Speaker 1: Do you think you know enough about God? Oh well,
Speaker 1: if you're a kid going to elementary school in Texas,
Speaker 1: you might get your fill in public school. We have
Speaker 1: a ja to fill us in on this what you
Speaker 1: got for us?
Speaker 2: You know, we have covered several stories here on a
Speaker 2: nonprofit about states attempting to pass legislation that requires public
Speaker 2: schools to display some sort of Christian doctrine in the classrooms.
Speaker 2: But Texas is ready to take it one step further.
Speaker 2: Earlier this year, Texas passed law that allows the Texas
Speaker 2: Education Agency TEA to create its own free textbook. So
Speaker 2: what did they do? They created the Blue Bonnet Textbook.
Speaker 2: This is a kindergarten through fifth grade curriculum that includes
Speaker 2: biblical teachings and lessons. Unfortunately, there has been an update
Speaker 2: since dividing of this article and the textbook has been
Speaker 2: fully approved. But here's the kicker. Though it is allegedly optional,
Speaker 2: there is one caveat. If a school adopts the curriculum,
Speaker 2: they get money, money, money. The government is using funding
Speaker 2: as a dangling character to indoctrinate children. Color me unsurprised.
Speaker 2: This is his story from apn us by Nadia Leyton
Speaker 2: on November nineteen, twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1: I know we've seen something similar to this in Florida before,
Speaker 1: where they were trying to incentivize teachers going to continued
Speaker 1: education any getting paid for it, and also for the
Speaker 1: curriculum to be used in their classrooms. I see this
Speaker 1: move towards financially incentivizing it, which I do find interesting
Speaker 1: considering we're talking about a god that has everything right.
Speaker 1: But AJA, going back to you for a moment, what's
Speaker 1: really wrong with kids learning about things like the Golden
Speaker 1: Rule or something like that. I mean, isn't that a
Speaker 1: good thing?
Speaker 2: There's a lot of bad things about it. I me
Speaker 2: in Texas, So I was really invested in seeing how
Speaker 2: problematic this curriculum could be. So I looked up the
Speaker 2: document and I started searching the word Bible. In each
Speaker 2: one of the units in the kindergarten curriculum, there is
Speaker 2: a lesson about the story of the Good Samaritan or
Speaker 2: from the Bible. Right, So in this pitia of document,
Speaker 2: the phrase good Samaritan appears nearly one hundred times in
Speaker 2: reference to the Biblical story. It even goes as far
Speaker 2: in depth as to indicate to teachers how to teach
Speaker 2: these lessons. And one of the quotes that I found
Speaker 2: from the book was explain that this story is from
Speaker 2: the Christian Bible. It is from a very long time ago,
Speaker 2: and in the Christian Bible it was told by a
Speaker 2: man named Jesus. In the Christian Bible, Jesus gave many
Speaker 2: talks like the Sermon on the Mount, and he used
Speaker 2: the phrase do unto others as you would have done
Speaker 2: onto you. The Christian Bible says that Jesus told this
Speaker 2: story to people from Judaea, which is the region where
Speaker 2: Jesus himself was from. You did you, guys hear on
Speaker 2: the panel. Notice in that very quote, the sentence Christian
Speaker 2: Bible appeared four times. I am just absolutely appalled at
Speaker 2: the extent to which this is taken. Is teaching blatant misinformation,
Speaker 2: is made up history that isn't backed by historical evidence.
Speaker 2: So it's hugely problematic for me.
Speaker 1: I'm a little surprised I didn't mention didn't come in
Speaker 1: for peace. I came with the sword. I'm pretty sure
Speaker 1: they'll miss that one. But Scott, going to you, this
Speaker 1: Christian influence that AJ was talking about, how do you
Speaker 1: think that plays out to the politics, that are they
Speaker 1: challenging core principles of the First Amendment with this? So
Speaker 1: are they crossing a line in your mind?
