Are Our Children Being Propagandized in School?

Surprisingly, AEI, Heritage, etc. do not seem to think so, or that it's not a big deal, or that there is little that can be done about it — all incorrect.

AEI (the American Enterprise Institute) is ordinarily a dependable source of accurate analysis of current events. As such it was surprising that a recent major commentary was totally off base. Worse, AEI’s blunder was picked up and passed on as being accurate by other normally reliable sources: e.g., the John Locke Foundation. Then the misinformation was picked up by local newspapers, like the Carteret News Times.

The AEI piece was attacking a new book by Dr. James Lindsay: The Marxification of Education. There were several inaccuracies in the AEI piece, but since I am space and time-limited, let’s just look at one major example.

Lindsay’s book asserts that the Left has seriously infiltrated the education K-12 curriculum, such that our students are being propagandized with Marxist ideology. The AEI commentary disputes that, basically insisting that what our children are taught is primarily determined by local teachers — so no “top-down” Leftist strategy is possible.

That is total baloney — and (of course) is exactly the message that the Left would like US citizens to believe: nothing to see here, so move on. If you want details about why AEI is dead wrong, please read my Education Report, which thoroughly documents the problem, and exactly how the Left’s top-down strategy has been successfully implemented in K-12 Science education — in some 45 states so far!

A brief overview is that every state has a State Board of Education (SBOE). Typically, each SBOE has 10± members, mostly political appointees.

In regards to what is actually taught in K-12 classes, each SBOE does three major things: 1) sets standards for each subject for each grade (e.g. Science, for Grade 6), 2) approves textbooks that are consistent with their standards, and 3) approves statewide tests that are consistent with their standards.

Clearly, despite AEI’s claim, this is a “top-down” system.

But don’t teachers “scour the Internet for teaching materials…” (as the AEI author told me, to support his opinion)? Yes, but so what? Let’s look at one simple example to determine who is really controlling WHAT is being taught.

Let’s say that an SBOE Grade 12 Science standard says: “Discuss the benefits of wind energy.” (This is typical of the SBOE’s standards.) Yes, this is just an outline, not the specific words that a teacher would say. However, let’s not forget the other two SBOE elements: Textbooks and Tests.

So what will the teacher say in the classroom regarding wind energy? In this case, the SBOE-approved textbook has six (6) paragraphs about the supposed benefits of wind energy. Yes, the teacher may well do research to supplement and endorse the words in the textbook.

However, will the teacher do research that demonstrates that what the textbook is saying is false? For example, the textbook will likely say that we need wind energy to save us from a climate change disaster — which is scientifically false. Will the teacher expose that textbook error?

Additionally, will the teacher do research that demonstrates that what the textbook is saying is grossly inadequate? For example, the textbook will have only one sentence on wind energy liabilities (e.g., turbines may kill some birds)— and then dismiss that as being trivial or “solved.” The scientific reality is that wind energy liabilities far outweigh any benefits. None of that will be in the SBOE-approved textbook, so will the teacher objectively and thoroughly make their class aware of the numerous scientifically documented wind energy disadvantages?

The answer to both is that the teacher will rarely (if ever) do either of the above, because: 1) the teacher is not going to expose the textbook as being extremely misleading (which it can be), 2) because the state tests that the teacher’s students will be given, will reflect what is in the textbook, and 3) teachers have misplaced trust in authority (the SBOE, the textbook company, etc.) and assume that these people/ organizations, etc. have already done a thorough and objective analysis of the school topics (e.g., Science) to determine what is “accurate and true.”  Therefore they likely don’t feel the need to even question the standards or textbook contents.  

Remember, for space and time reasons, I’m citing just one simple example here — yet there are dozens more strewn through the K-12 subject areas, particularly in Science and History.

So who is determining what is being taught to our K-12 students? It is indisputable that the SBOE is far and away the more significant influencer as to whether or not our students are being propagandized with Left-wing ideology — and they are.

Again, please read my Education Report which goes into much more detail about how the K-12 Science curriculum has been severely compromised, across the US. Likewise, The Marxification of Education is well worth reading.

Hopefully AEI, Heritage and other US Conservative organizations will come out of the closet, and change their top education priority to be: fix the Curriculum, especially in Science and History.

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Here are other materials by this scientist that you might find interesting:

WiseEnergy.org: discusses the Science (or lack thereof) behind our energy options.

C19Science.info: covers the lack of genuine Science behind our COVID-19 policies.

Election-Integrity.info: multiple major reports on the election integrity issue.

Media Balance Newsletter: a free, twice-a-month newsletter that covers what the mainstream media does not do, on issues from COVID to climate, elections to education, renewables to religion, etc. Here are the Newsletter’s 2023 Archives. Send me an email to get your free copy. When emailing me, please make sure to include your full name and the state where you live. (Of course, you can cancel the Media Balance Newsletter at any time - but why would you?

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