Today’s Challenges in the Public School System
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Well, education has been a hot topic for several years now in the U.S. It kind of came full on after COVID as parents were saying, wait a minute, you're teaching my child what? And as parents were doing more and more of the educational aspect in the home. So what do you do if you find your child is learning things that really violate your values? How do you respond?

I'm John Fuller, joined by Dr. Danny Huerta, who leads our parenting team. And Danny, there are troubling stats about the state of the educational system in the U.S. And there are many different types of stats. One is just educationally. Reading, science, math, our scores have gone down dramatically.

many bright students though, great, great students out there. We're struggling to figure out how to best educate our kids. And we're also trying to figure out that whole remote learning thing. That's been an interesting transition since COVID for colleges, universities, high schools. They're trying to figure out how to handle that reality, that there's more of that. So really when we look at statistics, we're

we are noticing declines in certain areas that we should be doing well at, one of them being math. We're below average worldwide.

But what I'm excited about is a statistic of how many parents are becoming more and more involved in their kids' education and becoming more intentional in that. We also see so many great Christian teachers, principals, superintendents doing the best they can to educate kids. We do know that morally –

Statistically, if we go into what's been taught the last several years, there are concerns there of what some of our kids, some kids as young as five, six years old are being taught in certain schools, not all of them.

And as parents, we just need to really get to know what's happening in our kids' education and not have a blanket statement all across the board. And the fact that you're listening to this show tells us that you're involved, you're interested, you're open to learning more. So let's go ahead and listen to an education expert, Cynthia Tobias.

who spoke with Jim Daly on his show, Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, about some of the difficult situations that teachers, kids, and parents find themselves in with regard to public education in the U.S. There's a certain intensity that I'm expressing because it comes from the deepest part of my soul because I truly, I would be worried if I had kids

And I am worried for other people's kids that are now starting into the system. And again, I've said this, each district is different. Each school is a little different. But generally, this is the direction that public education is taking. And the interesting thing is, Jim, I thought that too. I thought, well, obviously people say, oh, no, my public school, it's a really good system and it's really conservative. But we're discovering, I've discovered over the last two years especially, that

None of them are safe. I mean, there are little pockets in little small towns. And if you look at the assignments they get...

The federal government and the federal education has taken a real grip on every single school. So even if you have a very conservative school district, you are still going to find it. I had the privilege of meeting with Governor Stitt from Oklahoma. And we were talking about education because this is an interest of us state by state. He said, oh, yeah, when I became governor, I gave the instruction that we were no longer going to do

these strange library readings and introduce people to queer studies in kindergarten and elementary school. And the federal government responded by saying, we're going to take your fed money away, to which he said, fine, keep it. I'm not going to let my kids get molested in Oklahoma public schools. What an amazing statement. What courage and what right-sidedness.

of a leader. I mean, I give them a lot of credit for that. That's how they do it. They use educational money funding to kind of blackmail a state into doing it the way they want it done. And it's federal sex education beginning in kindergarten. And it's much more explicit than you want it to be. A federal mandate. Planned Parenthood is a partner of the federal government. Black Lives Matter every February, a whole week.

of curriculum, kindergarten through 12th, that has them doing assignments that specifically target destroying the nuclear family and queer studies. And then again, there's a Pride Month program

Again, mandated across the country. And when you start looking into it, and I was surprised too that it had really gotten that bad. When you start looking into it, the NEA themselves came out with a tweet back in November of 2022. And the tweet says, educators love their students and know better than anyone what they need to learn and learn.

Well, so in other words, the federal government has taken on that responsibility. And parents don't even realize how much has been taken away from them. Because if you send your child to school, they're gone from you eight hours a day for 108 days.

Maybe 180 days a year. They're getting a worldview, and worldview matters. Well, and that's why that intensity. Yet at the same time, I mean, there were great school teachers back when I was in school that many years ago, decades. But the beauty of that, that there were committed Christians in that.

in my experience, and they played a significant role in me learning about faith and those kinds of things. And thank the Lord for those teachers, and they're listening now, but I'm sure they're going to be nodding their head when I tell you that, because as a public high school teacher myself...

