Breaking free from the addiction to government schools

OPINION:

For generations, we’ve handed our children over to the government to be educated. But have we once stopped to ask: Is what they are learning good? Are schools fostering critical thinking and curiosity, turning out world-changers and innovators by the bushel?

Of course not. Students are graduating in deeper debt than ever before without the ability to hold a job, much less enjoy a career, all because they bought the lie that life was about college prep and career readiness. Yet we continue to pursue initiatives like school choice and education savings accounts to preserve the very institution responsible for destroying countless families, decimating traditional faith, and all but replacing our love for freedom with an adoration of government.

Why is this failed experiment of institutionalized schooling, which has been in place for a little over a century, such a seduction?

The reality is that our government-run schools have become little more than propaganda factories. They don’t teach our children to think for themselves; they teach them what the government wants them to think. They shape minds to conform, and they deaden curiosity. Most importantly, perhaps, they persuade students (who are now today’s parents) to trust them and rely on them implicitly.

When the government controls education, it controls the flow of information and how we think. It shapes our values, our priorities and, ultimately, our society. We shouldn’t trust a monolithic institution that is deeply invested in maintaining its dominance to shape the minds of our future generations. We must recognize that by turning over the education of our children to the government, we are handing over our future to the teachers and their unions.

History is full of examples where totalitarian regimes used education to control the narrative and impose their agenda. From the Hitler Youth to China’s Great Leap Forward and even the more subtle ways in which our current school system trains in critical race theory and diversity, the facts are clear: The state has only its best interests at heart. It trains the populace to rely on it, thus the push for student loan debt forgiveness and school choice.

We like to believe that children are learning to think critically about their world, ask questions, challenge assumptions and engage in open dialogue. However, we can no longer afford such naivete.

Teachers train students to regurgitate information (teach to the test), accept the narrative they’re given (trust the expert) and fall in line. Their maturity is delayed or aborted. Students end up needing “safe spaces,” being gender nonconforming and postponing “adulting” indefinitely, not realizing the expert’s credentials are system-generated. Where conformity is the highest value, there’s little room for individuality, critical thinking or real creativity.

The solution is simple, though it’s almost too late. The number of parents who feel entirely incapable of educating their children is proof enough that the school system doesn’t serve the people — it serves the voracious government.

For our society to continue in freedom, we must embrace alternatives in search of individuality and tip the scales toward family instead of unfeeling bureaucracy. Parental involvement is the No. 1 predictor of a child’s academic success, regardless of the parent’s level of schooling. Parents must become more involved in their children’s lives, and the government must become less involved. So, let’s establish local school boards for each school, comprised of attendees’ parents, replacing the county bureaucrats who often prefer not to hear from the parents at all.

Of course, home education offers an unparalleled opportunity for parents to tailor learning to their child’s individual needs and interests, cultivating values that reflect the family’s worldview — values often overlooked or undermined in government schools. Children typically thrive in an environment that fosters curiosity, creativity and independent thought as the parents become more deeply involved in the children’s lives, grounding them and solidifying the family unit.

Real education isn’t just about academics; it’s about life skills, personal responsibility and the development of critical thinking. It’s about teaching our children to ask questions, to seek the truth and to be problem-solvers who understand the world around them. It’s about allowing them to explore ideas and discover their passions.

It’s about reclaiming our autonomy as parents, as citizens and as a society.

We cannot afford to continue down the path of conformity and compliance, letting our children’s futures be dictated by an institution that despises their individuality. We must break our addiction to government schools and begin the long process of reclaiming our freedom to educate our children according to our nation’s original values and principles. But breaking an addiction cannot involve taking funds from the dealer who gave us the habit. Let’s stop demanding that the government train our children better (to follow it) and instead mentor them to follow in our footsteps, carrying the torch of freedom into the future.

Because, when it comes down to it, this isn’t just about education. This is about freedom.

It’s time to break free.

• Sam Sorbo is a multifaceted talent and a leading advocate for parental freedom and the protection of children. She studied biomedical engineering at Duke University before pursuing a career as an international fashion model and award-winning Hollywood actress. She and her husband, Kevin, have home-educated three children. Her most recent book is Parents’ Guide to Homeschool.