education

Oklahoma Superintendent Announces New Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism

Oklahoma Department of Education Superintendent Ryan Walters announced plans to open an Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism.

The superintendent also announced the formation of a Trump Education Advisory Committee, saying Oklahoma schools would align themselves with President-elect Donald J. Trump’s education policies.

Following the November 5 election, the superintendent applauded the incoming administration’s proposal to eliminate the federal Department of Education, saying:

By eliminating the federal bureaucracy, money can be efficiently directed to local schools and allow disenfranchised parents to have more direct say over education in their states and communities.

According to a press release, the Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism “will serve to promote religious liberty and patriotism in Oklahoma and protect parents, teachers, and students’ abilities to practice their religion freely in all aspects.”

The new office will support “teachers and students when their constitutional rights are threatened by well-funded, out-of-state groups.”

Embed tweet https://x.com/RyanWaltersSupt/status/1856459198705385525

Walters explained the necessity for the new Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism:

For decades our nation’s public schools have tragically been ground zero for the erosion of religious liberty across our country. The radical left never misses a chance to co-opt the teacher unions and their minions to indoctrinate our children against traditional values of faith and family, seeking to attack any display of faith or religion or patriotism.

He added:

It is no coincidence that the dismantling of faith and family values in public schools directly correlates with declining academic outcomes in our public schools. In Oklahoma, we are reversing this negative trend and, working with the incoming Trump Administration, we are going to aggressively pursue education policies that will improve academic outcomes and give our children a better future.

As an example, the superintendent pointed to a 2023 incident where Skiatook High School received a letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation about Bible verses posted in classrooms. FFRF wrote to Skiatook Public Schools Superintendent Missy Bush, stating:

A concerned local District community member has reported that there are multiple religious messages on display at Skiatook High School. Our complainant reports that Room 120 has a bible verse posted on the south wall of the classroom. The verse is, John 3:16, “For GOD so loved the world that he gave his only SON that whoever believes in him should not perish but have ETERNAL LIFE.” …
Our complainant also reports that Room 114 has a sign that says, “He is still good,” which is likely a reference to Daniel 3:18.

Bush had the Bible verses removed from the classrooms.

When the incident occurred, Superintendent Walters stated:

The removal of Bible verses from display in Skiatook under the threat of a baseless lawsuit is unacceptable. The Constitution guarantees, and the Supreme Court has affirmed in Kennedy v. Bremerton, the right of teachers to religious freedom and expression. American citizens do not give up their right to practice their faith at the schoolhouse door or anywhere else.

He said the Education Advisory Committee would work to implement new federal polices that would allow “communities – not Washington bureaucrats – to decide what is best for their children.” The new committee will:

  • Champion parents’ rights.
  • End social indoctrination in classrooms.
  • Protect patriotism in school curriculums.
  • Stop illegal immigrations’ impact on schools.
  • Block foreign influence in school.

As reported in the Daily Citizen, Waters announced a plan in September to spend $3 million to place a Bible in every classroom, saying the Bible is “a necessary historical document to teach our kids about the history of this country, to have a complete understanding of Western Civilization” and “one of the most foundational documents used for the Constitution and the birth of our country.”

It’s also important for students to know and understand the Bible for teaching English literature, as it’s the book most quoted, referenced and alluded to by authors throughout history, followed by Shakespeare’s plays and Greek and Roman myths and literature. The latter two are part of many English curriculums, so why not include the Bible as well?

Anti-religious liberty groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, are suing to block that program, despite the role of the Bible throughout American and Western history.

Related articles and resources:

Equipping Parents for Back-to-School

‘Equipping Parents For Back-To-School’ – Updated Resource Empowers Parents

Is it ‘Book Banning’ to Keep Sexually Explicit Books out of Schools?

Louisiana’s Ten Commandments Bill is Good for Kids, Communities, and the Nation

Oklahoma Superintendent Announces Plan to Place Bibles in Every School Classroom

Oklahoma Superintendent Directs All School Districts Teach the Bible

Image from Shutterstock

Education is on the Ballot – Over 20,000 School Board Seats up for Election

BallotReady reports that 21,144 school board seats are on the ballot November 5. Local school boards wield a great deal of authority over our nation’s children, so it’s critical that good candidates are elected to these positions. The results affect around 50 million students in government-run schools.

It’s difficult to overstate how important these local elections are, as the results affect around 50 million students in government-run schools.

As we explain in the Focus on the Family resource Equipping Parents for Back to School, parents are ultimately in charge of their children’s education, but when children go to government schools, they give up some of that authority, and the school is empowered – to some degree – to act on parents’ behalf.

And local school boards oversee those schools.

While school boards operate under the authority of federal laws, state regulations and state departments of education, local boards also have a lot of power and authority.

They choose curriculums, establish teacher hiring criteria, set student achievement standards, write bathroom and locker room policies, select books for libraries, choose research databases for students, contract with other districts for school choice transfers, and more.

