Totally agree! We homeschooled our kids and many said we were just sheltering them. I feel we were keeping them close during formative and influential years. They still participated in dance and sports and other extracurricular activities with friends from all types of schools, but they were with us more than not in the day to day. Both are now in a large public university (UF) and thriving. My oldest is heading to Cambridge in the Fall on full scholarship for her PhD in chemistry. Both kids are rooted in their faith in secular schools and our family has remained close. We are friends. I am a fan of the “miniature world” during those crazy pre-teen/teen years.
Thank you for this thoughtful post. From my perspective as a biological psychologist, former stay-at-home dad who raised three, and lifelong educator, I agree with you. Further, my sense is that there are many more people who agree with you than disagree with you. Thank you again. Sincerely, Frederick
There may be more people who agree, but they are silent. Speaking out against the Big Lie is dangerous, and most people are (justifiably) cowards: Democrats are destroying us by forcing everyone to kowtow to the ridiculous: "The Transgender Emperor": https://daveziffer.substack.com/p/the-transgender-emperor
I don’t think it’s necessarily cowardice that prevents people from speaking out. One must often choose the right moment, when speaking one’s mind might have the greatest impact. So often we face “the nuclear option” when discussing hot button topics. If you want to make an impact, you need to find a way past shutting down your interlocutor, who is primarily looking for a way to categorize and ignore you, or yell at you for having opinions that are not aligned with theirs. A shouting match solves nothing.
It's the silence of the lambs out here. They will vote for more and more psychotic insanity until they are gone. It's the Stockholm Syndrome writ large. I hate to be cliche, but most of the USA's people are nothing more than sheep lined up for slaughter.
Lined up for Luciferian initiation and normalized slavery. A happy domesticated cow is impossible to turn into a free flying eagle. It’s a waste of time to entertain the idea.
There is no "right moment" to have a discussion with lunatics. For example, this (see below) is the town where I live. My nearly 100% Democrat neighbors seem totally on board with this, given all the uncontested positive coverage this event got in the local press, and they just can't seem to get enough. I can't wait to see what they have planned for THIS June: "Family-Friendly Drag Queens come to Main Street": https://daveziffer.substack.com/p/family-friendly-drag-queens-come
Even the if you manage to change someone’s mind, they are typically not in a position to make any impact on society. Changing the minds of key influencers is the only worthwhile effort. I’ve been an activist for 20+ years. Most activists don’t even know what’s going on. I spend the majority of my time just educating other activists so that their activism is actually effective. The armchair warriors reading this have no clue how indoctrinated they are. It’s like dealing with livestock that believes it’s free to wander.
Christopher: I am a parent from your previous generation, here with a warning for you. Back in the 1990s my kids were in elementary school. We realized that some sort of pedagogical insanity had gripped the public schools, and that 1) children weren't reasonably being taught how to read 2) they weren't being taught much of anything else, either. I joined the first online group of parents nationwide seeking to revert the public schools to some sort of rational reading-instruction ideology. I personally spent seven years in that group, writing articles and lobbying for change. I came to realize that the schools had been ideologically insane since well before I was born, that two generations of parents had exhausted themselves trying to fix the schools, and that all of them had failed. We too failed.
Fortunately, at the start of my efforts (in 1994), I realized that no fix was coming soon, so we pulled our daughters from public school and home schooled them. It was possibly the best decision of our lives. And the best decision of your life will be to GET YOUR KIDS OUT. GET THEM OUT TODAY, BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE. In my era, the worst that'd happen in a public school is that your child would emerge illiterate, innumerate, and ignorant. Today your child has a good chance of emerging "trans", facing a lifetime hobbled with chemical and surgical disfigurement, possibly not having been in your custody for years.
A few years ago I decided to continue the literacy fight by producing a web site describing the whole nightmare and disclosing a simple solution whereby parents might teach their own kids to read. I created an in-person presentation that I expected to present to local community groups. I actively promoted my effort and actually ended up speaking to just one local group (the Rotary, I believe). Whenever I promote this or present this, the presentation ends with a polite sort of response and no referrals. It's definitely something people don't want to hear.