Speaker 3: Well, I think it's clear that they definitely are crossing
Speaker 3: that line. To your point that you were talking about before,
Speaker 3: you asked about you know, what's the harm in having
Speaker 3: a story about the Golden Rule? But it's not just
Speaker 3: the stories, it's the context that those stories are presented.
Speaker 3: If we agree that these stories are talking about good things,
Speaker 3: then what they're saying is that good things come from
Speaker 3: the Bible, or good things come from Christianity. Here's where
Speaker 3: you get these good things, which is clearly not the case.
Speaker 3: I mean, obviously, you know, the Golden Rule is something
Speaker 3: that a lot of people, even non Christians, hold valuable,
Speaker 3: and there are variations of that you know pretty much
Speaker 3: anywhere you go. However, so is this challenging the core
Speaker 3: principles of the First Minute? Yes, definitely it is. It's
Speaker 3: holding one religion above all others. Religious freedom means that
Speaker 3: you don't have to necessarily read the stories about the
Speaker 3: Bible all the time. You can talk about other religion
Speaker 3: as well, or have no religion at all. And so
Speaker 3: I think the way that the Constitution is being interpreted
Speaker 3: these days is different. I hesitate to say that it's unconstitutional,
Speaker 3: because technically the Supreme Court is there to tell us
Speaker 3: what's constitutional and what's not. Their job is to interpret
Speaker 3: the Constitution. So at the very least, though the constitutional
Speaker 3: message or the constitutional core is kind of drifting, is
Speaker 3: drifting here, and so we're definitely seeing a change here.
Speaker 3: I will say that it goes against what the Constitution
Speaker 3: used to be interpreted to say, and that is that
Speaker 3: things like this have to fulfill a secular purpose. They
Speaker 3: have to not promote a particular religion over other religions,
Speaker 3: that kind of thing, And so I think we're seeing definitely.
Speaker 3: I don't know how you could get a more direct
Speaker 3: attack on that aspect of the First Amendment. I only
Speaker 3: wish that as much attention we're paid to the First
Speaker 3: Amendment as is to the Second Amendment by many of
Speaker 3: these people.
Speaker 4: And so it's very frustrating.
Speaker 3: And you know, the sad thing is, I think we're
Speaker 3: going to have to it's going to have to get
Speaker 3: much worse before things get any better, and so it's
Speaker 3: going to it's going to be a bumpy ride.
Speaker 1: Well, obviously you're right about the reality it's Supreme Court
Speaker 1: is going to make that decision, and the fact that
Speaker 1: this law exists is a good end that at least
Speaker 1: some people in Texas think there's a possibility that they
Speaker 1: have a Supreme Court that's receptive to this type of thinking. Now,
Speaker 1: I wish I disagreed with you, but like you, I'm
Speaker 1: not so sure that they're not right about this. But
Speaker 1: you mentioned also the Golden Rule and it being something
Speaker 1: that we can find in other religions, even older religions,
Speaker 1: And I think it's very telling, as Aj brought out,
Speaker 1: that they're branding it with the Bible says, the Bible says,
Speaker 1: the Bible says. And there's a reason for that, because
Speaker 1: if they were trying to teach some type of religion
Speaker 1: they start world religions, that's one thing, but that's not
Speaker 1: what they're doing. They're branding a certain religion and selling
Speaker 1: it to kids. Right now, Steven, about that selling the kids.
Speaker 5: Like I'm not a German historian, but like mindcom talks
Speaker 5: about like loving your country and being really patriotic, and
Speaker 5: those are really good things, right, Like shouldn't we also
Speaker 5: be like introducing mind coomp coloring bookstart fucking students. Wouldn't
Speaker 5: that be a great idea? How much longer until we
Speaker 5: get onto that?
Speaker 4: Give it time, Give it time, don't don't.
Speaker 1: Give them suggestion, Stephen, I know you're lucky enough to
Speaker 1: live in the United States, but damn but, Stephen, how
Speaker 1: do you think this incorporating religious teachings into public education?
