Spring is here and the purportedly silenced “LGBTQQAP” students are once again hijacking instructional time in middle and high schools for their political stunt called the Day of Silence (DOS), which this year takes place tomorrow, April 22, 2022. On this day, students are urged to refuse to speak all day, including during instructional time.

This political protest was created by two students at the University of Virginia in 1996. In 2002, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) took over the Day of Silence. GLSEN continues to call this a “student-led” event even though GLSEN provides instructions to students and teachers as well as sells t-shirts, temporary tattoos, bookmarks, pins, pronoun buttons, lanyards, “zines,” “LGBTQ” history cards, stickers, masks, and “I [heart] Inclusive Schools” composition books. You name it, they sell it—well, except truth.

As anyone who has been in a classroom in the last 30-40 years knows, teachers rarely lecture. Lecturing—or direct instruction—has largely been abandoned. Classroom participation in the form of discussions and activities has replaced lectures. Therefore, student refusal to speak disrupts normal instructional time. GLSEN organizers of DOS and participants in it seek to disrupt the day in order to promote their views of homosexuality and cross-sex passing. They are exploiting taxpayer-funded schools for their ideological, social, and political purposes.

GLSEN’s sole raison d’être is to use publicly funded schools to normalize homosexuality and cross-sex identification, which is decidedly not the business of public schools. Normalizing homosexuality and cross-sex identification requires first determining that homosexual acts and cross-dressing, cross-sex hormone doping, and surgical mutilations are moral acts. And government employees have no pedagogical or ethical right to impose their moral beliefs on other people’s children.

But some schools don’t understand that. They believe their boundaries as teachers and administrators are wherever they want to draw them. For example, Adrian Harries, Illinois District 300’s Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, sent an email to all parents and guardians of middle and high school students to inform them that the district will be going whole hog on DOS:

[W]e plan to support all of our schools and students in their observance of the Day of Silence on April 22, 2022.

…

This year, District 300 administration will support our schools in observing the Day of Silence by providing each school with a Day of Silence kit that includes; [sic] Pride masks, pride stickers, and a pride flag. These resources will be issued to students interested in serving as allies to members of the LGBTQ community. We will also provide each of our schools with a digital version of the GLSEN Pride Safety Kit, which includes resources and lesson plans for teachers and staff who choose to honor the Day of Silence by conducting lessons that require minimal or no discussion.

…

District 300 is proud to stand in solidarity with members of the LGBTQ+ community, and we hope that our students show their support during the Day of Silence.

What exactly do his instructions imply to students who don’t want a mask, sticker or flag because they believe homosexual acts and cross-sex identification harm individuals temporally and eternally? Are they not “allies” unless they affirm something they believe harms their friends?

Adrian Harries comes to District 300, which is headquartered in Algonquin and serves students in multiple communities, from a controversial tenure as principal at Nichols Middle School in Evanston, Illinois where in November 2017, he held racially segregated “equity” meetings, instructing his staff as follows:

[O]ur affinity groups will be based around racial identification, with one of our two groups consisting of staff that identify as individuals of color and our other group consisting of those that identify as White. Race is a lived experience so you should attend the group that best represents how you feel you live your life, racially.

While the last sentence sounds absurd to many, including those who criticized Rachel Dolezal, the white woman who lived her life racially as a black woman, I guess to those who believe men be women, whites can be black.

But I thought we did away with “passing” and institutional racism like separate drinking fountains decades ago.

Ironically, Harries mandated that District 300 teachers not discuss the Kyle Rittenhouse acquittal when staff and students returned to school after Thanksgiving break in 2021, saying,

[W]e believe that these cases often tip-toe [sic] political values and views, and it is difficult for a person to avoid presenting the perusal [sic] biases in such a discussion. 

While Harries claims to care about avoiding classroom discussions that may include political biases regarding the Rittenhouse case, he has no such concerns about encouraging the entire staff and student body to support the DOS, which necessarily includes political, moral, and religious biases.

In his instructions to District 300 faculty about the Rittenhouse case, Harries also made this surprising statement:

Unfortunately, due to the holiday season, our children will be without support while grappling with the ideals of fairness, self-worth, and American values on humanity that the case evokes.

Since one would think elementary, middle, and high school students would have the support of their parents or guardians over the holiday season to help them grapple “with the ideals of fairness, self-worth, and American values on humanity,” to whom was Harries referring? Whose support would the children lack?

Apparently, he was referring to teachers and counselors in District 300 schools. And this reveals the presumptuousness of leftist “educators” in public schools who believe it is both their right and obligation to butt into the emotional lives of other people’s children. They believe it is their right and obligation to shape the values and feelings of students they were hired to teach English, science, math, and world languages.

In years past, GLSEN claimed the DOS was intended to draw attention to the “silenced voices” of “LGBT” students, but since cacophonous “LGBT” students now wail continually, GLSEN has changed its public message. Now GLSEN says, students refuse to speak in class in order to “protest the harmful effects of harassment and discrimination of LGBTQ people in schools.”

Presumably, both GLSEN and DOS participants know that in many schools it’s now cool to be “queer” or “trans” and uncool to be conservative. Surely, those students and staff are aware that conservative students, particularly theologically orthodox Christians, are the students whom it’s okay to mock. The beliefs that derive from their authentic identity as Christ-followers are scorned, and the kids are vilified as haters, bigots, and “transphobes” if they don’t want to use incorrect pronouns or share locker rooms with opposite-sex peers.

The Day of Silence is yet one more reason we can dump on top of the heaping pile of reasons for conservatives to get their kids out of public schools pronto. And I hope parents of District 300 students contact their schools to object to both the Day of Silence and to the money wasted for a Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Tomorrow-Schools-Promote-Sexual-Disorderedness.mp3

A powerful investigative documentary film about the graphic Comprehensive Sex Ed and Social Emotional Learning being forced on children of all ages through the public education system will be shown at three locations. 

The Mind Polluters exposes the dark realities of the intentional grooming of children into a worldview at odds with the Christian faith, a worldview of rampant sexuality, homosexuality, and transgenderism normalized through the use of pornographic and pedophilic materials. 

“The Mind Polluters” is a feature length investigative documentary film that follows the efforts of grass roots volunteers, legislators and Christian academics exposing the efforts of corrupt organizations and groups infiltrating the nation’s school systems with pornographic and pedo-sadist (pedophilia) materials. The film not only shows the brutal battle being waged right now to force both public and private school systems to indoctrinate children as young as pre-school age with materials so heinous that they are illegal everywhere else except in the classroom, it also explores the history of the pornography battle in the United States for the past 75 years.

This documentary is a must-see for pastors, Christian grandparents, parents of school-age children, and Christian couples who plan to have children.

If you, or someone you know, needs convincing that there is intentional indoctrination and grooming of children taking place in government schools, you must see this documentary. Ironically, the material being presented in this documentary is not suitable for children, even though it’s what they are being exposed to in most government schools.

This documentary is not suitable for children.

You can view the 2 1/2 minute trailer HERE.

The cost is $10 per person and you must purchase a ticket in advance.

Click HERE for tickets for any of the following locations:

Thursday, April 21, 2022  
Campus Life Center
150 S Lageshulte St
Barrington, IL 60010
7PM – 9PM

Wednesday, April 27, 2022   
Families of Faith Ministries
24466 E Eames St
Channahon, IL 60410
7PM – 9PM

Among parents raising children in today’s culture, it is hard to believe that words penned by Charles Dickens in 1859 could ring so true:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

Unfortunately, with the worst times come foolishness, incredulity, darkness, and despair in our news, neighborhoods, and schools; parents more than ever need the best times  wisdom, belief, light, and hope!

Illinois Christian Home Educators (ICHE) Family Conference, May 19 – 22 at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Illinois, is such a beacon of light and hope for today’s families!

This year’s theme, Stand Grounded in Christ, promises to provide the focus Christian parents and grandparents need to challenge their thinking and equip them with Biblical truths to direct the children and young people entrusted to their care “in the way they should go.” Centered on Eph 6:14, at the heart of this theme is the fact that,

“We can stand grounded because our faith is not rooted in the sinking sands of man’s vain philosophies but is built on the solid foundation of God’s character and word that never changes.”

And the conference is so much more than a place to pick up a few tips and supplies for homeschooling. It is

“a God-ordained time to pull away from the everyday cares of  homeschooling life and be energized with visionary teaching, refreshing fellowship, Biblically-based resources, and Christian joy.

It is a time for your children to meet other like-minded homeschoolers, so they can understand there is a growing army that God is preparing.”

Workshops:

At the heart of the conference are the keynote and workshop speakers–men and women from all walks of life who have a specific voice relevant to the needs of today’s homeschooling and Christian families. Sessions on the agenda include:

• Living on Borrowed Time: The Nine Practices of The Proactive Parent
• Culture Proof: How to Grow the Resistance
• How to Homeschool High School (Key: It’s an Education, Not a Rat Race)
• The A to Z of a Character-Healthy Homeschool
• Identifying and Correcting Blocked Learning Gates

It is easy to see there is something for everyone whether new to the concept of homeschooling or a seasoned homeschool family.