I am writing to warn you that you and all the parents of your generation that you are not going to fix the public schools. There is no cavalry coming to the rescue. There is no Lone Ranger. You are not going to wake your sleeping neighbors. Your school board's only function is to silence you. Nobody but this small cadre online is going to agree with you.
The popular belief in the greatness of the public (i.e. government) schools is every bit as pervasive and perverse as the ideology within the schools. There is no shaking people from it. There is only one direction for the public schools: deeper and deeper insanity. Our foreign enemies and our own ideological lunatics know where the kids are, and they know that our kids are our future. They are 100% dedicated in a way that no normal person is. You have only one option: GET YOUR KIDS OUT. If you're interested in my reading-instruction saga, here's my site: http://mychildwillread.org/
It wasn't until I had thoroughly explored your website that I learned you are the author of "Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons," a perennial homeschool favorite. I was an "Alphahonics" mom myself, and both are very effective. I taught both my children to read, and they are excellent readers. I am appalled at what passes for a "good reader" in today's schools. It is so easy to teach a child to read with either of these books, that every parent should do it. Ten minutes a day over a summer vacation would send children back to school so much better equipped. Thank you for your excellent book.
Thanks for the compliments, but I am not one of the book's authors. Like you I am just a user. I do not profit in any way from sales of the book, and I do not sell the book.
Learning to read without zero comprehension of how the world actually works and actual real history means you’ve wasted your time. Focus on priorities. Educate the self , then teach. Not before.
I must be misreading you, because you cannot be suggesting that we wait to teach children to read until they can comprehend how the world actually works. Reading is one of the most powerful ways we have of learning how the world works, and of real history. And as for "educating the self, then teach" is the fallacy of the expert. Parents are perfectly capable of teaching almost anything they are willing to learn. And learning alongside your child is very effective, for both parties. I highly suspect you are a Professional Educator, aka, a teacher.
Former executive director of a private Catholic school. I am trying to make the point that at this juncture in history it’s far more important to teach real history than anything else. You can read and consume fake history and end up enabling Luciferian-communist world government and being an ignorant active participant in that. This is the current path of 99% of all kids right now. Even most of the home schooled. The useful history that changes lives forever is never taught. It is actively repressed.
If you have a child at the optimal age for learning how to read, you don't have the option of waiting. If you have the right curriculum, you don't need to be educated to teach your child the mechanics of recognizing written words. In fact, you don't even need to be a good reader yourself. That's what my site is about.
You’re hitting all the right points, to my utter disbelief, because it’s so hard for the average person to stay focused when fighting hyper-aggressive emotionalists who spew word salad while mounting personal attacks and threatening your physical safety, including threats against loved ones.
However, it’s not enough to destroy the revolutionaries. We need to rebuild a resilient society to resist the onslaught of revolutionaries and pass on those ideas to the next generation. Interestingly, the revolutionaries have done much work in identifying those ideas that contribute to freedom and flourishing.
If you wish to raise children with traditional moral and American values, you must be a pro active parent and seriously consider all available options other than public education even and especially it means personal sacrifices and building a community with like minded families
I have noticed that in many communities where the schools have gone off the deep end, parents with school-age children are not in the majority. Progressive elites are more likely to be childless, or when they do procreate tend to be mess-ups as parents who are willing to sacrifice their children at the altar of Moloch. But they vote for the school boards which explains the many neo-Stalinist harridans who so often end up there.
In 2018 my husband and I moved our family to Someplace MN. We chose this place for the great public schools. In 2022 we pulled our kids from the public schools to send them to a private Christian school. We are not a religious family. But the main values of the Christian school are what we agree with. We have met several families who are there for the same reasons we are. We are fortunate that we can afford this choice although not our plan and not sure what college will look for our children since we are spending those savings now.