Speaker 1: How do you think that undermines fat and based learning
Speaker 1: and critical thinking.
Speaker 5: It definitely dilutes it. And it also is an attack
Speaker 5: on the trust of educators, the fact that they can
Speaker 5: be like the fact that they aren't even saying that
Speaker 5: this is a belief system that it's believed that a
Speaker 5: guy named Jesus was the one who said this thing.
Speaker 5: It's just the fact that this came from the Bible
Speaker 5: and this is a fact. And this, like the fact
Speaker 5: that it is just completely dilutes any kind of evidence
Speaker 5: based learning that we want to be instilling in our
Speaker 5: kids in favor for what in favor for for dogma
Speaker 5: about a system and outdated, you know, bronze age myth
Speaker 5: based system that just happens to benefit power systems like it.
Speaker 5: It completely confuses, it should confuse the children about what
Speaker 5: is a reliable information and what is just propaganda, and unfortunately,
Speaker 5: these children are being robbed of the opportunity to think
Speaker 5: critically about what they should and shouldn't be swallowing because
Speaker 5: the same people who they trust to teach them that
Speaker 5: one plus two equals three and that C A T
Speaker 5: spells could act to is also the people who are
Speaker 5: telling them that these myths are real and that magic
Speaker 5: is real and that shouldn't have a place in their life.
Speaker 5: And I'm sorry, when it comes to protecting children, I
Speaker 5: get a little bit fired up. I'm not too sure
Speaker 5: if you can tell so. Stories like this are especially
Speaker 5: troubling to me because we as a society need to
Speaker 5: be protecting the next generation and not hobbling them with
Speaker 5: stories as myth dressed up as fact.
Speaker 4: You're here, that was a righteous fire. By the way, Stephen,
Speaker 4: that was a righteous fire.
Speaker 1: One thing I have to say is that you're you're
Speaker 1: absolutely right about the fact that when you mix in
Speaker 1: this myth along with facts and reality, you weaken the
Speaker 1: education that that child's getting. And if you tell them
Speaker 1: factionally correct things just by watering it down with honesty,
Speaker 1: you make everything suspect. And you also are literally taking
Speaker 1: away time where children could be learning things that are
Speaker 1: viable where they could be growing. Instead, they're learning as
Speaker 1: you put about bronze as myths.
Speaker 3: You know, it's a very it's a very biblical stance
Speaker 3: to prioritize the Bible and Christianity over the education of
Speaker 3: the children.
Speaker 4: I mean, that's there's a shifting of the priority there.
Speaker 3: The goal then of the of the school becomes not
Speaker 3: to produce thoughtful, knowledgeable children ready to take on the
Speaker 3: world's problems.
Speaker 4: It teaches them to be Christians.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: It's goal oriented rather than process oriented, and that's just
Speaker 3: a recipe for trouble and it's frustrating.
Speaker 2: You know. I bring this up a lot that you know,
Speaker 2: if you teach kids that that Jesus welcome water and
Speaker 2: that we need to drink water to survive in the
Speaker 2: same level of factualness, then kids are not going to
Speaker 2: be able to distinguish fact from fiction, right.
Speaker 4: Studies show that to be the case too. Studies show
Speaker 4: that to be the case.
Speaker 1: Yes, it does now ont you aj though? What do
Speaker 1: you think this promise of extra funding you mentioned for
Speaker 1: adopting this religious curriculum, what does that say about the
Speaker 1: influence of money and education in general?