Exhibit Hall:

In addition to the plethora of workshops to attend, one of the attractive features is the Exhibit Hall. Filled with everything from curriculum and educational games to homeschooling t-shirts and bumper stickers, upon entering the hall, one is likely to feel they just stepped into an Amazon warehouse! It’s a great chance to get your hands on materials, flip through pages, explore what is and isn’t included so whether you purchase then and there or order it in the future, you will know exactly what you are getting.

Fellowship:

Whether meeting up with friends or making new ones, this is the place to find the type of like-minded support many homeschoolers are seeking. What’s more, with the opportunity to affordably stay right on campus, newly formed or established bonds can be enhanced by attending the evening events.

Extras:

Included with the reasonable registration costs are:

• Planetarium shows
• Swimming
• Rock climbing
• Up to 4 non-homeschooling grandparents OR up to 3 non-homeschooling pastors and their spouses may attend with primary registrant – FREE!

Tips from previous attendees:

• Be prepared to walk between campus buildings
• Dress for the weather
• Facility provides easy access for strollers
• Event is definitely kid-friendly – Check out these activities!
• Musical performances in lobby

The best recommendation for any event are the satisfied words of those who have attended in the past:

If you’ve only been to the ICHE conference once and came away feeling overwhelmed, know that a repeat attendance at the conference is a much different experience. Contributing to this is the fact that not everything is shoved into one building providing the incentive to walk outside between classes. Because of this, there is a more campus-like feel and this literal outdoor space provides for head space, too! The speakers I listened to left me not feeling overwhelmed or pressured, but inspired.”  ~Sara Williamson (homeschooling mother of 3)

“The ICHE conference ministers to me as a wife and mother. Not only does it reinforce the goals my husband and I have for our family, it casts a vision for the days ahead. It leaves me feeling energized and encouraged and renews the reasons that we do homeschool. Most importantly, at the end of a homeschooling year, it allows me to look ahead to the next school year feeling prepared! I will definitely be returning and bringing my friends!”  ~Allison Earl (homeschooling mother of 4)

Here’s some news you might have missed.

On April 7, 2022, Florida preschool teacher, 28-year-old Lois Schwartz, boasted about teaching her students that she is neither a boy nor a girl and that she’s a polyamorous, pagan witch.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1512208604421496832

“Eli” Dinh, formerly Molly, a kindergarten teacher at the private Hillbrook School in California, uses a pronoun game to inculcate five-year-olds with her arguable, self-serving gender theories. On Instagram she goes by @okayenby, with “enby,” standing for nonbinary. She expects others to refer to her by the third-person plural pronouns “they” and “them.” Dinh is a woman who gave birth and breastfed two children before she decided that her authentic identity was male. Then she started doping testosterone, hired a quack surgeon to lop off her breasts, and changed her name from Molly to Eli. Dinh’s favorite curricular components are, not surprisingly, social and emotional learning and anti-bias education—for kindergartners. Private schools may teach whatever destructive nonsense they want, but Dinh is the cold, sharp tip of a colossal iceberg that is plowing through government schools as well.

Brooke Charter School first-grade teacher “Ray Skyer,” a bearded woman who pretends to be a man, told K-2 students this hogwash during a zoom class:

Something that’s really cool and unique about me is that I’m transgender. We touched on that earlier this week in the book that Ms. Hammond read, but I’m going to give you my explanation about what it means to be transgender.

So, when babies are born, the doctor looks and makes a guess on whether the baby is a boy or girl based on what that baby looks like. Most of the time, that guess is 100 percent correct. … But sometimes the doctor is wrong. The doctor makes an incorrect guess. When the doctor makes a correct guess, that’s when a person is called cisgender. When a doctor’s guess is wrong, that’s when they are transgender.

So, I’m a man, but when I was baby, the doctors told my parents that I was a girl. … Until I was 18 years old, everyone thought I was a girl. This was super, super uncomfortable for me because I knew that wasn’t right. … So, when I was 18, I told my family and friends that I’m really a boy, and it was like this huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders, and I had the freedom to be who I truly am.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1513254835075764227

This short video teaches parents everything they need to know about morally and intellectually unmoored activists who self-identify as teachers working in schools. First, they propagandize in many ways, including through literature, direct instruction, and demagoguery.

Second, they propagate highly controversial beliefs without telling young students that the “explanations” are controversial, disputed, faith-based, and devoid of scientific support. Doctors don’t “guess” whether babies are boys or girls. They identify the sex of babies. Skyer was correctly identified as the girl she is and ever more will be. Her mother’s obstetrician did not guess, and he or she was not wrong. At 18, Skyer decided to start masquerading as a man.

Skyer did not merely explain. She manipulated the emotions of young innocent children who would not want anyone—especially a teacher they know and like—to feel “super, super uncomfortable.” So, in addition to feeding them fantastical fiction in the guise of objective truth, Skyer is trying to make children feel predisposed to sex-masquerades.

Indefensible ideological grooming of children by leftists is not limited to the United States. Australian Member of Parliament Bernie Finn shared an assignment given to 10-year-old boys and girls in a school in the district he represents. Children were instructed to discuss their father’s erections and ejaculations with their fathers. It should go without saying that at no age should a child be asked to discuss with their fathers their erections and ejaculations. But we are forced to say such things now because purportedly “civilized” societies no longer experience righteous anger at evil being promoted as good to children in school. How long before “civilized” societies no longer find father-daughter personal orgasm discussions objectionable?

Conservative Americans seem—to borrow a British term—gobsmacked by the trans-volution sweeping our formerly rational society. I am gobsmacked by their astonishment. The trans-volution has been slowly emerging like a parasitic guinea worm from the homo-volution which was birthed by the Boomer’s sexual revolution. I first warned about the emerging trans-volution in late 2008 when I wrote about “bisexual” Anglican priest Laurel Dykstra who has twins via a sperm donor. Dyskstra wrote an article in 2005 on how to make preschools “trans-friendly.” Here were her explanations and recommendations:

• She said that the “gender binary system. … is harmful to everyone.”

• She moralized that “It is not enough for classrooms, teachers, and schools to be ‘open’ or ‘non-judgmental’; they need to be actively trans-positive.”

• Dykstra recommended that when talking to preschoolers, teachers should say things like “‘Well, most men have penises, but some don’t,’” and “‘Some girls grow up to be men.’”

• She urged teachers to “Encourage kids to question their assumptions. ‘How do you know that that person is a woman? Could a man wear a dress?’”

• She instructed teachers to “Call children by the name and the pronouns they choose.”

• She recommended accessorizing classrooms with a “Tranny Teddy. Have a non-gendered toy/doll/puppet…. Do not use pronouns and give this creature a variety of gendered clothing, such as a skirt and tie. If asked, say ‘Oh, Binker isn’t a boy or a girl.’”

• She suggested having a “Butch/Femme Day. Why not teach kids language like butch/femme, as an alternative to boy/girl or male/female? You could have dress-up days to play deliberately with gender, like ‘Fabulous and Fearless Day’ or ‘Capable and Campy.’”

• She encouraged teachers to “Invite a drag performer or transsexual person who would be willing to share their story and a photo album.”

• When reading picture books to preschoolers, Dykstra recommended “switching pronouns, avoiding them altogether, or using alternative pronouns.”

• Dykstra rationalized using deceit in the face of parental opposition: “For ‘stealth practitioners’ (i.e., teachers in a transphobic setting), these classroom suggestions can be implemented without fanfare to create a more just and welcoming classroom.”

Dykstra offered these suggestions 17 years ago, and I issued warnings 14 years ago. Increasing numbers of warnings have been issued across the nation by men and women who have been paying attention. The ignorance and sloth of conservatives—including church leaders—in addressing the evil in the midst of our schools is inexcusable.

If Americans had been paying attention to warnings about the perverse shape of things to come, maybe the disaster we see unfolding in schools could have been stopped, thereby preventing the incalculable damage being done to children. But confronting socially acceptable evil requires not just awareness but courage, perseverance, and a willingness to suffer for the neighbors we love.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Ideologically-Grooming-Kids-in-Schools.mp3

**Viewer Discretion is Advised**

The government school system—paid for by taxpayers—has been so corrupted by the depravity of leftists that schools are unfit for children.

The Illinois Chapter of the Association for the Supervision of Curriculum Development (ASCD) is sponsoring its annual Pre-K and Kindergarten Conference next week in Schaumburg, Illinois. One of their scheduled speakers was Tell Williams IV, an openly homosexual, faux-married pre-K teacher at a private school in a Philadelphia suburb. According to Real Time Michiana, in between preparing his lessons for preschoolers, Williams posts pornographic videos of himself on the adults-only, subscription website Only Fans. Real Time Michiana reports,

Williams has nearly 200 explicit videos and photos of himself masturbating and showing his genitalia on that site and has actively posted new explicit content this year.