I am a public educator and always imagined my children attend public schools. They would be fine. But the schools are strong with their indoctrination. I cannot speak out at my own school. I will be pushed out, lose my job, lose my retirement I have been building, even in a strong union state. The schools are pervasive with their ideological agenda- principals (not all, but they cannot speak out, they will be pushed out, retire early), counselors, individual teachers (especially the ones without children), curriculum directors, the DEI really-doing-nothing employees and the district superintendents. I have found a tribe of individual teachers here and there who know this is wrong, and we are growing our circle as we find more like minded educators. But it's hard and we have to be careful. We stand strong in saying no to many things- using pronouns, reading certain required books, let agendas focus on race and dei based initiatives but the phrasing has to be so careful. I really just want to teach students how to read, do math, write well and be curious. The values are parents' (in my school we have to use the term caregiver) job not the schools.
You sound intelligent and even more important these days—sane. Is there any way you can try to slide in some messages that counter the woke stuff? Not directly but creative ways? I mean if the woke can indoctrinate surely you can do something that will help the kids counter what is a toxic and, ultimately, nihilistic pathology. Thank you for holding the line.
My jaw is hanging open after reading your comment. I just had a talk with my 5th grader's teacher last week, basically asking him "how will I know when it's time to get out of public schools". I don't see 7 more years happening at the current trajectory.
Thank you again for an inspiring post. I too live in a small town by choice. However, as you point out it is not without the problems associated to big cities. A local town councilor who I have learned is pro LGBTQ, is proposing that all town employees and union members be trained in DEI at tax payers expense, with the hiring of a trainer or trainers. Thanks to the education provided in your book and a collection of other eminently qualified individuals, such as Thomas Sowell, Douglas Murray, Heather MacDonald, Jordan Peterson and Ben Shapiro I wrote to the Town council in opposition against the proposal. I have shared same with a local Citizens Oversight Accountability group and a local firefighter to share with his Co workers. I have pledged to continue to oppose and expose this Marxist inspired indoctrination proposal.
I believe it is worth the fight. Saying it is futile is a defeatist mindset. It is the least I can do considering all that Christopher Rufo has accomplished. It reminds of the old sage, All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing'.
Kudos to Chris for the clarity of his vision and the courage of his actions, the two must be weaven together organically in day to day life to be alive as an individual and community. Lots to do and platforms are much needed to share and grow best practices.
Your courage and clarity, Christopher, are evident in this post as in all your writing. This really hits home, and writing about it as you do will undoubtedly encourage other parents to fight back against the vicious lynch mob that has taken over education at all levels in the U.S. Perhaps there is simply too much education (or what masquerades as such). Consider, if you will, not merely eliminating DEI, quotas, racialist doctrines, etc., but also printing unnecessary years of imprisonment in a clearly dysfunctional system.
A father’s role is flexible. His priorities change depending on the circumstances. He can serve as a warrior, protector, provider, thought leader, visionary, teacher, moral guide, coach, peacemaker, caretaker, researcher etc. A mother’s role should complement his strengths, and vice versa. Understanding comparative advantage is not necessary, but it can help; we are all wired to survive and flourish. We should be vigilant in reminding our opponents of their wrongs. We demand respect for ourselves and our rights: life, liberty and property.
Everyone would agree that children need good schooling. But it does not necessarily follow that public schools are axiomatically the places where it should primarily take place..... In the information-explosion, digital age, anyone who wants to educate themselves can do so. Pre-internet this would have been much harder. And could more parents working-from-home result in more homeschooling, aided by a growth of support networks like this, this and this? https://grahamcunningham.substack.com/p/teach-your-children-well
I homeschooled from 1990 to 2006, without benefit of the Internet. I think it would be more difficult in many ways now, as there are so many distractions and options, it would be nearly impossible to choose. It was bad enough back then.
I'm surprised you stay in Washington with the wokesheviks. I'd think your family would be better off in Florida (and the commute to New College would be less onerous).
Totally agree! We homeschooled our kids and many said we were just sheltering them. I feel we were keeping them close during formative and influential years. They still participated in dance and sports and other extracurricular activities with friends from all types of schools, but they were with us more than not in the day to day. Both are now in a large public university (UF) and thriving. My oldest is heading to Cambridge in the Fall on full scholarship for her PhD in chemistry. Both kids are rooted in their faith in secular schools and our family has remained close. We are friends. I am a fan of the “miniature world” during those crazy pre-teen/teen years.
