HEATED Debate: Liberal Teachers vs. Christian Parents | Pastor Reacts

SATs One of the biggest things I think when it comes to homeschool is keeping my kids away from your baggage who should decide

What's being taught one side is labeled as a bigot white supremacist homophobic when you're being taught that oh this

There's you know this many genders or anything like this where you haven't been exposed to that in your own household It's being presented as like the end -all be -all when it actually isn't it's about educating and not indoctrinating

So child says I thought boys could not wear makeup I have an X &Y chromosome, and I'm wearing makeup. I could factually answer that without indoctrinating with any opinion

We have to make sure that we're respecting parents and their beliefs and their values that includes not Perpetuating parents beliefs in the classroom as well the discussion centers around.

What is education? What is the purpose of education? How should Christians think through that? Homeschool versus public school or private school.

Here's the deal before I jumped into this ministry before I was a pastor I was a public high school teacher, so let's have a very important discussion

Welcome back to wise disciple My name is Nate Zala, and I'm helping you become the effective Christian that you were meant to be

I'm a speaker currently and I was a pastor for a number of years, but before all of that I was a public high school teacher

I taught at Clark County in Las Vegas, Nevada If you are a parent if you're an educator your student yourself

Then this video is for you got a heated debate between Christian parents and liberal perhaps woke even

Teachers, why are we doing this today Nate great question Thanks for asking a lot of us Christians are trying to think through the question of education

Where should students go to get education? What kind of education is appropriate for students and a lot of parents both?

Christian and non -christian are answering the question with homeschool But how did we get here? Is there a breakdown of trust between parents and public educators and where does this breakdown of trust come from?

That's what I would like to talk about in this video, so let's look at a vice debate between Again, Christian parents and liberal maybe progressive woke teachers

We'll find out on what the purpose of education is who has the right to say what students learn

Should parents not have a say at all in that they also disagree about what's better public private or homeschool

So we're gonna get into it by the way real quick Make sure to check out the wise disciple store where you can get a shirt like this

This is part of our peace series up at the store God is bringing Shalom back to the world one soul at a time and we can participate in that.

Amen a Lot of great stuff at the store. I hope you check it out. All right without further ado.

Let's jump right in here Let's just start really broadly. What's the purpose of education?

I think the purpose of education is twofold one to help build and support the individual but also help build and support society as a whole because Even though you may not have a kid in education

You pay taxes to a public school because we as a society depend on and need

Education for society to work. I think the purpose of education is to so I understand these kinds of videos are

Heavily edited and so there may have been more that this educator said but this answer is

I don't know pretty vague. I Don't even know what she means You know, she could be saying lots of different things here, you know to to build and support individuals and societies, okay, how

To what end right? I mean if this were some kind of teacher objective written on the whiteboard inside a classroom

There would be no way to measure that Now I have my answer to this question Maybe you have your answer, but let's hear some of the other answers first educate and not indoctrinate

And I think that in a lot of ways we've strayed from that in the original purpose of what it's supposed to be I think it should be

Intelligence and character I think you should Be able to understand the world around you and understand who you are and your purpose and try to make the world a better place

I think that has to be a mix of the skills, you know memorizing the formulas, you know understanding the world around you

But then also what to do with it and just so I agree with this answer and this pretty close to my answer you know the purpose of education is to Develop the skill sets of the next generation so that they can use those skill sets to become productive members of society and To develop their character so they know how best to use those skill sets in order to bless or or flourish

The society that we live in there's a beautiful line in Jeremiah 29 7

As a matter of fact take a look at this Jeremiah 29 verse 7 says But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile and pray to the

Lord on its behalf For in its welfare, you will find your welfare in the city's welfare

God's people will find their welfare and This fits into the grander picture of what

God is doing in the world Which again is bringing Shalom back to the world Shalom means peace And so we as Christians right as Christ's Shalom makers or peacemakers

Jesus said something to say about that in the Gospels We should be transforming the whole world into the garden

The garden that we find in the beginning of Genesis and we should be training our children to have that same mindset through Whatever particular trade or skill set they develop.

I mean, there's a lot more to say about this biblically So, let me give you a couple more things to think about right

Proverbs 16 16 says that wisdom is better than fine gold

Right to get understanding. It's better than choice silver and the word there in the

Hebrew for wisdom It can also refer to Technical training, you know technical skills

That's why in Ephesians 6 4. Well, look at this Ephesians Look at this

Ephesians 6 4 fathers. Hello It fathers do not provoke your children to anger.

But here it is bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord So Ephesians 6 tells fathers bring your children up right again paying close attention to the language here the the original language the word for discipline is

Paideia, which is the Greek word for education and So the Bible places the responsibility of education on the father on the parents and so Education, however, that looks for different families, right?