In a Twitter post, Williams solicited content requests for his porn videos, asking his followers what they would most like to see. The choices were,

Me f*cking my toy

Me j*rking off and c*mming

Me f*cking my *ss with a d*ldo

Me j*rking off in my spider-man costume [asterisks added]

Williams was scheduled to talk about “Self-Care and Humanizing Educators”:

Mr. Williams will be discussing what real and effective self-care items look like, how we can better advocate for ourselves and our colleagues both in and out of the classroom, and ways we can help normalize and humanize teachers.

First, what does “normalize teachers” even mean?

Second, does the manifestly narcissistic Williams believe that teachers are dehumanized? In what specific ways? Does criticism of teachers for introducing obscene material to children constitute “dehumanization”? Does criticism of teachers for promoting leftist views of homosexuality and cross-sex impersonation constitute “dehumanization”? Does criticism of teachers for calling conservatives “transphobes” and “homophobes” constitute dehumanization of teachers?

Or does calling conservatives “transphobes” and “homophobes” constitute dehumanization of conservatives?

Here’s an idea for Williams gratis: For better self-care and less dehumanization, stop doing porn.

In his bio for the conference, ACSD makes explicit Williams’ goal to use education to promote his depraved views on sexuality. Of course, ACSD uses all the au courant euphemisms:

After teaching years of preschool, Tell saw a gap in curriculum that covers lessons on tolerance, acceptance, and diversity. Because of this he created his own library that helps aide [sic] him and other educators on discussing these important matters in and out of the classroom. … Tell travels and does speaking engagements at schools and conferences on humanizing teachers both inside and out of the classroom, as well as focusing on self-care for educators.

What do you suppose ASCD and Williams mean by “tolerance, acceptance, and diversity”? What are the specific objects of tolerance, acceptance, and diversity to which they are referring? Are they urging tolerance and acceptance of all phenomena related to humans, human action, and human relationships? That seems doubtful.

Are they urging tolerance and acceptance of all diverse views of homoerotic desire, homoerotic acts, and cross-sex identification?

Are they urging tolerance and acceptance of the views of parents who don’t believe their pre-K through high school kids should be introduced to leftist beliefs about homosexuality and cross-sex identification by public school teachers?

Or are they urging “tolerance” and “acceptance”—with both words meaning approval—of only leftist views of homosexuality and cross-sex identification, in which case they’re not really interested in diversity?

And should preschool curricula include any material pertaining to the sexuality issues that obsess leftists?

In short, porn star William’s goals are to foster teacher narcissism and ideologically groom other people’s children.

It appears from the revised ACSD conference website that Williams has either been disinvited or the website scrubbed, so people can’t see his bio. Either way, it would appear ACSD members have become all judgy-judgy. Apparently, educators are free to make the same kind of moral judgments that conservatives are mocked for making. If conservatives want an obscene book removed from curricula, they’re tyrannical. If leftists remove a porn star from their speaking line-up—as they should—no problem. In their view, they’re just making sound judgments.

No amount of scrubbing can erase the question: Why was Williams invited in the first place?

He wasn’t the only homosexual man invited by the Illinois ACSD, which has “over 2,000 members statewide comprised of superintendents, central office administrators, principals and assistant principals, department heads, teachers, university personnel, state agency personnel, and others.” Of the eight men invited—including Williams—three are homosexual: Williams, Matt Halpern, and Greg Smedley-Warren (also faux-married). So, an oddly disproportionate 37 percent of the men invited are homosexual.

The invitation to Tell Williams IV illuminates the corruption in public schools. Their moral guideposts—if any—are arbitrary and fluid. And homosexual teachers, of which there are many in public schools, can never be role models for children. Such teachers are, by word and example, normalizing egregious sin.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Illinois-Educational-Conference-Invites-Weirdo-to-Speak.mp3

If you have been reading any emails from Illinois Family Institute, you are aware of how nefarious the so-called teaching has become in government schools. The state snapshot (click on Mathematics) for children who met or exceeded proficiency in math is only at 32 percent. You read that right – only 32 percent have met or exceeded math proficiency in their grade! Unacceptable! That means 68 percent are failing.

Children are not being taught academics, but if they were to be tested on their knowledge of what constitutes a homosexual or how to use a condom, they would likely ace that test. They are being indoctrinated, and as bad as things are, certain lawmakers want to make it worse.

Every Christian in the state of Illinois should be disturbed in knowing what the majority of Illinois children are being subjected to. But we are offering a solution! A way to help some children be able to leave that environment and be taught solid academics, but more importantly, eternal Truths.

We want to offer an opportunity to assist in launching Petra, a Christian homeschool co-op in the Freeport, Illinois area. Petra means “The Rock.” The purpose of this co-op is to supplement homeschool instruction with strong high school level academics. All classes follow solid Biblical standards

As a new school, Petra is seeking a $7,000 start-up fund for operational costs, insurance, and classroom and office supplies. Please join IFI in helping to provide a Christ-centered education to high school students in northwest Illinois. Your help will launch a safe Christian environment that is attainable and affordable for families in the Freeport area.

Illinois Family Institute supports Petra and we encourage you to support them as well.

CLICK HERE to make a donation to Petra. Donations to Petra are tax deductible. A receipt showing your tax deductible donation to Petra will come from IFI.

Thank you!

In February, a state-operated Wisconsin school district held an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion professional development session that included in its slide presentation a stunning warning to teachers: Parents don’t have a right to know how the children they brought into the world identify sexually.

Parents have the responsibility to feed, clothe and nurture the children born into their family, but when those children are enrolled in government schools, parental roles change dramatically – at least that’s what teachers are being taught.

Verbatim, the Wisconsin district’s slide said: “Remember, parents are not entitled to know their kids’ identities. That knowledge must be earned. Teachers are often straddling this complex situation.”  In their school district, it said, “Our priority is supporting the student.”

Such parent-exclusionary attitudes demanded of instructors like the one uncovered in Wisconsin is sadly becoming more and more common. So common, in fact, the state of Florida reacted strongly by putting into effect a law restricting gender and sexual orientation instruction for the youngest public school students through third grade.

And while the majority media promotes the anti-parent concept, a recent Rasmussen Reports survey found that 62% of likely U.S. Voters would support a law like Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill in their own state, including 45% who Strongly Support the measure.

Illinois’ policy on gender identity instruction

The chances of a bill like the one in Florida making its way into law with Illinois’ current administration are null and void.

In September 2021, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed into law SB 818, which promotes “gender identity” to kindergartners, as well as “abortion,” “contraception,” “masturbation,” and “sexual orientation” to children in third through twelfth grades.

The bill’s House sponsor, State Rep. Camille Lily (D-Chicago) said she’d been working for years to reject Illinois’ abstinence-only sex education.

“Seven years ago when we fought to move sexual health education in Illinois beyond abstinence-only education, we knew there was more work to be done,” she said. “Today marks another step in our efforts to ensure that young people receive a full toolbox of knowledge and skills to reduce harm and support overall health for their entire lives.”

Illinois parents have the ability to “opt out” their children from the sex ed curriculum. School districts that do not choose to offer comprehensive sex education are not required to adopt the National Sex Education Standards developed by the Future of Sex Education (FoSE) Initiative, a partnership between Advocates for Youth, Answer, and SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change.

However, the vast majority of school districts will embrace the new policy because state funding always funnels toward those school districts that snap into state law-approved and -promoted agenda.

What one Illinois district says on their website about “Equity & Diversity”

And while no instructional slide similar to the one used in the Wisconsin session has been uncovered from an Illinois district, one of the state’s largest school districts, U-46 based in Elgin, has on its website a published policy on “Equity & Diversity” with detailed instructions on how they intend to keep transgender students’ information private:

Transgender students have the right to openly discuss and express their gender identity and expression at school and school activities and to decide when, with whom, and how to share private information. School staff, however, shall not disclose information that may reveal a student’s transgender status to unauthorized parties. Therefore, given the sensitive nature of the information, when speaking with other staff members, parents, guardians, or third parties, school staff should not disclose a student’s preferred name, pronoun, or other confidential information pertaining to the student’s transgender or gender nonconforming status without the written permission of a transgender student who is eighteen years old or older or the written permission of the parent/legal guardian of a minor transgender student. 

U-46’s published policy is confusing. While there’s a caution about disclosing gender identity information to other staff members, parents, guardians or other third parties, a parent or guardian of a student under the age of 18 must grant written permission to share that information.

The conflicted scenario this policy sets up is one of distrust and confusion between teachers, parents and students – very similar to the one about which the Wisconsin slide warns.