They have an uphill battle and they have constraints on them that they can't break through. And so even the best teacher, and you'll have some teachers, those wonderful Christian teachers that are a gem in your child's life. But they're going to be the minority so much so that the teacher themselves, they can't afford to lose their position a lot of times by compromising too much. So they then become quieter, more silent, etc. And I get that.

Well, some sobering things that Jim Daly and Cynthia Tobias spoke about there, Danny. And let's role play for just a moment. I'm a parent. My child is in XYZ public school. They came home and, oh, wow, I do not agree with what they were being told in the classroom by the teacher.

How do I deal with that? How do I not shut that down so they never ever tell me again? I can't go all crazy on this. No way. So how do I first respond to my child and then handle that situation? Do I contact the school? Do I rally parents? What do I do? Yeah, first, I mean, ask your child, so what do you think? What do you think? Especially the teen, the preteen, there's more of that. Hey, so what do you think about what was taught? What...

What was your reaction to that? And tell me more about the situation of how it was taught, how it was said so you understand it better before you go into the school and start firing in. What you want to do is bring life-giving disagreement into the school. And that's okay. If your child tells you, boy, they taught this, this, and that, and it really has confused me or has caused me to question everything.

Or not, if they just simply explain that it was a long, drawn-out explanation as fact to something that's not fact. You can go to the school, straight to the teacher, and just say, hey, I'm concerned. I'm concerned about something that was taught to my child. We believe differently. It was taught as fact. I don't believe that this is fact.

And, uh, I, I really would appreciate if we could remove him or her from, uh, future lessons that aren't going to be really factual. They're going to be more opinion based. And, uh, and they may argue back on that and just say, Hey, I'm not here to argue that. I just, I see it this way. I understand it to, to be this way. And, um,

You may need to involve the principal and talk through the fact that you're wanting facts taught in the school. And then the deeper beliefs that are truly beliefs that you go into from a faith-based perspective, those are ones that you want to handle in your home. And there should be respect with that. You don't have to yell. You can just matter-of-factly bring that, that that's what you're designing for your child's education. And you have that very right as a parent. Mm-hmm.

If they say, well, they're not going to get credit or they're not going to get all the credits they need to graduate, those kinds of things. Say, hey, let's figure something out because you do have that right as a parent as well. They need to help you find an alternative to whatever they're trying to teach you.

especially that it's not fact-based or that is very politically driven. And you can certainly put a boundary to that. So be respectful, be solution-oriented, don't be confrontive.

Just research with your child what was going on. What do you think? They may just say, well, I don't buy it. And it's like, okay, well, maybe you can continue in that. And let's keep talking. We haven't noted for a while that you worked in the public school system and your kids went to a public school. Yes. So-

And as a social worker, we had some of those moments where parents came in and asked very respectfully that their child be removed for certain sex ed things or other things with certain teachers. And most principals do respond very well to that. They're respectful to it. There may be some cases where it's not and just know there are resources to help out with that.

And, John, we did create a Thriving Student Podcast, season two, for parents to be able to get more equipping as to how to respond to the different things that are being taught in the schools or you're thinking about the classrooms or the locker rooms or sports teams. And you're wanting to know, what are my rights? What do I need to do? Thriving Student Podcast is the way to go. And that'll be in the show notes. Yeah.

The other thing is a free PDF that you'll learn more about in that Thriving Student Podcast. Make sure you check that free PDF out. And that'll be in the show notes as well. Yeah, I so appreciate your team and your passion and leadership for all the different resources that we're creating. There's so much here. Check the show notes and go listen to the Thriving Student Podcast by Focus on the Family.

And then Cynthia Tobias has a wonderful book, if you want to go deeper, called Reclaiming Education, Teach Your Child to Be a Confident Learner. We're making that available for a donation of any amount to the ministry and show. It's going to encourage you to help your child develop a lifestyle of learning. And a link to donate and for details about that book are also in the show notes.

More from Cynthia Tobias next time. On behalf of Dr. Danny Huerta and the entire team, I'm John Fuller, and thanks for listening to the Focus on the Family Parenting Podcast.

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