Parents – as well as grandparents and other concerned citizens – are becoming increasingly aware of serious problems in government schools, such as these:

  • Despite federal, state, and local government funding of $878.2 billion, or $17,700 per pupil, students are not learning basic skills like arithmetic, reading, and writing.They are also failing to learn subjects like history and civics.
  • National math and reading scores show low levels of academic achievement. As Fortune reported, “American students are in trouble. About a third of students in the youngest grades are behind on reading. Only 36% of fourth graders are proficient at grade-level math.”
  • City Journal reports, “The latest National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results in reading and math, released in June, are appalling.” Known as “The Nation’s Report Card,” results from the NAEP U.S. history and civics test “revealed that just 13 percent of eighth graders met proficiency standards for U.S. history, meaning that they could ‘explain major themes, periods, events, people, ideas and turning points in the country’s history.’” For civics, “About 20 percent of students scored at or above the proficient level,” the Journal stated.
  • As previously reported by the Daily Citizen, each year since 2016, school districts across the country have participated in events like “Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action,” where students are taught to be “queer” and “transgender” affirming. Students and teachers are expected to pursue globalism and diversity and to be committed to “building a Black women affirming space free from sexism, misogyny, and male‐centeredness.”
  • Abigail Shrier reports in The Free Press, “There is a well-coordinated, national effort between teachers, activist organizations, and administrators to indoctrinate American children against Israel.” She explains, “In August, the second largest teachers union chapter in the country – there are more than 35,000 members of United Teachers Los Angeles – met at the Bonaventure Hotel in L.A. to discuss, among other things, how to turn their K-12 students against Israel.”
  • Parents Defending Education (PDE) reported that more than 1,143 school districts have “Transgender/Gender Nonconforming Policies,” allowing schools to hide a child’s sexual identity confusion from parents and encouraging schools to open bathrooms and locker rooms for students based on their “gender identity,” not on their sex. This includes 20,951 schools and more than 12.2 million students.

Around the nation, parents have become aware of schools sexualizing and confusing K-12 students by teaching about homosexuality and transgenderism – in literature, social studies and sexual education classes. Parents have learned about profanity-laced, violent and sexually explicit books in school libraries, and they’ve seen the erosion of free speech, religious freedom and parental rights.

It’s time to take a stand and protect all children. Vote for school board members who will fight for academic success for all students; safeguard parents’ rights; protect students’ free speech and religious freedom; and defend children from indoctrination and inappropriate instruction.

Related articles and resources:

Christians, the Election is in Your Hands. It’s Time to Vote!

Dad Confronts School Board for Allowing Boys in Girls Restrooms

‘Equipping Parents For Back-To-School’ – Updated Resource Empowers Parents

Is ‘Critical Race Theory’ Being Taught in Public Schools? CRT Deniers Claim it Isn’t

Is it ‘Book Banning’ to Keep Sexually Explicit Books out of Schools?

Join the Nationwide Prayer Call for the 2024 Election

The National Education Association Wants to Indoctrinate Children Across the Country

Students’ Test Scores Tank After School Consults ‘Woke Kindergarten’

Image credit: The Family Foundation Action

Raising Kids in a Secular Age

Talking with kids about controversial topics has always been a challenge for parents, but today, the stakes are especially high. With an increasing number of kids who have been secretly “transitioned” by public school staff or who have adopted LGBT identities thanks to online influences, parents must know how to navigate tainted cultural waters that are flooding the worldviews of the younger generations.  

Opting for alternatives to public education like home school  or private Christian schooling is a good start.

But it can’t stop there. A 2022 study found that of 57,000 undergrads from 159 of the nation’s most elite posts econdary institutions, home schooled and private schooled kids “are as or more likely to identify as LGBT or non-binary as those from public or private school backgrounds.”  

In other words, it’s not enough to insulate children from bad ideas, especially when insulation is accompanied by silence on issues our kids are hearing about all the time from the wider world. Of course, many parents remain silent because they simply do not know how to think about everything. And yet, as a recent Gospel Coalition article noted, silence on these issues undermines Christian formation.  

On the one hand, we could unintentionally communicate that God doesn’t care about our sexuality. If we never tell our children that God says a clear ‘no’ to same-sex sexual relationships, we could leave them to conclude that Christians can just follow their hearts. … 
On the other hand, our silence could accidentally communicate that sexuality is too shameful to discuss. They might conclude that God wants nothing to do with it because it’s dirty, or that God isn’t interested in saving their friends who identify as LGBT.

This is the same risk churches carry when they never address cultural issues from fear of backlash for being “too political.” But when bad ideas are everywhere, the church, much like parents, must have a response. Scripture is not lacking for real direction in real time and neither should the shepherds of Christian faith be.  

A better approach than insulating kids is to inoculate them. The “inoculation” approach welcomes hard questions, encourages students to think and search for the truth, and helps them learn what it takes to find answers that are both thorough and thoughtful. The goal is to equip students how to handle bad ideas, harmful practices, and sinful behaviors, knowing that they will inevitably encounter these things in an increasingly secular culture.    

In the 1950s, researcher Dr. William McGuire suggested bad ideas operate much like viruses do, and the more exposure one has to bad ideas in a controlled setting, the less likely they are to succumb to those ideas later. McGuire performed a series of experiments in which he tried to convince subjects of a lie, specifically that brushing their teeth was bad for them.

Unsurprisingly, those who received no preparation for what they were about to hear were more easily convinced to stop brushing, while those who had been warned they were going to hear a bad argument were harder to deceive.  

More surprising were those found to be easiest and hardest to dupe.

The most vulnerable were not those with zero preparation, but those who’d merely had the truth reinforced. They had been told things like, “You know brushing your teeth is good for you, right? You’ve been taught this since you were little. Trust us.” When they heard arguments against brushing their teeth that they’d never heard before, this group felt sheltered and even deceived.  

The least vulnerable were those who had not only been warned about bad arguments they’d hear but were also taught how to respond. In fact, they were warned they may face additional bad arguments. In other words, they were prepared to be aware and vigilant.  

This experiment demonstrates that the method many Christian parents and churches use to pass on the faith, reinforcement without seriously countering ideas, is doomed to fail. In fact, it may leave young people more vulnerable to lies. We need to equip our kids to think for themselves. 

This requires courage. It also requires confidence that the truth is, well, true and that answers can be found. The good news is that we live in an age of answers, in which most issues have not only been thoroughly addressed from a Christian worldview but are widely available.