And one of which U-46 parents should be aware.

 What Illinois parents can do to protect their children

 First and utmost, keep an open communication with your children about these topics. What are the teachers saying? What are their peers saying about sexual issues? Are they comfortable or uncomfortable with what they are seeing and hearing?

Be their advocates. Legal help is available.

Illinois Family Institute’s attorney, Jim Davids, has filed suit against a school board in Maryland challenging its policy, which is similar to Illinois’, and will soon file suit against another school board in Minnesota.

Davids is looking for courageous parents to challenge similar school board policies here in Illinois.

“If you are the parent of a minor child who is in a school district with a policy like the one above, contact Illinois Family Institute,” Davids said. “I promise to keep all identities confidential.”

Contact Illinois Family Institute if you have any questions or your students raise concerns about what they’re hearing and seeing at school. IFI is ready and has the resources to help.

As incomprehensible to average Americans as it may seem, three stories about government school students facing disciplinary actions for expressing their Christian faith were featured in Christian media publications over the past few months:

• A six-year-old girl loves Jesus and is concerned about her second grade classmates’ eternities. She shares her newfound faith and it scares her friends. The Des Moines Washington teacher hears concerns from the classmates’ parents, and the little one finds her book bag searched everyday when she enters the schoolyard.

• A 14 year old student in Florida is ridiculed for reading his Bible at school. Not only did classmates reportedly threaten the boy on account of his faith, the high school freshman’s science teacher publicly questioned him and insinuated he was “ignorant” for believing in God and the Bible.

• Last year, yet another Florida high school student was reprimanded by her drama teacher for writing a monologue that referenced her faith in Jesus. The student was told to rewrite the assignment with no reference to religion.

Those are only three instances made public by legal groups representing the students who, their lawyers say, have had their First Amendment rights restricted in government schools.

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

While the First Amendment focuses on the U.S. Congress and what they cannot do, it asserts that public policies restricting religious practice or expression at lower levels are not acceptable, either.

The 14-year-old Florida student whose teacher ridiculed him for his faith experienced something no American should ever have to experience, his attorney Harmeet K. Dhillon said in a statement.

“It’s bad enough that the school has done nothing to stop the bullying from his peers, but have gone as far as joining in on targeting [the student] for simply practicing his faith. This blatant violation of his First Amendment rights is another example of how extreme so many in our education system have become,” Dhillon said, and why her law firm took on his case.

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), which took on the 14-year-old drama student’s case, described a similar legal scenario.

“This is what ‘wokeness’ has come to—shaming middle school students for expressing their joy in their personal relationship with Jesus Christ because it is considered ‘offensive,’” Christina Compagnone (Stierhoff) of the ACLJ wrote in April 2021. “This was a clear violation of this student’s First Amendment rights and an affront to the religious liberties rooted deeply in the history and culture of the United States.”

The U.S. Supreme Court dealt with the First Amendment rights of students five decades ago, in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503 (1969). In their ruling favoring the plaintiffs, the highest court in the land wrote:

In our system, state-operated schools may not be enclaves of totalitarianism. School officials do not possess absolute authority over their students. Students in school, as well as out of school, are “persons” under our Constitution. They are possessed of fundamental rights which the State must respect, just as they themselves must respect their obligations to the State. In our system, students may not be regarded as closed-circuit recipients of only that which the State chooses to communicate. They may not be confined to the expression of those sentiments that are officially approved. In the absence of a specific showing of constitutionally valid reasons to regulate their speech, students are entitled to freedom of expression of their views.

And while that’s a strong statement in favor of students’ rights to express their opinions, the question is whether the Court would hold a similar position in 2022, or would the Court decide that maintaining peace in a politically- and religiously-divided setting is the “greater good?”

A growing number of Christian parents are choosing home schools and private Christian schools rather than dealing with antagonistic settings and curriculum offered in state-operated schools.

As more and more cases like those hit Christian media headlines and eventually make it to dominant media, the more intense the issue will become and all the more urgent for American freedom-loving parents to defend future generations from anti-Christian sentiments within government schools.

Illinois Family Institute offers an array of resources on their website at illinoisfamily.org to help parents make crucial decisions about their children’s education.

As it becomes increasingly obvious that homeschoolers do significantly better than victims of government “education” on every academic metric, apologists for the public-school system often fall back on their “socialization” mantra.

But under its true definition, “socialization” is hardly something to be desired. And under the commonly held understanding of socialization — gaining certain desirable social skills — the data show clearly that home-educated children outperform public school students on every key indicator.

Before examining the issue of “socialization,” it helps to define the term itself. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, it is “the process whereby an individual learns to adjust to a group (or society) and behave in a manner approved by the group (or society).”

Contrast that with the biblical command that Christians “be not conformed to this world,” or that they are to be “not of the world.” Throughout the Scriptures, God repeatedly makes clear that His people are not supposed to “adjust” to a society that does not respect Him and His moral code.

In short, if one accepts the common definition of “socialization,” Christians — and anyone else who realizes that the “world” and society are becoming increasingly immoral — should be deeply skeptical at the very least of this supposedly essential process being carried out by government schools. In fact, alarm bells should be ringing.

Of course, many of those who ask about “socialization” regarding home education do not have that definition in mind. Instead, they are mostly thinking about whether children will fail to learn basic social skills such as communication and healthy interaction with others. In that case, the “socialization” questions are based on myths and anti-Christian talking points.

The first myth is that homeschool families deprive their children of contact with other people outside the home. While there are always exceptions, nothing could be further from the truth. Typical homeschool families are involved in educational co-ops with other families, church, sports teams, and all manner of extra-curricular activities.

Under the guidance of their parents and other family members, these children become “socialized” in the best sense of the word. This has been true for virtually all of human history prior to the widespread proliferation of government “education” over the last century.

Indeed, to the extent that the term “socialization” is meant as some sort of process whereby children acquire positive social skills that can be measured, homeschoolers do far better than their government-educated peers. This is true on everything from peer interaction and self-concept to leadership skills, family cohesion, participation in community service, tolerance, and self-esteem.

According to a review of the empirical research on home education published in the Journal of School Choice by National Home Education Research Institute chief Dr. Brian Ray, “87% of peer-reviewed studies on social, emotional, and psychological development show homeschool students perform statistically significantly better than those in conventional schools.”

But there is more to the story. In his book Faithful Parents Faithful Children: Why We Homeschool, Christian author Donald Schanzenbach explains that the entire concept of schools as engines for “socialization” is relatively new and did not exist even 200 years ago. Indeed, the term was not even in the dictionaries of the early 1800s.

Rather, the idea of “socialization” goes back to anti-Christian philosopher Auguste Comte, the founder of sociology in the mid-1800s. His goal was to overturn Christian civilization by replacing the Christian moral order then reigning in the West with the pseudo-scientific principles of “sociology” derived from the “study of society and group life,” as Comte put it.

With that in mind, it is true that what is referred to as “socialization” does occur in government schools. But that should hardly be considered a positive development — much less as reason to subject children to godless indoctrination by a government that openly wages war on Christian morality. As the Bible explains in 1 Corinthians 15:33,

“Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company ruins good morals.’”

In a typical government school today, a child will be surrounded by peers who are all being indoctrinated to believe morality is subjective, the Bible is at best irrelevant if not downright harmful, parents are “old fashioned” and should be ignored, and much more. The pressure from fellow students to get involved in drugs, promiscuity, perversion, crime and evil is ubiquitous.

Schanzenbach, the homeschool author, cites the American Heritage Dictionary’s definition of socialize: “1. To place under public ownership or control. 2. To convert or adapt to social needs. 3. To take part in social activities.” He argues that this is precisely what is happening on all three levels, very much including the placing of children under government control.

“Socialization is an idea in direct opposition to biblical thought,” continues Schanzenbach. “Socialized children will likely spend their lives working against the Kingdom of God just as a matter of natural habit. They will have been taught to do so under the socializing influence of a humanist mindset, taught by example, and assumed in every classroom at the government institutions.”

Even the best teachers in government schools have publicly repudiated the notion that they are helping “socialize” the children in any positive manner. Consider John Taylor Gatto, the New York City and New York State teacher of the year in the early 90s. After realizing the damage he was doing to children in the public system, he sent his resignation letter to the Wall Street Journal.

“I’ve come slowly to understand what it is I really teach: A curriculum of confusion, class position, arbitrary justice, vulgarity, rudeness, disrespect for privacy, indifference to quality, and utter dependency,” Gatto explained in his letter that sent shockwaves through the education world. “I teach how to fit into a world I don’t want to live in.”

“My orders as schoolteacher are to make children fit an animal training system, not to help each find his or her personal path,” added Gatto, who went on to write books on the devastation caused by public schools. “There isn’t a right way to become educated; there are as many ways as fingerprints. We don’t need state-certified teachers to make education happen–that probably guarantees it won’t.”