Well done!
Thank you for this thoughtful post. From my perspective as a biological psychologist, former stay-at-home dad who raised three, and lifelong educator, I agree with you. Further, my sense is that there are many more people who agree with you than disagree with you. Thank you again. Sincerely, Frederick
There may be more people who agree, but they are silent. Speaking out against the Big Lie is dangerous, and most people are (justifiably) cowards: Democrats are destroying us by forcing everyone to kowtow to the ridiculous: "The Transgender Emperor": https://daveziffer.substack.com/p/the-transgender-emperor
I don’t think it’s necessarily cowardice that prevents people from speaking out. One must often choose the right moment, when speaking one’s mind might have the greatest impact. So often we face “the nuclear option” when discussing hot button topics. If you want to make an impact, you need to find a way past shutting down your interlocutor, who is primarily looking for a way to categorize and ignore you, or yell at you for having opinions that are not aligned with theirs. A shouting match solves nothing.
It's the silence of the lambs out here. They will vote for more and more psychotic insanity until they are gone. It's the Stockholm Syndrome writ large. I hate to be cliche, but most of the USA's people are nothing more than sheep lined up for slaughter.
Lined up for Luciferian initiation and normalized slavery. A happy domesticated cow is impossible to turn into a free flying eagle. It’s a waste of time to entertain the idea.
There is no "right moment" to have a discussion with lunatics. For example, this (see below) is the town where I live. My nearly 100% Democrat neighbors seem totally on board with this, given all the uncontested positive coverage this event got in the local press, and they just can't seem to get enough. I can't wait to see what they have planned for THIS June: "Family-Friendly Drag Queens come to Main Street": https://daveziffer.substack.com/p/family-friendly-drag-queens-come
Even the if you manage to change someone’s mind, they are typically not in a position to make any impact on society. Changing the minds of key influencers is the only worthwhile effort. I’ve been an activist for 20+ years. Most activists don’t even know what’s going on. I spend the majority of my time just educating other activists so that their activism is actually effective. The armchair warriors reading this have no clue how indoctrinated they are. It’s like dealing with livestock that believes it’s free to wander.
Christopher: I am a parent from your previous generation, here with a warning for you. Back in the 1990s my kids were in elementary school. We realized that some sort of pedagogical insanity had gripped the public schools, and that 1) children weren't reasonably being taught how to read 2) they weren't being taught much of anything else, either. I joined the first online group of parents nationwide seeking to revert the public schools to some sort of rational reading-instruction ideology. I personally spent seven years in that group, writing articles and lobbying for change. I came to realize that the schools had been ideologically insane since well before I was born, that two generations of parents had exhausted themselves trying to fix the schools, and that all of them had failed. We too failed.
Fortunately, at the start of my efforts (in 1994), I realized that no fix was coming soon, so we pulled our daughters from public school and home schooled them. It was possibly the best decision of our lives. And the best decision of your life will be to GET YOUR KIDS OUT. GET THEM OUT TODAY, BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE. In my era, the worst that'd happen in a public school is that your child would emerge illiterate, innumerate, and ignorant. Today your child has a good chance of emerging "trans", facing a lifetime hobbled with chemical and surgical disfigurement, possibly not having been in your custody for years.
A few years ago I decided to continue the literacy fight by producing a web site describing the whole nightmare and disclosing a simple solution whereby parents might teach their own kids to read. I created an in-person presentation that I expected to present to local community groups. I actively promoted my effort and actually ended up speaking to just one local group (the Rotary, I believe). Whenever I promote this or present this, the presentation ends with a polite sort of response and no referrals. It's definitely something people don't want to hear.
I am writing to warn you that you and all the parents of your generation that you are not going to fix the public schools. There is no cavalry coming to the rescue. There is no Lone Ranger. You are not going to wake your sleeping neighbors. Your school board's only function is to silence you. Nobody but this small cadre online is going to agree with you.
