Hands off our children, Big Brother

Some friends came to us this week, troubled, to ask our advice. It seems their youngest son came home from school on Monday and asked – begged – to be homeschooled.

His request has been a recurrent theme during the past few months, but it took on a particular urgency on Monday when his biology teacher required all the students to sing a song praising Common Core.

I should add that this boy isn't 6 years old. He's 16. He and his classmates are long past the age of being amused by peppy propaganda songs. And our friend's son, thanks to the vigilance of his parents, knew that what he was experiencing was nothing short of brainwashing.

So his request to homeschool took on a much more serious tone. His parents came over to discuss the subject.

While the federalizing of public schools has been going on for decades, the rapid push to capture our children has taken on a sense of urgency in the last few years. The government doesn't just want our children's bodies; it particularly wants their minds. If Nazi German taught us nothing else, it taught us this: Children are the currency of tyrants.

It's worth remembering that when people objected to joining the Nazi Party, Hitler gave a verbal shrug and assured them that their membership wasn't necessary since he already had their children. "He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future," he famously said.

And let's not forget that eerie sentiment from "Mein Kampf": "The state must declare the child to be the most precious treasure of the people. As long as the government is perceived as working for the benefit of the children, the people will happily endure almost any curtailment of liberty and almost any deprivation."

No one can dispute the effectiveness of these youthful indoctrination techniques. Forget trying to change the mind of older people – they're too set in their ways. But the children – aah, they're the hope of the future. It is critical that the minds of children be captured.

To this end, homeschooling was made illegal in Germany. It still is. In any society, the stronger government gets, the more restrictive the educational options become.

Some of you might remember SB 248, proposed in Ohio last December by Sen. Capri Cafaro. Dubbed to be the worst homeschool law ever proposed, HSLDA summed it up as follows: "SB 248 is breathtakingly onerous in its scope. It requires all parents who homeschool to undergo a social services investigation, which would ultimately determine if homeschooling would be permitted. Social workers would have to interview parents and children separately, conduct background checks and determine whether homeschooling is recommended or not. If it is not recommended, parents would have to submit to an 'intervention' before further consideration of their request to homeschool."

Thankfully, this bill was slapped down by thousands of furious parents, but it underscores the prevailing government attitude that children do not belong to the parents, but to the state.

The continuous attack on homeschooling is not unexpected, of course, since homeschoolers continuously frustrate government attempts to brainwash our children. Far from its stated desire for "diversity," the government wants uniformity of thought for its future citizens.

But the acceleration of public school indoctrination is taking on a new urgency with the implementation of Common Core. More and more horrifying information is coming to light about this evil curriculum.

For example, Common Core seeks to establish comprehensive and invasive dossiers on children. Dr. Karen Effrem of Education Liberty Watch noted that there are "between 300 and 400 different data points, such as parents' voting status, religious affiliation, medical data, newborn screening and genetic data." This dossier extends to other family members (i.e. parents). This reinforces how desperate the government is to know everyone's "psychological attitudes, values and beliefs."

Increasingly, the purpose of school is not to educate children with high standards of academic excellence. Rather, students are being trained how to be model citizens in a Big Brother police state. Instead of being taught how to think, children are being told what to think … and God help them if they think the "wrong" thing.

Today, everything in schools is monitored, dictated, scrutinized and recorded: diet, exercise, behavior, verbal expressions, nonverbal expressions, prayer, patriotism, literature (particular religious literature), clothing, jewelry, bodily fluids … I honestly fail to understand the differences between public schools and prisons.

Remember – uniformity, not diversity, is the goal. Why anyone would voluntarily subject themselves to this kind of stringent surveillance, much less inflict it on their children, is beyond me.

Common Core is purportedly about instilling stricter academic goals, but in fact academics are secondary to the importance of molding young minds to march in rhythm to permitted government thought. In fact, the liberal think tank Center for American Progress even stated that "the children belong to all of us" in an attempt to silence critics of Common Core. Folks, this isn't education – this is blatant social engineering.

Remember, follow the money. If schools are government-funded, then logically only government-approved attitudes and behaviors will be permitted. Students (and by extension, their families) must be tracked to make sure everyone falls within acceptable boundaries of thought and behavior. Dissenting opinions will be made known to officials, and corrective measures can be taken. I'm beginning to think the Planet Camazotz (with the megalomaniac "IT") from "A Wrinkle in Time" was astoundingly prescient.

Are you freaked out yet? I know our friends are. That's why they will soon be homeschooling their youngest son.

I can't emphasize strongly enough the need to reject government education, if at all possible. It is your duty as a parent to raise children, not zombies. You're raising the hope of the future, not its doom. It's time to look outside the jail cell and see what educational alternatives you can find for your kids. Almost anything is better than putting them in prison for eight hours a day.

Don't forget: Children are the currency of tyrants. You can see the evidence right in front of you. The government already takes too much of your income. Tell it to get its hands off your legacy.

Media wishing to interview Patrice Lewis, please contact [email protected].