Those who fashioned the system to socialize children appear to have had some of that in mind. Anti-Christian humanist John Dewey, widely regarded as the father of America’s public-school system, outlined his views on the subject in Democracy and Education in 1916 shortly before his infamous trip to fawn over the Soviet Union.

“Education, in its broadest sense, is the means of this social continuity of life,” Dewey explained, implying that education was not so much about the individual or God, but about society and the collective. “Each individual, each unit who is the carrier of the life-experience of the group, in time passes away. Yet the life of the group goes on.”

In other words, in Dewey’s mind, the purpose of education and “socialization” was to train individuals for the benefit of the group and its perpetuation. Whatever this may be or not be, it is certainly not the biblical view of education as a parent-led means of teaching individual children to know, fear and glorify God while giving them the tools to live a moral and meaningful life on this side of eternity.

Next time somebody asks about “socialization” of homeschoolers, you might start by asking exactly what they mean with that term. No matter how they answer, for Christians and even those who simply value true education, homeschooling clearly comes out on top.

It appears the racism identified as “anti-racism” and being endorsed all across America is bearing rotten fruit at ever younger ages and in ever more perverse ways.

Just last week, administrators at Edison Middle School in Wheaton, Illinois allowed student members of the blacks-only “Panthers in Black” school club to lecture peers on the intricacies of using various forms of the “n”-word. Students learned who is permitted to use the “n”-word and which “n”-word suffix is appropriate in what context. Parents of students forced to listen to this non-voluntary lecture were not notified ahead of time or asked to sign a permission slip.

Eighteen slides were included in the lecture addressing topics like the importance of Black History Month. This slide was notable for its vagueness. The Panthers in Black advocate for “recognizing” and “promoting” appreciation of African American “achievement, culture, heritage, sacrifices, and accomplishments, including past and current events.” Several things are unclear.

Should those goals serve as pedagogical criteria for determining what is included and excluded in history classes?

Should every racial and ethnic group have their own month or just blacks? Excluding winter and spring breaks, there are only eight months in a school year, not nearly enough to give every racial and ethnic group their own month.

Is “promoting appreciation” of one racial group even an appropriate goal for government schools?

Will the goal of “promoting appreciation” of African American achievement, culture, heritage, sacrifices, and accomplishments in the past and present determine what will be included and excluded in the limited time schools have to teach American and world history? For example, will greater achievements by non-blacks be jettisoned for lesser achievement by blacks?

When discussing the past history of blacks, will the sordid history of the involvement of Africans in enslaving other Africans be shared?

In the slide on the etiquette of using the “n”-word, the Panthers in Black shared the differences between the suffixes “er” and “a” when appended to the “n”-word. According to the Black Panthers, when blacks use the “n”-word with the “a” suffix among themselves, it’s a “term of endearment.” All other races are forbidden from using it.

The black Panthers claimed emphatically that,

African Americans DO NOT use the n-word with the ending of “-er”

But then they also acknowledge that although students “may listen to music or read books that have those two endings of the n-word, it is NOT OKAY to say if you are not African American.” So, do African Americans use the “er” ending or not?

The Panthers in Black moved on to establishing joke rules for all their middle school peers:

“joking around” about race is not a joke and it’s not okay. 

The black Panthers say this means no jokes about “past events,” Black Lives Matter, slavery, skin tone differences, and George Floyd. Imagine if someone had issued this diktat to Richard Pryor. And imagine if Key and Peele, Chris Rock, and Eddie Murphy were prohibited by the censors among us from “joking around about race.”

Are blacks allowed to joke about race? Are they allowed to joke about whites or Asians?

Come to think of it, since all jokes center on some group or some behavior humans engage in, maybe we should ban all jokes.

Most important, since leftists continually appeal to hurt feelings to control what others say and do, shouldn’t there be discussions about the critical importance of free speech in a free society and the concomitant need to tolerate expressions of diverse ideas, some of which make us uncomfortable?

In the two slides about “Race,” the Panthers in Black focused on biracial identities, saying that it’s “not okay” to ask any questions about the race of biracial students’ parents. Ironically, this slide also says,

Race shouldn’t be a reason to treat anyone differently.  

Isn’t that the whole point of their club and their lecture? Aren’t they treating whites different from blacks?

In two slides about hair, the black Panthers explained all the different hair styles blacks use to express themselves and how “big a part of the African American culture” hair is. But non-blacks are commanded by the Panthers not to ask any questions about this important part of their identities. Seems like a recommendation for cultural insensitivity to me.

The black Panthers also assert that it’s “offensive!” to ask Muslim girls if they’re hot wearing a hijab or why they’re wearing a dress in the summer. The Panthers don’t demonstrate much tolerance for the innocent curiosity of 11-year-olds.

The second to last slide was an invitation to African American students only to join the exclusive Panthers in Black club, assuring non-blacks that they are willing to talk to them.

The presentation concluded with a slide showing the Black Power raised fist accompanied by these words:

THANK YOU

We appreciate you for listening to our presentation!

“Thanks” are not in order, since listening to their lecture was compulsory.

Yes, this is racism and it’s dividing a society that was moving steadily toward a more unified country until leftist ideas spawned in colleges and universities made their malignant way into every corner of America. And now the cancer is systemic.

Watch this video clip of a parent responding to the racist presentation at the District 200 School Board meeting. (H/T Break-Through Ideas):

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/School-Approved-Racism-in-Western-Suburb-of-Chicago.mp3

Once upon a time, I held a naïve hope that public education could be pried loose from the grimy grip of self-righteous, presumptuous, intolerant, diversity-loathing, idea-banning, illiberal bullying leftists fluent in Newspeak. That was then. This is now.

Now I know that is not possible—at least not in time to educate properly children who are currently in school or soon-to-be in school. There are good signs that a movement is afoot to challenge the MAN—who now is a homosexual, drag queen who uses the pronouns fae, faer, faers, and faerself.

A few communities are battling to replace their partisan/activist school boards. There is growing vocal opposition to the promotion of critical race theory-derived assumptions, gender theory, and obscene material. And a few state legislatures are banning cross-dressing boys from participation in girls’ sports.

While these are significant developments, even if successful, they are but a pea shot into an ossified, systemically biased, massive infrastructure composed of leftist controlled school administrations, school boards, state boards of education, state legislatures and ancillary leftist controlled organizations like teachers’ unions; the American Library Association; the Modern Language Association; the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, the Illinois “Safe” Schools Alliance, and all the organizations that profit from selling their racist “anti-racism” and pro-homosexual, pro-“trans”-cultic snake oil to public schools—all in the purported service of “safety” and “inclusion.”

Anyone who’s been paying attention knows that in recent years, Illinois’ ideologically non-diverse General Assembly has passed several laws requiring taxpayer-funded schools to preach leftist assumptions about “gender” and sexuality starting in kindergarten and to indoctrinate faculty with those same assumptions through “professional development.”

Here are articles about three bills that passed requiring leftist indoctrination in public schools:

Leftist Public School Indoctrination Bill Moving Forward in Springfield

Another K-12 School Indoctrination Bill Coming Through the Illinois Sewage Pipeline

Leftist State Board of Ed and Lawmakers Collude to Indoctrinate Illinois Students

It’s not just Illinois, the Land of Illiberalism that’s corrupting public education. What’s taking place just over the border in Wisconsin illustrates the presumptuousness of public servants in indoctrination camps that self-identify as “schools.”

Last month, Empower Wisconsin exposed a bit of what an Eu Clair Area School District (ECASD) in Eu Claire, Wisconsin imposed on all staff and faculty during their Feb. 25, 2022 “Equity Professional Development” on “Safe Spaces.” (Is there any word more abused by leftists than “safety”?) A slide presentation included this galling statement:

Remember, parents are not entitled to know their kids’ identities. That knowledge must be earned.

Who put leftists in charge of what parents are entitled to know about their own children? Who gave leftists the moral authority to conclude that parents must earn the right to know their children’s “identities”?

That claim is brazen and presumptuous. For those who have worked in public schools or studied closely what’s been taking place incrementally over the past three decades, such a claim is not, however, surprising. And it’s widely shared by leftists in schools across the country.

The Federalist reported that Superintendent Michael Johnson justified this violation of parental trust by saying he wants to create an “equitable, safe and inclusive” place “for all students.” Further, Johnson said,

Our staff often find themselves in positions of trust with our students. The staff development presentation shared extensive data and information to assist our staff members in our ongoing efforts to create a safe and supportive learning environment for all students. … The ECASD prides itself on being a school district that makes all students feel welcome and safe in our schools.

Does being in a position of trust require staff members to affirm all identities? Does it require concealment of all identities or just the ones staff members have concluded are good, healthy, and morally acceptable?

If staff members found themselves in positions of trust with students who identified as zoophiles, sibling lovers, or polyamorists, would parents have to earn the right to that information?