The popular belief in the greatness of the public (i.e. government) schools is every bit as pervasive and perverse as the ideology within the schools. There is no shaking people from it. There is only one direction for the public schools: deeper and deeper insanity. Our foreign enemies and our own ideological lunatics know where the kids are, and they know that our kids are our future. They are 100% dedicated in a way that no normal person is. You have only one option: GET YOUR KIDS OUT. If you're interested in my reading-instruction saga, here's my site: http://mychildwillread.org/
👍
It wasn't until I had thoroughly explored your website that I learned you are the author of "Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons," a perennial homeschool favorite. I was an "Alphahonics" mom myself, and both are very effective. I taught both my children to read, and they are excellent readers. I am appalled at what passes for a "good reader" in today's schools. It is so easy to teach a child to read with either of these books, that every parent should do it. Ten minutes a day over a summer vacation would send children back to school so much better equipped. Thank you for your excellent book.
Thanks for the compliments, but I am not one of the book's authors. Like you I am just a user. I do not profit in any way from sales of the book, and I do not sell the book.
Oh, my mistake!
Learning to read without zero comprehension of how the world actually works and actual real history means you’ve wasted your time. Focus on priorities. Educate the self , then teach. Not before.
I must be misreading you, because you cannot be suggesting that we wait to teach children to read until they can comprehend how the world actually works. Reading is one of the most powerful ways we have of learning how the world works, and of real history. And as for "educating the self, then teach" is the fallacy of the expert. Parents are perfectly capable of teaching almost anything they are willing to learn. And learning alongside your child is very effective, for both parties. I highly suspect you are a Professional Educator, aka, a teacher.
Former executive director of a private Catholic school. I am trying to make the point that at this juncture in history it’s far more important to teach real history than anything else. You can read and consume fake history and end up enabling Luciferian-communist world government and being an ignorant active participant in that. This is the current path of 99% of all kids right now. Even most of the home schooled. The useful history that changes lives forever is never taught. It is actively repressed.
We can agree on that. Can you recommend some books for me to read?
If you have a child at the optimal age for learning how to read, you don't have the option of waiting. If you have the right curriculum, you don't need to be educated to teach your child the mechanics of recognizing written words. In fact, you don't even need to be a good reader yourself. That's what my site is about.
“We should plan campaigns—but also dig trenches.” Amen. Protect your family.
🙏
You’re hitting all the right points, to my utter disbelief, because it’s so hard for the average person to stay focused when fighting hyper-aggressive emotionalists who spew word salad while mounting personal attacks and threatening your physical safety, including threats against loved ones.
However, it’s not enough to destroy the revolutionaries. We need to rebuild a resilient society to resist the onslaught of revolutionaries and pass on those ideas to the next generation. Interestingly, the revolutionaries have done much work in identifying those ideas that contribute to freedom and flourishing.
As an example, remember this?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/african-american-museum-site-removes-whiteness-chart-after-criticism-from-trump-jr-and-conservative-media/2020/07/17/4ef6e6f2-c831-11ea-8ffe-372be8d82298_story.html
If you wish to raise children with traditional moral and American values, you must be a pro active parent and seriously consider all available options other than public education even and especially it means personal sacrifices and building a community with like minded families
I have noticed that in many communities where the schools have gone off the deep end, parents with school-age children are not in the majority. Progressive elites are more likely to be childless, or when they do procreate tend to be mess-ups as parents who are willing to sacrifice their children at the altar of Moloch. But they vote for the school boards which explains the many neo-Stalinist harridans who so often end up there.
In 2018 my husband and I moved our family to Someplace MN. We chose this place for the great public schools. In 2022 we pulled our kids from the public schools to send them to a private Christian school. We are not a religious family. But the main values of the Christian school are what we agree with. We have met several families who are there for the same reasons we are. We are fortunate that we can afford this choice although not our plan and not sure what college will look for our children since we are spending those savings now.