Speaker 2: You really bothers me. But this, aside from the obvious
Speaker 2: violation of separation of church and state, that they're teaching
Speaker 2: myths as facts and showing Christianity and now thoughts, what
Speaker 2: bugs me is the fact that this is claimed to
Speaker 2: be an optional curriculum and it's not mandatory yet, but
Speaker 2: at the same time, schools that adopt the curriculum are
Speaker 2: going to receive extra funds. It's this good old paid
Speaker 2: and switch that Christians seem to love so much. Oh
Speaker 2: you want some money, here you go, but you got
Speaker 2: to indoctrinate the children first. As I mentioned at the
Speaker 2: beginning of the show, is this dangling carrots for schools
Speaker 2: that are underfunded. They need the extra cash, and sadly
Speaker 2: the targets the most vulnerable and they on the skids.
Speaker 2: That's why they focused on kindergarten.
Speaker 4: Through fifth grade.
Speaker 2: It's disturbing that when it comes to Christianity, they somehow
Speaker 2: get to bypast the legislation. And you know, it's meant
Speaker 2: all these legislations are meant to prevent public schools from
Speaker 2: promoting or advancing any particular religion, and they get to
Speaker 2: buy past that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that also, unfortunately, there's a goal of
Speaker 1: ruining the educate public education system in this country. I
Speaker 1: think that that will help feed their voucher program that
Speaker 1: they've been promoting everywhere, because as long as schools continue
Speaker 1: to I mean, if they've got to pay for Christian
Speaker 1: education to people, that's more resources that they already don't have.
Speaker 1: Even if they're getting additional resources far, this is going
Speaker 1: to take time. This is going to take effort, This
Speaker 1: takes away, and I think we'll just further devolve the
Speaker 1: public education system in general. And I think that's part
Speaker 1: of the goal.
Speaker 3: But you know, they're spinning, Sorry, they're spinning this as
Speaker 3: we're offering extra money for schools that buy into this.
Speaker 3: But I have a suspicion, call me a cinec here.
Speaker 3: I have a suspicion that it's what it's going to
Speaker 3: turn into, is that schools that don't adopt it will
Speaker 3: see their budgets diminish rather than the other schools getting boosted,
Speaker 3: and it'll be all in under the guise of, you know,
Speaker 3: we're boosting their budget, and it's really I don't think
Speaker 3: it's really going to turn out that way.
Speaker 4: Sorry to interrupt, I just wanted to slip that in there.
Speaker 1: But no worries. I remember back in when I was
Speaker 1: much younger, when they were raising the drinking ages here
Speaker 1: in the United States. Louisiana was one of the last states.
Speaker 1: And finally what they did is is they tied it
Speaker 1: into road funding US federal Front road funding, and that's
Speaker 1: why they finally got Louisiana to raise the rate. And
Speaker 1: I kind of think that's what they're doing here. It's
Speaker 1: kind of like, Okay, we're going to put more funding
Speaker 1: on this side. Right, you don't have to do it,
Speaker 1: but you're not going to get this. I definitely think
Speaker 1: that that's part of what you're talking about. But Scott,
Speaker 1: what do you think that this says about the rise
Speaker 1: of christian centric policies in public institutions and how is
Speaker 1: that going to alienate atheists and non Christians people whoor
Speaker 1: of other beliefs.
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, clearly, students come into a public school
Speaker 3: with influences already in their lives. They have their parents,
Speaker 3: they have their church, if they belong to a church,
Speaker 3: they have their community. So they're going to be coming
Speaker 3: in already having some ideas along those lines, and the
Speaker 3: Christian students they're going to feel right as rain. They're
Speaker 3: going to feel perfectly comfortable in there. They're going to
Speaker 3: make a perfect transition from Sunday school to Monday school,
Speaker 3: and the stories are going to be the same and
Speaker 3: it's not going to be a problem. But for children
Speaker 3: that are of different religions, they're going to see different stories,
Speaker 3: sometimes conflicting stories, and so this is going to undermine
Speaker 3: what they're learning at home and what they're learning at church, which,
Speaker 3: to be honest, it doesn't really bother me all that
Speaker 3: much that somebody won't be learning a religious message or
Speaker 3: that they'll have a religious message in their life that's
Speaker 3: being undermined. But you know, those families have a right
Speaker 3: to raise their children the way they want to, and
Speaker 3: if they want to raise them in a religion that's
Speaker 3: outside of Christianity, they should be able to and they
Speaker 3: shouldn't have their public school undermining their efforts to do so.
