Public Education: sit out or pull out?

IPS AdminPosts

California Family Council, a Fresno-based nonprofit organization whose mission is to “advance God’s design for life, family, and liberty through California’s church, community, capitol, and culture”, is helping to promote a statewide public school sit out next week on behalf of Informed Parents of California in protest of highly graphic, state-mandated sex education and gender identity lessons in public schools.  The protest is titled “SeXXX Ed Sit Out” and is scheduled for Tuesday, February 19, 2019.

While IPS supports and applauds this effort (as well as much of the work that the California Family Council performs), we would like to contribute to the discussion by asking a few questions. 

Five thoughts to consider

First (and this is more of a statement), public school indoctrination on issues of premarital sex, gender identify, sexuality, etc. has been going on for years.  What is now being taught may be more extreme, but it is not new.

Second, if lawmakers do listen, at what point in time should sex education be rolled back to?  When was it ethically acceptable?  And when was that line crossed?  What is the goal to achieve?

Third, is this surprising?  Government schools always teach government ideology.  If you enrolled your child into a parochial Catholic school, would you be surprised that your child is learning Catholicism?  What about a Hindu school?  Would you be surprised that your child is learning Hinduism?  Now what about a government school?  Are you surprised that your child is learning prevailing government doctrine? 

Fourth, what about other spiritual, social, and political issues that government education teaches?  The false ideology doesn’t stop at gender and sexuality.  What is your child learning in biology, social studies, economics, etc.?

Fifth, and this is the key question, is public (government) education a proper, biblically-defined role of civil government?  Or does this role fall under family government or church government?  And if public education is not a proper role of civil government, why work to reform it instead of abolish it? 

Sit out or pull out?

In addition to a “SeXXX Ed Sit Out”, perhaps there should be an “Evolution Sit Out” as well as a “Socialism Sit Out”.  Or better yet, perhaps there should be a “Mass Exodus Day” where parents pull their kids out of government school entirely.  Although potentially difficult to conceive, that is the only full-proof way to prevent the indoctrination of statist, atheistic, relativistic, socialistic, and authoritarian dogma of progressive state education.


As a side note, this is a perfect opportunity for churches and other organizations to help assist families who have the desire to pull their children out of government school but who may not have the financial means to homeschool or enroll in private Christian education.

For more on public education, check out the three-part “Rethinking Education” video series.

by IPS President, Mike Winther

About Principle Posts

Principle Post is a short, periodic thought on a current news topic designed to insert a principle into the core of the discussion. Written by varying staff members, Principle Post seeks to divert civil debate away from ad hominem attacks to actual arguments with an emphasis on ethics (right versus wrong) and the proper role of government from a biblical, individual liberty perspective.

Please Note: A link to an outside website does not constitute an endorsement of the content. It is supplied to provide additional context and information.