I am a public educator and always imagined my children attend public schools. They would be fine. But the schools are strong with their indoctrination. I cannot speak out at my own school. I will be pushed out, lose my job, lose my retirement I have been building, even in a strong union state. The schools are pervasive with their ideological agenda- principals (not all, but they cannot speak out, they will be pushed out, retire early), counselors, individual teachers (especially the ones without children), curriculum directors, the DEI really-doing-nothing employees and the district superintendents. I have found a tribe of individual teachers here and there who know this is wrong, and we are growing our circle as we find more like minded educators. But it's hard and we have to be careful. We stand strong in saying no to many things- using pronouns, reading certain required books, let agendas focus on race and dei based initiatives but the phrasing has to be so careful. I really just want to teach students how to read, do math, write well and be curious. The values are parents' (in my school we have to use the term caregiver) job not the schools.
You sound intelligent and even more important these days—sane. Is there any way you can try to slide in some messages that counter the woke stuff? Not directly but creative ways? I mean if the woke can indoctrinate surely you can do something that will help the kids counter what is a toxic and, ultimately, nihilistic pathology. Thank you for holding the line.
My jaw is hanging open after reading your comment. I just had a talk with my 5th grader's teacher last week, basically asking him "how will I know when it's time to get out of public schools". I don't see 7 more years happening at the current trajectory.
Thank you again for an inspiring post. I too live in a small town by choice. However, as you point out it is not without the problems associated to big cities. A local town councilor who I have learned is pro LGBTQ, is proposing that all town employees and union members be trained in DEI at tax payers expense, with the hiring of a trainer or trainers. Thanks to the education provided in your book and a collection of other eminently qualified individuals, such as Thomas Sowell, Douglas Murray, Heather MacDonald, Jordan Peterson and Ben Shapiro I wrote to the Town council in opposition against the proposal. I have shared same with a local Citizens Oversight Accountability group and a local firefighter to share with his Co workers. I have pledged to continue to oppose and expose this Marxist inspired indoctrination proposal.
I believe it is worth the fight. Saying it is futile is a defeatist mindset. It is the least I can do considering all that Christopher Rufo has accomplished. It reminds of the old sage, All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing'.
Kudos to Chris for the clarity of his vision and the courage of his actions, the two must be weaven together organically in day to day life to be alive as an individual and community. Lots to do and platforms are much needed to share and grow best practices.
Lucid, sensible and, for these reasons, regrettably rare. Keep going Chris!
Your courage and clarity, Christopher, are evident in this post as in all your writing. This really hits home, and writing about it as you do will undoubtedly encourage other parents to fight back against the vicious lynch mob that has taken over education at all levels in the U.S. Perhaps there is simply too much education (or what masquerades as such). Consider, if you will, not merely eliminating DEI, quotas, racialist doctrines, etc., but also printing unnecessary years of imprisonment in a clearly dysfunctional system.
A father’s role is flexible. His priorities change depending on the circumstances. He can serve as a warrior, protector, provider, thought leader, visionary, teacher, moral guide, coach, peacemaker, caretaker, researcher etc. A mother’s role should complement his strengths, and vice versa. Understanding comparative advantage is not necessary, but it can help; we are all wired to survive and flourish. We should be vigilant in reminding our opponents of their wrongs. We demand respect for ourselves and our rights: life, liberty and property.
Treat it like the cult that it is.
Everyone would agree that children need good schooling. But it does not necessarily follow that public schools are axiomatically the places where it should primarily take place..... In the information-explosion, digital age, anyone who wants to educate themselves can do so. Pre-internet this would have been much harder. And could more parents working-from-home result in more homeschooling, aided by a growth of support networks like this, this and this? https://grahamcunningham.substack.com/p/teach-your-children-well
I homeschooled from 1990 to 2006, without benefit of the Internet. I think it would be more difficult in many ways now, as there are so many distractions and options, it would be nearly impossible to choose. It was bad enough back then.
I'm surprised you stay in Washington with the wokesheviks. I'd think your family would be better off in Florida (and the commute to New College would be less onerous).