Are Johnson et al. concerned about cultivating the trust of parents or about making all parents feel welcome and included?

Johnson asserted that “the staff training focused on data showing students who identify as non-heterosexual have a higher incidence rate of mental health issues than heterosexual students.” Did Johnson and his buddies look at long term health risks from “transitioning”?

Did they examine material suggesting that gender dysphoria—like depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation—may be a symptom of some other underlying condition or caused by trauma?

Did Johnson and his propaganda collaborators look at the data and information regarding detransitioning?

Have Johnson and his ideological compeers researched deeply the issue of Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria—a social contagion that is resulting in explosive growth in the number of adolescent girls suddenly deciding they’re boys—a heretofore nonexistent phenomenon?

Every organization leftists cite to justify their efforts to promote their views of “gender” and sexuality in schools are controlled by leftists. And every statistic and tidbit of “information” leftists cite to justify their efforts is arguable. But no debate is permitted by ideological tyrants who presume their subjective assumptions are inarguable objective facts.

I will conclude with this call from philosopher, theologian, and Princeton law professor Robert P. George a year ago–a call that’s even more urgent today:

If you have kids in public schools in New Jersey or a state that has similar laws mandating the indoctrination of children in public schools on matters of sexuality, and if you do not believe in the “Woke” ideology into which your kids are being indoctrinated, I urge you in the strongest possible terms to get your children out of those schools. The indoctrination literally begins in Kindergarten and First Grade.

The state-run schools in New Jersey and elsewhere now reflect the adoption by the State of an established religion. It is not a traditional religion, and it is not theistic, but it is a religion nonetheless–a system of ideas embodying a particular view of human nature, the human good, human dignity, and what is most important (“sacred”). The public schools are as “religious” today as they were at the beginning when they reflected the Protestant Christianity that was dominant when public education began in the U.S. in the 1830s. The difference is that Protestant Christianity has been replaced by secular progressive ideology.

If secular progressive ideology is not your family’s religion, your kids don’t belong in schools dedicated to promoting it–and to indoctrinating children in it. Your kids should be brought up in your own faith. Allowing them to be educated in a set of dogmas that are antithetical to your own beliefs simply makes no sense.

Get them out.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/If-You-Care-About-Children-and-Americas-Future-Keep-Your-Kids-Out-of-Public-Schools.mp3

This article was originally published in 2017 at The Newman Report:

A longtime education activist seeking to rescue Christian children from government schools, Exodus Mandate Director Lt. Col. E. Ray Moore (ret.), is seizing on the release of the new movie Dunkirk to advance his cause.

Moore, a retired military chaplain who now runs Frontline Ministries, sees the inspiring story of Dunkirk — when ordinary citizens banded together in heroic fashion to rescue stranded Allied troops from annihilation — as a metaphor for what must take place today in America.

But instead of saving troops, the goal now is saving America’s children from the spiritual, moral, and mental destruction wrought by the government “education” regime and the establishment behind it.

The story of Dunkirk is well known — at least to older Americans and those who were educated outside of government schools.

In essence, over 300,000 British and Allies troops were completely surrounded by National Socialist (Nazi) forces at the beaches of Dunkirk. They were facing complete and total destruction.

But then, a miracle happened: A massive flotilla of boats and ships manned largely by civilians — from private yachts and commercial vessels to fishing boats and British Naval ships — set sail to rescue the stranded troops. By the time it was over, more than 330,000 soldiers were rescued.

A hit new film called Dunkirk by Christopher Nolan is now re-acquainting a new generation of Americans with the historic events.

But Moore, who first picked up the Dunkirk theme many years ago, wants to go one step further: Using the inspiring saga to urge Americans from all walks of life to band together and rescue America’s children.

“Today the U.S. is in an emergency with millions of children trapped in the pagan, leftist and godless public schools,” Moore told Freedom Project Media. “Let every local church, homeschool co-op, private or Christian school, and conservative organization answer the ‘Call to Dunkirk’ and rescue our children from the government schools.”

Working with other Christian and education leaders such as Dr. Bruce Shortt and internationally renowned Pastor Voddie Baucham, Moore actually produced a short video years ago called “The Call to Dunkirk” seeking a mass exodus from government schools.

Moore said the theme related well with the recently released movie Dunkirk, saying it could serve as a tool for homeschool and Christian families to bring attention to the current “emergency” in K-12 schools.

“Use it aggressively with your family, friends and neighbors for this modern rescue operation for our children,” he said.

While his message was viewed by even some conservative and Christian leaders as somewhat radical decades ago, Moore’s sounding of the alarm has gained more and more recognition in recent years. Earlier this year, for instance, Moore did a two-day radio interview on the subject with Dr. James Dobson, one of America’s most well-known and respected evangelical leaders.

Among those who have exposed this agenda are Charlotte Iserbyt, a senior advisor at the Reagan administration’s U.S. Department of Education. When she realized what was going on — and obtained the documents to prove it — she launched a historic effort to get the word out. Her book, The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America, exposed the evidence she collected to a massive audience.

As this writer has also documented extensively, the establishment behind the government school system is harming and even destroying children across America on an industrial scale. With options such as the Freedom Project Academy, homeschools, Christian schools, and more available today, there can be no more excuses for parents.

(Republished with permission.)

“They hate him who reproves in the gate,
And they abhor him who speaks with integrity.”
~Amos 5:10

We have all seen and heard many shocking stories relating to public schools, such as the Zoom video where a teacher gets offended by a 10-year-old student for saying that he admires Donald Trump, or the insane Critical Race Theory or LGBTQIA indoctrination that students are constantly fed. This following story, however, is on a whole new level of demented, even for public schools.

This shocking story is from a Texas middle school. A teacher named Lisa Grimes was caught on camera complaining about how not everyone is properly vaccinated and that she wishes “conservative Christians” would “get COVID and die,” presumably because the stereotype of people who refuse the vaccine is hardcore, conservative Christian. This is crazy, even for a public school. We expect things like Critical Race Theory (CRT), racy or edgy books in the library, nonsensical LGBTQ policies or teachings, or extreme anti-Trump rhetoric from teachers, but this is by far the most bold and blatant a teacher has ever been in expressing their deranged (and hateful) Leftist ideology.

Grimes admitted to hating Christians to the point that she does not even want them to have the right to live. While it is understandably shocking and sickening to hear a teacher say outright that they hate Christians and want Christians to die, it shouldn’t be at this point in time. While I acknowledge that many teachers, both in public and private schools, can be great Christian role models, the system as a whole is clearly fostering an extreme anti-Christian bias that seems to elude many people, even when the schools make it so obvious. Many of the ideas they teach in public schools are not just immoral, but completely contradict and are the antithesis of Christianity.

Public Schools have made their position clear time and time again through their constant Leftist propaganda and insane views on gender. We already know what public schools as a whole think about Christians. While the teacher in the video actually says she hates Christians, most public schools still spread the same message of anti-Christian hatred, but through more subtle means. Students are taught to believe that identifying as LGBTQIA is not only something to not be ashamed of, but rather, it is something to be celebrated. They are taught that anyone who opposes this view is a bigoted piece of garbage. We can see how the hate for Christians naturally follows from these teachings.

Christians are commanded to abstain from sexual immorality, which includes LGBTQIA behavior, so it follows that they are seen as “bigots” or “homophobes” or “intolerant.” Since students are taught to oppose homophobia or anything remotely anti-LGBTQ, they perceive Christians as their number one enemy. The idea of staying sexually pure before marriage and forgoing other immoral acts wasn’t that crazy until recently. But now, unfortunately, this belief is seen as not only kind of weird or different, but as intolerant and horrible.

And who can forget about Critical Race Theory? While this one may not be as painfully obvious, CRT also directly contradicts Christian principles. God has created all of us equal in His eyes, but CRT teaches the exact opposite. Now, students are subtly brainwashed into opposing equality. They are taught to treat people differently purely based off the color of their skin, which is completely opposite to how a Christian should act. Whether we realize it or not, whether it is subtle or blatant, as with the teacher in the video, public schools are in direct contradiction with Christianity, and not only that, they also actively promote hatred of Christians through the ideas they teach. One cannot be an extreme Leftist and a Christian at the same time; it’s just not possible. This is a controversial thing to say, but it is something that we should acknowledge. To say that you embrace both Leftist propaganda AND Christian beliefs is nearly as ludicrous as saying that you are Islamic, but you follow the teachings of the Bible and Jesus Christ. In fact, saying you are a liberal Christian may be even worse since there is absolutely nothing in common with the two ideologies.