Speaker 4: Within reason, of course, and especially atheists.
Speaker 3: Who don't accept the you know, who don't buy into
Speaker 3: the religious beliefs at all, their children are going to
Speaker 3: be at a disadvantage when they go to those schools.
Speaker 3: They're not going to be able to address the information.
Speaker 3: And it's a question of we're just starting to realize
Speaker 3: the effects that representation has out in the public. We
Speaker 3: have many different marginalized populations who are fighting for representation
Speaker 3: in the media and the schools and you know, in
Speaker 3: every aspect of life. And so what we're seeing is
Speaker 3: a pairing down of that representation. And really it's one
Speaker 3: step in the process of making everybody Christians. And even
Speaker 3: the broadest interpretation of the of the Constitution now I
Speaker 3: think it's it's really silly, and so I think there's
Speaker 3: an opportunity here that they can't pass up. And so
Speaker 3: that's why we're seeing all this coming out, and it's
Speaker 3: really going to put a rift between Christian families and
Speaker 3: non Christian families, and that's not the kind of thing
Speaker 3: that we need added into the mix here right now.
Speaker 2: I completely agree with you, Scott, And you know, as
Speaker 2: the more read this document, the more shocked I was
Speaker 2: at how deeply inductrinating it is. Like another example I
Speaker 2: can give was in the fifth grade reading unit, they
Speaker 2: were discussing artists of the Renaissance period, and the lesson
Speaker 2: began by naming da Vinci right, and it was mentioned
Speaker 2: in that one of his greatest paintings was the Last Supper,
Speaker 2: but it wasn't just mentioned in the painting like it
Speaker 2: turned into a whole Bible study, I can you know.
Speaker 2: It was indicated that in order to understand the painting,
Speaker 2: one must understand the story of Jesus' last Meal. So
Speaker 2: it went on a two page in the description of
Speaker 2: the biblical story the Disciples God, how Jesus predicted his
Speaker 2: betrayal during the Last Meal. It was, without doubt, a
Speaker 2: Bible lesson, and the world then was presented as fact,
Speaker 2: not as myth. There was nowhere that clarified that this
Speaker 2: was not true.
Speaker 1: Well, of course, because we all know that Jesus had
Speaker 1: a last Supper, and well, you know, the truth is
Speaker 1: a thing that I've always wanted to know is who
Speaker 1: is that favorite disciple of his that was leaning up
Speaker 1: and lay up on his chest during the Last Supper.
Speaker 1: That's who I want to know.
Speaker 5: Who is that?
Speaker 1: No Christians never want to talk about him.
Speaker 2: That's the elated version.
Speaker 1: They should let me teach Sunday school and schools. Daryl, Now, Stephen,
Speaker 1: this strategy. Do you see this blending of education and
Speaker 1: religion serving just to reinforce existing power dynamics and discouraging
Speaker 1: critical thinking.
Speaker 5: Absolutely absolutely, yeah, Like, I full heartedly believe that this
Speaker 5: is I think one of the side benefits of a
Speaker 5: strategy like this is the creation of scapegoats, so that you'll,
Speaker 5: once we have the more we're able to clearly delineate
Speaker 5: the difference between the good Christians and the heathen non Christians.
