit while still in high school (and in some cases, an associate’s degree by the time the student graduates from high school).
While the form asks for the signature of a “parent or guardian” to authorize the student’s application for dual enrollment, a different section asks a question about “Parent 1” and “Parent 2.”
The form asks prospective dual enrollment students: “Did your parents graduate from college?” The form then has a Yes box and a No box for applicants to provide that information about Parent 1 and Parent 2.
Another community college also asks some of its applicants about “Parent 1” and “Parent 2”: Massasoit Community College; the school has campuses in Brockton, Middleborough, and Canton.
The question about those two parents appears on the application form for the various early college programs at Massasoit — including dual enrollment.
The form asks students to check boxes telling the school about their parents’ education level; this includes one column for Parent 1 and another for Parent 2.
Some state government forms in Massachusetts also use the terms “Parent 1” and “Parent 2.” They appear on the Massachusetts Registry of Vital Records form for registering at-home births; the Massachusetts Court System’s Juvenile Court Confidential Information Sheet; the petition to Massachusetts Probate and Family Court to resign as guardian of a minor; and the form to apply for state-subsidized child care from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, as NewBostonPost has previously reported. Plus, some Massachusetts K-12 school districts use the terms “Parent 1” and “Parent 2” on their student registration forms.
Outside of Massachusetts, the use of “Parent 1” and “Parent 2” has been the subject of controversy in recent years. In France, public schools have been using the terms instead of mother and father since 2019, something conservatives in the country oppose. And in Italy, the country replaced mother and father with these gender-neutral terms on its national identification cards for children under 14 years old in 2020.
Spokesmen for Lasell, Curry, Middlesex, and Massasoit could not be reached for comment on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or Monday.
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Photo by K Whiteford | Public Domain 