While it may pain us to admit this harsh reality, since so many people have been brainwashed into the cult of Leftism, that doesn’t mean that there is nothing we can do about it. The most important thing we can do as everyday citizens is spread the Good News of the Gospel and hope people come to Jesus on their own. This approach will be difficult, especially as many of these Leftists already believe they are Christians. So, if someone spreads the Word to them, they may discount or ignore it, thinking that they are already Christ followers. Hopefully, God will bring about some kind of revival in these hard times, because it is only by Him, working through us, that the minds of so many people can be changed.

While it is sad to think that a whole generation of kids are being brainwashed by the liberal propaganda machine that is the government school system, that doesn’t mean there is no hope left for America. Many parents are starting to realize just how awful the schools actually are through stories such as the sexual assault scandal in Loudon County schools or through the COVID-19 pandemic where so many students were online and parents could hear and see their kids’ classes. Many parents are getting involved by going to school board meetings or even running for a seat on their local school board. But the least, and perhaps the most important thing, we all can do is to stop sending our children to public schools. I realize it can be difficult, or maybe even impossible for some families, but if you are able to enroll your child(ren) in a private school or homeschool them, in the long run it will help all of us to defeat the public school system.

Since public schools have made it so clear that they hate Christianity and everything it stands for, we should do everything in our power to make sure that children do not end up spending all day in a place where they are hated and mocked for their “radical” beliefs. Children should not be told that they are “hateful” or “bigoted” for simply holding traditional Christian beliefs, yet, that seems to be a major goal of public schools. So major in fact, that they call parents who go to school board meetings to defend their children and their beliefs “domestic terrorists.” With language that extreme, many public school teachers and administrators are definitely pushing a truly radical agenda and they won’t stop unless we stop them.

Wheaton College, once one of the finest Christian colleges in the country, proves yet again that evangelicalism has been corrupted by anti-biblical worldviews.

Recently, during a question-and-answer time following chapel, Wheaton College president, Philip Ryken, was asked if Wheaton teaches critical race theory (CRT). Presumably, the student was not asking whether professors teach about CRT as a much-criticized theory. Presumably, the student was asking if any professors promote or affirm CRT as they teach it. It has been reported that Ryken seemed uncomfortable with the question, but ultimately admitted that yes, Wheaton College does teach CRT.

As I wrote earlier (“Wildly Woke Wheaton College Professor Nathan Cartagena,” “Critical Race Theory Finds a Home a Wheaton College” ) Wheaton College Assistant Professor of Philosophy Nathan Cartagena teaches CRT. His faculty webpage says, “His teaching and scholarship focus on race, racism, [and] critical race theory.” So committed is he to promoting CRT that he made employment at Wheaton conditional on his freedom to promote it.

Cartagena is not alone. Here is the content of several slides Wheaton College Associate Professor of Anthropology Christine Jeske recently showed in class:

1. Race is a concept that was created by white people to gain social and economic privileges.
2. “Whites are taught to think of their lives as morally neutral, normative, and average, and also ideal, so that when we work to benefit others, this is seen as work that will allow ‘them’ to be more like ‘us.’ (Peggy McIntosh)
3. whiteness—A normative structure in society that marginalizes People of Color and privileges White People
4. Assumed racial comfort of whiteness—the habitus of whiteness learned in the United States includes: ▫ white people being able to avoid thinking about race ▫ white fragility

On Oct. 29, 2021, another Wheaton College anthropology professor, Brian Howell, tweeted twice on an article appearing in First Things Magazine and the subsequent response from a Wheaton College theology professor:

1. “Thank you, @commentmag, for providing space for a thoughtful response to a lamentable piece [by Gerald McDermott in First Things Magazine]. You model the sort of Christian commentary we desperately need today.”
2. This is exactly the right response to a lamentable piece from @firstthingsmag. Thank you, @vbacote! Please. Do better, First Things

In both tweets, Howell linked to the “thoughtful response” by Wheaton’s Vince Bacote, Professor of Theology and Director of the Center for Applied Christian Ethics.

The “lamentable” article to which Bacote was responding is titled “Woke Theory at Evangelical Colleges”  by Gerald McDermott, editor of the anthology Race and Covenant, that includes essays by, among others, Alveda King, Carol Swain, Glenn C. Loury, and Robert L. Woodson, Sr.

In a measured tone, McDermott warns Christian parents who “assume that evangelical institutions are free from” secular ideologies like CRT to look more closely at such institutions given some recent events at Wheaton College, Baylor University, and Samford University. He provides specific evidence to justify his concerns.

Bacote begins his “thoughtful response” by expressing his “exasperation and anger” about McDermott’s “lamentable” article, which Bacote claims suffers from “minimal evidence, anonymous voices, and suggestions of infidelity to the faith.” He described the article as “ephemeral” and “thin, because the article seems not to be the result of an effort to know what is really happening at institutions like my own and others.”  Bacote “wonders whether McDermott thought to go to the sources of purported wokeness at Wheaton, Baylor, and Samford, instead of merely to the voices of concern or worry.”

Bacote also acknowledged the temptation to take the “road of holy rage,” but decided instead to write “from a place of lament.” Yeah, right.

Bacote blames the adoption of a “secular gospel” by “evangelical institutions”—presumably including evangelical colleges like Wheaton—on the failure of these institutions to do the following:

to become places founded on the biblical truth of a God who wants His people to be agents of justice, places that are part of a kingdom whose citizens pursue a primary fidelity to God alone … places filled with kingdom citizens who love their neighbors as themselves  … places that lead the way in showing how people across races and cultures can live well together; places whose members seek a sanctified life expressed by forms of public engagement that help our country become a place of flourishing for all citizens.

Ironically, Bacote doesn’t provide any evidence for his rather breathtaking indictment of evangelical institutions. He doesn’t even try to prove that evangelical institutions have failed to become places founded on the biblical truth of a God who wants His people to become agents of justice or that they have failed to become places filled with kingdom citizens who love their neighbors as themselves. Bacote provides less evidence for his expansive charges than McDermott does for his limited claims.

Bacote alleges McDermott took a statement made by Dr. Sheila Caldwell out of context—a statement McDermott included as evidence for his claim that Wheaton may be awokening.

Until June, Caldwell was Wheaton’s Chief Cultural Engagement Officer, a position she left to become Southern Illinois University System’s Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer. In order to fill in the gap that so incensed Bacote, I will provide more of the context of Caldwell’s surprising (and some would say inappropriate) speech to students at Wheaton’s “Inaugural Racialized Minority Recognition Ceremony” (to clarify the murky sophistry, this was Wheaton’s first racially segregated graduation ceremony). Here is the larger context of the quote McDermott included in his “lamentable” article. These are the words of Dr. Sheila Caldwell:

We must resist America and her institutions when they place limits on our God-given abilities and attempt to regulate us to a caste system, which is defined as a system that presumes the supremacy of one group over another based on arbitrary boundaries to keep the right groups in their assigned place. In other words, if you are a racialized ethnic minority, the caste system communicates that your place in society is beneath the majority or privileged caste. …

As a black woman, many have tried to condition me to believe that if I do not assimilate or if I do not conform to the white power structures or if I’m not deferential and submissive to the patriarchy, then I’m a problem, [that] if I speak boldly, and directly, and clearly that I’ll be perceived as someone who is angry or ill-tempered. Their aim is to have me shrink myself to make them feel more comfortable and to not resist the caste position that was not only assigned to me but my parents, my grandparents, and my great-grandparents in America.

And I’m not the only woman from a racialized ethnic background that has been imprisoned by a tyrannical caste system. One aspect of living with dignity is acknowledging others who have suffered under the dominant caste. Dr. Larycia Hawkins was another woman who experienced more pain than protection because she was not a member of the privileged group.

During my early tenure at Wheaton College, I embarked on a listening tour and came to learn from the testimonies of over ninety individuals that Dr. Hawkins was deeply admired by faculty, staff, students as well as alumni in the Wheaton College community. Every last one of them initiated a conversation without my prompting. I’ve never spoken to Dr. Hawkins. I’ve never met her. But without my prompting, over ninety people decided they wanted me to know what they thought of her.

The overwhelming majority spoke favorably about her unflappable disposition and deep convictions that was [sic] misinterpreted by some as insolence and insubordination.

As I close out my tenure at Wheaton College, I continue to bend my ear to stories told and untold about Dr. Hawkins. Stories that speak to her walking with dignity and declaring her full humanity as a black woman, stories of her maintaining grace, integrity, and composure when she was pressured to know her place and stay in her place. She refused to defer to structures and processes that would cement her position in the American caste system.

In the same way, I would encourage you to not only resist powerful, inequitable infrastructures but to work relentlessly and passionately to pursue anti-racism—not only for yourselves—but for all who are equally, wonderfully, and fearfully made in the image of God.

What I would also like to say is that the spirit of God led me to say that, so please don’t call the Alumni Office. Please don’t email SAC [Senior Administrative Cabinet].