Speaker 5: I think that once society encounters increased hardships from collapsing capitalism,
Speaker 5: I think the people who have been bought into this,
Speaker 5: the people who have been on the on the receiving
Speaker 5: end of perks from the from this crumbling system, they
Speaker 5: will need to find a bad guy to pin these
Speaker 5: crimes on. And I think that, you know, this is
Speaker 5: how we create scapegoats that we can you know, we
Speaker 5: can huddle up and decide who is on the inside,
Speaker 5: and then it's more clear who is on the outside
Speaker 5: and who we can point our rage at and who
Speaker 5: we can blame for the woes that we're facing. All
Speaker 5: the while, the people who have been perpetrating the system,
Speaker 5: the real criminals behind this, they're behind the scenes, they're
Speaker 5: laughing their heads off, they're off on Elon's spaceship to Mars.
Speaker 5: They're doing whatever the fuck they want because they've got
Speaker 5: the money, they've got the power, and they've got the
Speaker 5: stupid people to support them. And meanwhile, it's the disenfranchised,
Speaker 5: it's the marginalized people who are going to bear the
Speaker 5: brunt of the downfall of whatever it is that is
Speaker 5: coming down the pipe for us. So I feel like, absolutely,
Speaker 5: this is just a matter of controlling the masses and
Speaker 5: giving them a common enemy.
Speaker 1: As a kid, I was raised in a very conservative
Speaker 1: sect of Christianity, and so there were things that when
Speaker 1: I went to public schools that I was not allowed
Speaker 1: to be involved in because they were considered too worldly
Speaker 1: for the lack of a better way to put it.
Speaker 1: And I can't help but think now how it's reversed,
Speaker 1: because I can't help but think that they're going to
Speaker 1: be kids who aren't allowed to be involved in this
Speaker 1: in these classes, and they're going to end up being optionecized.
Speaker 1: They're going to be the ones sitting in the library,
Speaker 1: or they're going to be the ones doing the busy
Speaker 1: work nothing, the ones who didn't get to go to
Speaker 1: the field trip or do whatever was fine. And I
Speaker 1: think that that in itself is going to cause a
Speaker 1: negative feeling towards those people who did nothing other than
Speaker 1: not be Christian. Are parents who are Christian, even who
Speaker 1: are smart enough to realize, maybe I don't want somebody
Speaker 1: else teaching my kids what version of Christianity I believe.
Speaker 1: So I think they're just open a whole can of worms.
Speaker 1: But one thing I wanted to open up to all
Speaker 1: of you, and I'm going to start with you.
Speaker 5: Aj happen.
Speaker 1: Communities advocate for educational systems that prioritize inclusivity and critical
Speaker 1: thinking over this type of religious doctrination.
Speaker 2: I think the most important thing that people need to
Speaker 2: do is to be aware, to keep their eyes open
Speaker 2: and stay involved in the local legislative processes. I don't
Speaker 2: think a lot of people realize how important it is
Speaker 2: to vote in local elections and propositions being passed by
Speaker 2: the school boards that they're zoned into. And this specific
Speaker 2: textbook is so problematic. There were about fifteen out of
Speaker 2: sixteen units that had these biblical lessons, even as far
Speaker 2: as referring to God as the creator. So if you're
Speaker 2: someone of any faith other than Christianity, or if you're
Speaker 2: not religious at all, this shouldn't matter to you because
Speaker 2: the people at the top are working with really hard
Speaker 2: to infuse Christian nationalism everywhere that they can. This curriculum
Speaker 2: was approved thanks to that sneaky move by your very
Speaker 2: own governor, Greg Abbott. What happened was he placed a
Speaker 2: temporary board member on a seat that was going to
Speaker 2: be empty until twenty twenty five, and so the board
Speaker 2: voted seven eight, meaning that his appointee broke that tie
Speaker 2: in favor of approving the curriculum. So stay informed, stay involved.
Speaker 4: Scott, I would just echo what AJ said.
