By Sharayah Colter
In Texas, Doss Elementary School in the Austin Independent School District received national attention Monday, March 21, when the popular social media account Libs of Tik Tok shared video of a gay pride parade taking place at the school. An assistant principal had shared the video and has since deleted it. Reportedly, in addition to the pride parade, students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade are participating in “community circles” in which they will discuss families, respecting differences, and “no place for hate.” In the school’s guidelines for the discussions, which have now been altered following public backlash, students were told “Respect privacy: “What we say in this room stays in this room.” The school district now denies that this wording encouraged children not to tell their parents about the group discussions—of course.
Often, Texans refer to Austin as “the Boulder, Colorado of Texas,” meaning it is not a bastion for conservatism, so perhaps an Austin school celebrating gay pride with a parade for elementary children does not come as a surprise to many. However, despite the insistence of many well-meaning conservatives, Christians, and educators who wish to calm parents’ concerns by saying “those things that you see on social media don’t happen here”—this infiltration of anti-biblical values is creeping into many public schools in both conservative and liberal portions of the nation, causing a growing number of parents to take a closer look at their local public schools. Recall, a Broward County, Florida school took elementary students on a field trip to a gay bar. Books depicting pedophilia and oral sex have been at the center of school board battles for many months now in many districts across the country. I will not even link here to the abhorrent images found in the book “Gender Queer,” but parents and fellow citizens, you should most certainly do your own research and then determine whether books such as “Gender Queer” have been added to your child’s school library. We see the assault on children also in Pixar’s purposeful inclusion of a same-sex kiss in the forthcoming movie “Lightyear,” and in last year’s video from the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus in which they said, “we’re coming for your children,” to “corrupt” them, and you will “barely notice it.” The group deleted the video after public backlash, but I saved the first half here and the second half here. Unfortunately, many, many more examples could be listed here of how children are currently at the center of a cultural assault in which things the Bible teaches are contrary to God and His standard of right and wrong are being thrust upon them.
In school, children are a captive audience to whomever and whatever is placed before them. As Christians, parents, and citizens, it is our job to determine what is being placed before that captive audience and to course-correct where necessary.
So, what can you and I do about it?
Parents: We must increase our involvement in four areas:
1. Classrooms: Does your child’s teacher know you by name? How well do you know the teacher? Make an intentional effort to be the most involved parent your child’s teacher knows. Friend the teacher on Facebook. Follow them on Twitter. Offer to bring cupcakes to school for special holidays. Offer to read to the children. Attend every function the school or the class holds. Email the teacher often to let them know you are thankful for them, thinking of them, praying for them, and happy to help in any way that would make their job easier. Be visibly and tangibly involved – not to be a nuisance but to be an engaged, caring parent.
2. Local school boards: Have you been to a meeting? Do you know who represents you? Would you consider running for a school board seat? Have you ever risen to speak at a school board meeting? This is another area in which parents need to be and are becoming more involved. We cannot expect leaders and policy makers to read our minds. Instead, we must be vocal about what we as parents want to see in our children’s schools which we pay for through our tax dollars. Those who would bring depraved and dangerous content into the schools are certainly involving themselves in the education process, and so must we. We can be polite and respectful, but we must be clear. An elementary school is no place for students to be learning about sex – be it heterosexual sex, homosexual sex, sexual methods, or sex-changing. Sex need not be discussed in an elementary school. Ever. …..Ever.
3. State legislation: Public school curriculum is set at the state level, governed by state boards of education and state legislation. Christians must not shirk away from being involved in government. If Christians refuse to be involved, the only people governing will be those who oppose biblical, Christian values, and that will result in policies and systems that further forget God and the Judeo-Christian values upon which our nation was founded. In America, we are fortunate to have a system of self-government, and it is our honor and our duty to be involved in the governing of ourselves. Who among us is wise, convictional, courageous, articulate and inclined toward leading well in these arenas? Let us seek out those people in our communities and encourage them to consider spending time in public service to guide the creation and implementation of laws and policies.
4. Above all – prayer: Scripture instructs us to be in continual prayer and to encourage fellow Christians to be in prayer as well.
Pray for your children to have a guard over their minds and hearts, that they will be protected from anti-biblical ideas and that the Lord will preserve their innocence.
Pray for teachers to instruct children in reading, writing, and arithmetic and to leave discussion of sensitive issues to parents.
Pray for school administrators to keep a watchful eye on what happens within the walls of their schools.
Pray for Christians to get involved in classrooms, school boards and government.
Pray for truth to prosper and Satan’s plans for destruction to be thwarted.
In summary, as a fellow Christian parent, I urge you, friends, to inform yourself, involve yourself, stand for truth and goodness as defined and described in Scripture, and pray daily for children who are so clearly the target of our enemy – the devil. Even if your children are homeschooled or in private Christian school, millions of other children are in public school and need us to stand in the gap for them as well. Pray that the light of our Lord will shine brightly and point people away from the ever-advancing approach of darkness.
“This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” – 1 John 1:5