Wisconsin State Superintendent of Schools, Jill Underly, recently gave a “State of Education” address in which she described Wisconsin schools as “on a precipice”. She went on to say, “We are at a critical moment in history, where we can choose hope and soar or we can choose destruction”. She was right on both counts but as wrong as she could be about what is pushing us over the edge. At a time when the vast majority of Wisconsin students are failing to master the fundamentals of reading and math, Underly wants to sow division by focusing on discrimination, diversity, and what she calls book banning.
She revealed her priorities when she said there is too much focus on test scores and not enough attention to what students say they want from their schools. “Our children want safety, they want to see leaders address discrimination, and they really want adults to stop banning books” “Creating safety for LGBTQ plus kids is not controversial”. Underly said. “It’s a bare minimum”.
The liberal agenda to fundamentally change our country has fully taken hold in many schools. Liberal activist educators are undermining parental rights and sexualizing children under the guise of safety. We can all agree that a safe environment is essential for every child. The role of teachers in achieving this should be limited to teaching and demanding respect for every person and having zero tolerance for the disruptive behavior that is allowed in many schools.
Underly turns the truth upside down. The liberal activists in some schools are mischaracterizing parental insistence on control over every aspect of their children’s lives as extremism and trying to exclude them from important information about what is going on with their children. Words like “book banning” are used in an attempt to equate the smut that has been introduced into some schools with classics like To Kill a Mockingbird. Underly is the wrong person for Wisconsin schools.
These eye-opening examples are going on right now.
A recent court case against the Kettle Moraine School District was decided in favor of the parents. The case involved a 12-year-old girl who was experiencing anxiety and depression and wanted to be addressed using a male name and pronouns. The parents asserted it was a violation of their rights to relate to their daughter as a boy without their consent. The school disagreed. The Waukesha Circuit Court sided with parents. When Kettle Moraine refused to comply with their wishes, her parents enrolled their daughter in another school, got her the mental health care she needed, and she is now doing well living her life as the female she is. In a recent interview, her mother explained how school officials blatantly told these parents they were advocates for their child, not for them. The student, now fourteen, said the “counseling and support” she received in the school encouraged her to pursue transitioning to a boy.
Gender dysphoria (distress over one’s biological gender) is an extremely rare disorder of the mind. It is estimated to affect a tiny fraction of 1% of people. The idea that gender can be changed is a lie – males have an “x” and a “y” chromosome and females have two “x’s”. This is unchangeable. The preoccupation with transgenderism in society today has morphed into the idea that anyone can choose their gender, change their gender, or choose to be no gender at all. The confusion this is creating for children is undoubtedly a factor in the rising rates of anxiety and depression.
In another attempt to shape the minds of children, Maine elementary schools are using a book entitled Killer Underwear Invasion which is supposedly meant to teach “news literacy.” Its content is how to “spot fake news, disinformation and conspiracy theories”. This book is recommended by the National Literacy Project (NLP), which is deeply entrenched with major media corporations. A stated goal of NLP is “collectively push back against misinformation in all its forms”. We have all experienced the push to censor free speech in recent years. Self-appointed arbiters of misinformation are working aggressively to control what we can say and hear. Killer Underwear Invasion takes it to another level by suggesting to children that they should not believe what their families tell them. Only journalists should be trusted to tell the truth. I have included pages from this book because you may want to see it to believe it. How would we know if this book made its way into Wisconsin schools?
Children are a blank slate at birth and highly impressionable throughout their formative years. Those with nefarious intent often target children. The Nazi Party used the Hitler Youth Movement to extend its influence throughout German society. It provides lessons for the times we are in.
Hitler Youth was the vehicle used to introduce children to Nazi ideology and policy. They were targeted for propaganda. In 1933 there were 100,000 members. By 1940, there were 7.2 million. Conformity was stressed, new books were introduced, and teachers joined the Nazi party in greater numbers than any other profession. Children were encouraged to report their family’s activities to officials.
There is a fierce battle being waged between the rights of parents to decide what is best for their children until they reach adulthood and the many external forces attempting to interfere. There is no question children belong to their parents. They will steal them if we let them.
