The RenewaNation Review 2014 Volume 6 Issue 1 | Page 39

Public schools are being transformed rapidly into laboratories for ideologi- cal experimentation and indoctrination. If these developments have not come to your school, they almost surely will soon.   This is not just the fault of the schools and educators. Politicians demand that the schools fix society’s problems. But no school can replace a broken or dysfunctional family; no teacher can replace a missing father.   Many fine teachers and administrators serve in the public schools, and many Christians serve among them. In some parts of the country, the public schools still operate in some sense as community schools under local control. And yet, this is not the case for the vast majority of schools and communities, and the handwriting is on the wall for the rest.   Is public school an option? For Christians who take the Christian worldview seriously and who understand the issues at stake, the answer is increasingly no. The number of Christian parents coming to this conclusion increases each year. We can understand the nostalgia that many Christians hold about the public schools. I spent every minute of my school life from the first grade to high school graduation in a public school. And yet, I saw the ideological transforma- tion of the schools before my own eyes. Long ago, the public schools entered a Brave New World from which no retreat now seems possible.  Reprinted from Answers magazine, October–December 2013, pp. 64–67. Copyright © 2013 Answers magazine. Used with permission. Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., President of The Southern Baptist Theo- logical Seminary, has been recognized by Time and Christianity Today as a leader among American evangelicals. He hosts a daily podcast entitled The Briefing and writes a popular blog at albertmohler.com about moral, cultural, and theological issues. In Their Own Words Here are sample resolutions from the 2012–2013 convention of the National Education Association. If your school has not yet implemented these resolutions, it seems the NEA would like to change that. The NEA pushes educational programs that increase acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle, regardless of the parents’ views. “Plans, activities, and programs must . . . increase respect, understanding, acceptance, and sensitivity toward individuals and groups in a diverse society composed of such groups as . . . gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender persons . . . . Such plans, activities and programs must . . . encourage all members of the educational community to exam- ine assumptions and prejudices, including, but not limited to, racism, sexism, and homophobia.” —B-14. Racism, Sexism, Sexual Orientation, and Gender Identification Discrimination. The NEA believes government schools should supply family planning instruction and resources directly to children. “The National Education Association believes that every child should have direct and confidential access to comprehensive health, social, and psychological programs and services. . . . The Association also believes that schools should provide . . . family-planning counseling and access to birth control methods.” —C-25. Comprehensive School Health, Social, and Psychological Programs and Services. The NEA opposes parental efforts to restrict obscene and offensive books in school libraries and classrooms. “The Association deplores prepublishing censorship, book-burning crusades, and attempts to ban books from school library media centers and school curricula.” —E-3. Selection and Challenges of Materials and Teaching Techniques. 39