Does it concern Bacote or Howell that while First Things subscribers were free to read McDermott’s article or not, Caldwell delivered her screed to a captive audience there to see their children’s accomplishments honored—not to hear an embittered social justice warrior accuse without evidence Wheaton College of racism?

I’m not sure how Caldwell knew that it was the spirit of God that led her to condemn her employers at a graduation ceremony and without providing evidence. And I’m not sure how she knew it was the spirit of God that led her to remain silent on other aspects of the Larycia Hawkins mess—aspects that many of the parents in the audience might not have known.

For example, Caldwell could have mentioned that Larycia Hawkins said Muslims and Christians worship the same God. Wheaton administrators and the Board of Trustees may have found that more significant than Hawkins’ unflappability.

On Dec. 10, 2016, Hawkins wrote in a Facebook post,

I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book. And as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same God.

I wonder too if Bacote was troubled by the absence of evidence from Caldwell for her claims.

Who tried to condition Caldwell to believe that she had to assimilate or conform to white power structures or to believe that if she spoke directly and clearly, she would be perceived as angry?

How did that conditioning happen?

What specifically are the white power structures to which she was conditioned to assimilate?

Was this conditioning implemented by one person, two, ten? Were the conditioners white or black? Was the conditioning part of a system, or was it committed by sinful individuals? If it was part of a structure, what was the structure?

Who misinterpreted Larycia Hawkins’ “deep convictions”?

What specifically did Hawkins say that was viewed as “insolence and insubordination”? Who viewed Hawkins’ mysterious statements as “insolence and insubordination”?

Since “Every last one” of the ninety people “initiated a conversation” with Caldwell about Hawkins without Caldwell’s “prompting,” what exactly was she asking when she embarked on her listening tour over three years ago? It’s odd that alumni would seek out a new employee to share their unsolicited feelings about a person who hadn’t worked at Wheaton for three years. Enquiring minds would like to know a bit about the political orientation of the ninety people who pursued Caldwell to share their unsolicited feelings about Hawkins.

One wonders if Caldwell thought to go to the sources of purported lack of protection for or misinterpretation of Hawkins or if Bacote thought to go to Caldwell for the names and evidence.

Bacote may have a point about the failure of evangelical institutions to address justice from a biblical perspective. I can’t recall hearing from Wheaton College professors or President Ryken about the injustice of men masquerading as women and invading women’s bathrooms and locker rooms. I can’t recall hearing about Wheaton profs protesting the manifestly unjust sexual integration of women’s sports or the efforts to compel teachers to refer to students by incorrect pronouns that deny God’s created order. Do the social justice warriors among Wheaton faculty protest the obscene novels and plays purchased with their tax dollars and which promote biblically prohibited sexual deviance to children? Do Bacote, Howell, and other wokesters at this leading evangelical institution lead the fight against the chemical and surgical mutilation of minors and adults as a “treatment” for healthy bodies created by God? Do those failures exasperate and enrage Vince Bacote and Brian Howell?

In conclusion, Gerald McDermott’s thoughtful warnings are warranted.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Wheaton-College-Is-Not-Your-Grandfathers-College.mp3

Name your home school – Your kids (and others) will be glad you did

For two years, Illinois children were kept home from school for varying amounts of days if they had tested positively with COVID, if they had been in contact with someone that had tested positive, or if their classes had “gone remote” at the administration’s discretion.

Now, as the medical emergency dies down, there is a new effort to account for school age children that aren’t returning to government school classrooms. School districts are tapping truancy officers to find out why those enrolled students are not back at their desks.

Illinois Family Institute’s Executive Director David Smith says he’s hearing from families that have decided during the past two years that homeschooling is the educational option they want to pursue.

These families – as well as others that have never been enrolled in the government school system – are being contacted by local truancy officers required by law to report to the regional superintendent and the Secretary of State names of enrolled pupils that are not regularly attending school.

So just how should Illinois homeschooling families respond to truancy officers’ visits and requests?

It’s a little complicated to find the way through the Illinois School Code, but once the overall perception of “home schools” in Illinois is understood, parents should be emboldened to continue their chosen paths for their families, and not fear visits or queries from truancy officers.

It starts with simply providing homeschooled students with the answer to a question they are likely asked all the time: What school do you go to?

What does the Illinois compulsory school attendance require?

Illinois’ compulsory attendance law is found in 105 ILCS 5/26-1, which says essentially that whoever has custody or control of a child between the ages of 6 and 17 shall cause such child to attend some public school in the district wherein the child resides.

But there are some exceptions to 105 ILCS 5/26-1, including “Any child attending a private or a parochial school where children are taught the branches of education taught to children of corresponding age and grade in the public schools, and where the instruction … is in the English language.”

So, Illinois requires parents or guardians to send their kids of compulsory age to government schools, unless the pupils are enrolled in private or parochial schools that teach similar courses for appropriate ages – and in English.

How do those requirements for private and parochial schools directly apply to Illinois home schools?

In 1950, that same question was asked of the Illinois Supreme Court.

The Court decided in People vs. Levisen that home schools are to be considered private schools. Thus, pupils enrolled in Illinois home schools – being under the umbrella of “private and parochial schools” are not required to attend public schools.  And home schools – as are non-accredited private and parochial schools – have not been under government school officials’ supervision since the Levisen ruling.

How is it best to convey the “private school umbrella” principle to local district officials?  

Local truancy officers are required to provide an amount of information to the Secretary of State and regional superintendents about students considered truant, missing from one to five percent of the state’s 180 required school attendance days.

There is no direction given for parents to convey such information to the government school system in the Illinois School Code, and there have been efforts for decades to prevent any such explicit directions being set into state law or the Illinois State Board of Education’s rules and regulations on the matter. Neither home school curriculum, attendance records, instructor plans, testing scores nor grading systems are currently required to be examined or approved by local school officials.

The argument has been that government school officials should not have the authority to tell non-government schools – including private home schools – exactly what worldview or methods their chosen curriculum may implement.

However, when a pupil’s name has been added either inadvertently or purposely to government school rolls, school officials are by law responsible for knowing why that pupil is no longer regularly attending until that child’s name is removed from government school attendance rolls.

How to remove a home-schooled child’s name from government school lists

The most efficient way many Illinois parents have removed their pupils’ names from government school lists is to notify the local school that their child has been transferred to a private school.

Many parents choose to simply name their home schools and notify school officials that, for example, “[Michael Anderson] will no longer be attending [Lincoln Elementary School], as he has transferred to and is now regularly attending [Maple Avenue Christian Academy], a private school under the auspices of Section 105 of the Illinois School Code 5/26-1.”

Any other information about the private or parochial school, its officials, its curriculum, its scheduling, is not required to be submitted to the government school system by current Illinois law.

Ignoring requests for information about where a child is enrolled in school is not recommended by legal experts. The officials have legal recourses they may use if their requests are not answered that may include state’s attorneys and the court system.

Cautions from a veteran Illinois homeschooler

Veteran homeschooling dad Harvey Bluedorn summed up Illinois law concerning dealing with truancy queries in this way:

The job of enforcing laws is that of the State’s Attorney in the county.  School Districts do not have legal powers. Schools do have regional superintendents and truant officers. They have no power to determine whether a home school is in or out of compliance with the compulsory education law. Only the court can make a conclusive determination.  Only a State’s Attorney can initiate a proceeding to get before a judge.  At most, the truant officer can refer a situation to the State’s Attorney with a recommendation.  The truant officer can describe the situation to the State’s Attorney, who must decide whether legal proceedings are appropriate to enforce the compulsory education statute, and if so, the most appropriate type of proceeding: a criminal action, a truancy petition or a neglect petition against the parents.  Each type of proceeding has different proofs and remedies.

School personnel have no judicial powers. They have no power to compel anyone to produce attendance or evidence. They do have the duty to investigate who is truant and who meets the private school exemption of the compulsory education statute.  That determination is not the same as a legal binding one.  A truant officer cannot compel or threaten or harass.  A truant officer has no power to subpoena records or search a home.  All he can do is say that based on the information he has, the matter is ripe for referral to a State’s Attorney. The issue before the truant officer is “How can I comply with my statutory duty of determining whether this child is truly a truant or a privately-schooled student?”

Conclusion

How adamant school officials are in enforcing truancy laws will likely depend upon the environment concerning truants in the community. Other factors may enter, including enticing state funding or the numbers of families that have made educational choices that heavily affect the government system.

But one way to ward off serious concerns is to begin by naming your home school, treating and thinking of your home school as the private school it is in Illinois, getting appropriate student curriculum in order and setting a schedule consisting of at least 180 school days per year – and then responding to local school official queries when and if they arise.

And when you name your home school, you’ll help your students to answer that often-posed query, “What school do you go to?”

They’ll be glad you did.

(The above information is not to be considered legal advice from Illinois Family Institute and is to be used only for consideration. IFI also recommends joining (for a fee) Home School Legal Defense Association before any legal action ensues.)