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, stay informed, stay involved, don't be afraid
Speaker 3: to speak up, you know, talk to your school's principal,
Speaker 3: talk to your district superintendent. The downside of this is
Speaker 3: that the ability for the public to make a difference
Speaker 3: in this is slipping away. You know, as we get
Speaker 3: further and further into this process, as this kind of
Speaker 3: thing gets more and more normalized and engraved or you know,
Speaker 3: kind of pushed into the system, it's going to be
Speaker 3: harder to fare all of that out. And so yes,
Speaker 3: it's important to stay active and stay involved, but it's
Speaker 3: also important to make sure you do that sooner rather
Speaker 3: than later, and pay attention to how larger election platforms
Speaker 3: can affect down ballot platforms.
Speaker 4: As well.
Speaker 3: So the ideas that are presented at the top often
Speaker 3: trickle down and are worked with at the lower levels.
Speaker 3: And so just be aware and don't be afraid to
Speaker 3: say anything, because the more people that speak up, the
Speaker 3: harder it becomes for them to continue progressing, especially at
Speaker 3: a local level, when if the whole community is pushing
Speaker 3: one way, it's going to be hard for those community
Speaker 3: leaders to justify their pushes in the other direction.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and Steven, anything you want to close out with,
Speaker 1: just homeschool your kids.
Speaker 5: That's the only solution.
Speaker 4: Get them out.
Speaker 5: It's fired.
Speaker 4: Get them out.
Speaker 5: It's a drop like this is a very like this
Speaker 5: still is. This is a parallel to me and my
Speaker 5: situation with my kids where I don't have full autonomy
Speaker 5: control over the messages that they get exposed to. That's
Speaker 5: just a reality. And the key isn't for me to
Speaker 5: be in control of all of the messaging that they'll
Speaker 5: be exposed to. The key is for me to just
Speaker 5: value teaching my kids critical thinking skills and really embedding
Speaker 5: and viuing them with those qualities. So you know, regardless
Speaker 5: of like I mean, I'm my influence, my control isn't
Speaker 5: going to extend out into very far into the greater world.
Speaker 5: The places where I have the most impact are the
Speaker 5: places within my hands grasp right, So I can be
Speaker 5: influencing my kids, and I can be speaking about the
Speaker 5: importance of being responsible parents that are actually engaged in
Speaker 5: helping educate their children. But that's the We definitely need
Speaker 5: to be thinking about bigger, bigger solutions to these problems
Speaker 5: as well. But I know the most important thing for
Speaker 5: me to do is to just own the choices that
Speaker 5: I have, and those are the things that happen under
Speaker 5: my own roof. So just being engaged and teaching my
Speaker 5: kids so that they can do the work themselves, so
Speaker 5: no matter what they are exposed to, they still have
Speaker 5: the undergirding of being able to think things through for themselves.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you see you mentioned homeschooling, but it doesn't
Speaker 3: have to be a formal homeschooling setting. It can be
Speaker 3: just having conversations with your kid about what they learned
Speaker 3: in school that day. You know, you can undo much
Speaker 3: of much of the indoctrination just by having conversations and
Speaker 3: breaking them out of that repetition that you know they
Speaker 3: would just regurgitate what they hear in school. You can
Speaker 3: break them out of that, and you can still encourage
Speaker 3: critical thinking at home, just yourself.
Speaker 1: Without a doubt. And I think that's one thing that's
Speaker 1: very important. You know, the Christians do have a handle
Speaker 1: on the fact that you get them young and you
Speaker 1: raise them young this way and then they will never
Speaker 1: depart from it, as it says, but obviously that's not
Speaker 1: completely true. But the reality is is that like Steven,
Speaker 1: like you said, and like Scott you pointed out, it's
Speaker 1: a matter of we have the opportunity to impact our children.
Speaker 1: We have an opportunity to impact the people that are
Speaker 1: within our sphere because the truth is that if they
Speaker 1: learn how to think for themselves and not just what
Speaker 1: to think, because that's what they're going to learn, and
Speaker 1: oftentimes in these classes, they'll figure it out themselves. So
Speaker 1: I think that that is one really good takeaway is
Speaker 1: the schools can teach whatever they want to, but that
Speaker 1: doesn't take away our ability to impact our own children.