Especially right now in today's culture It must be aligned with God's desires for our children

The Greeks understood this to a degree as well. They knew as do Christians that Paideia It's not just technical training for a job

It's also the formation of the mind in keeping with a good and moral character So that's why

I say we should be thinking about the same things when it comes to education development of skill

Yes, but also development of a student's character to go off that the idea that education

You have to balance the importance of memorizing the quadratic formula while simultaneously addressing social and political issues

Respectively so children have both the know -how general knowledge and also kind of self -awareness and character

So they're able to develop their own opinions. Yeah, I think that's the purpose of Yeah, I'm gonna disagree

I'm gonna disagree with that and I'll probably circle back around to this but you know While children should be encouraged in later years like in adolescent years to develop their own opinions about certain things the idea that all of education is

Creating an environment for children to you know, they just make up their own minds about everything. That's a recipe for disaster and That's you know,

I don't know what this person is suggesting here, but we're at the beginning of the video here But I'm just I'm trying to create some helpful distinctions as we go along So in other words, there's no way freshmen in high school are going to have the requisite base knowledge of ethics to start determining

What is the best course of action with regard to moral dilemmas? Whether they wrestle with these like in reading literature or studying history or even ethics they first need to be taught foundational principles so they can go back to that well and they can draw from that well in order to think for themselves later and When they're being directly taught foundational principles that should not be open to debate

So in case you were wondering yes, I'm more of a classical style educator Education is to understand the world that you exist in and use that understanding as a means for Creating change or even understanding yourself on a deeper level

Activist we have an activist in the room, right? Did you hear the activism in that in that definition?

All right Be quiet Nate believe the purpose is simply just to prepare the individual to be successful in the society that they exist in critical thinking

Learn how to live out your full potential so you can be independent and everything else really flows from there

The purpose of education is to prepare children for the real life and also make sure that they are literate so I think the purpose is to raise the next generation of leaders and when you think about what you want your leaders to Be like you want them to be knowledgeable and you want them to be compassionate.

You want them to be self -aware You want them to understand the best way to move forward not just for themselves personally, but for their whole community when we do

So that's the whole room. So we heard from the whole room and I want you to notice the majority of the folks in this room

Articulated the purpose of education without talking about shaping character at all

Did you notice that a couple of people did one that I can remember particularly but the rest did not and so That raises an interesting question

Because I would say that this is where a lot of the clash lies Right, and maybe you've not really wrestled with this yourself all that much

But here's the question is shaping a student's character one of the fundamental purposes of education

Some of you at this point are probably thinking of you know public education I'm not talking about public education or private or homeschool right at this moment.

I'm just talking about education overall Does education entail shaping a student's character actually, let me know in the comments right now

Whatever you think I'll circle back around this is live. So I'll circle back around and see if I can get your answers

What do you think because my answer is yes, it absolutely does as A matter of fact, there is no classroom teacher that does not already say and do things to shape his or her students

Character education is already happening. It's just a given talk about who's doing the educating who should decide

What's being taught parents? I think that parents should have a huge say in what's going on in the classroom because it's their kids not ours

As a public school teacher 15 years, I have always I was always aware that these are not my children

We have to make sure that we're respecting parents and their beliefs and their values I think the Constitution agrees with that.

Yeah, I'm here in America ranging back to the early 1900s Plenty of Supreme Court cases have ruled in that favor that it is the parents right ultimately to decide a child's education

Medical needs etc. I wouldn't push back though and say that there does need to be collaboration, right? I completely respect your idea of it is not our job as educators to put forth a belief in front of children, right?

That includes not perpetuating parents beliefs in the classroom as well in my opinion That would be keeping a non biased viewpoint simply presenting issues and then allowing kids to decide for themselves.

I would That is absolutely ridiculous Okay, notice the way this person is talking about it.

We should collaborate with parents guys But then what that really amounts to is

Determining which beliefs and values that should be taught in alignment with parents and then which ones to reject, right?

But then again, the question is still the same who gets to say which to teach in which to reject

According to this person. The answer is well the teacher in the classroom gets to say But wait a sec.

Does the teacher have beliefs and values? Doesn't the teacher determine which of the parents values to reject based on the teacher's own values

So this isn't a non biased enterprise at all. There is no one who is Unbiased you assume biases going into this discussion, but you should never believe that the classroom is an unbiased environment

That is that is hot caging garbage fire That's just that's just not true. And the teacher is

Biased that's the thing, you know, of course, they're biased if they're breathing thinking person and they have a heartbeat They have a set of values because guess what everyone does

Agree that I think it needs to be a collaborative effort The way that we decide curriculum in Texas is that work groups comprised of community members educators parents?

Even in some cases students and public service officials come together to draft curriculum plans

And then it's ultimately decided on by our State Board of Education, which has a lot of kind of assistance from parents as well so I think that that that kind of format can be really effective because it also empowers students to become involved in the fate of Their education as a student myself

I think that that's incredibly important because our perspectives need to be heard as well The voices of parents need to be heard in that equation

But unfortunately what we've seen recently is that parents whose voices have been demonized in this process You've seen parents who've criticized local school boards labeled terrorists

Simply for caring about the quality of the of their education that their child is receiving these teachers are temporary

Caretakers when they come back home. It's the parent who has to explain that This is this radical belief that was put in front of you

This was this idea that you've never been raised around that that parent now has to explain and at the end of the day

That isn't just confined to a classroom now What's bleeding into their upbringing and there's only one person responsible for the upbringing and it's the parents

It's not the educators not the teacher It's their parents. The reason why I wanted to look at this discussion with you

Is because I think that this vice debate is a wonderful microcosm of a huge Disagreement going on around the country right now and this disagreement.

It seems like it's just getting amped up every year And if you're a parent or an educator or even a student you're probably aware of this disagreement

Or you're at least sensing the tension between you know Say parents and educators specifically if I can characterize this tension in a helpful way, which is really why

I just wanted to do this video I just want to put words to this. Okay It's largely not because of academics

It's because of values In other words the educators of today many of them do not share the values of parents today

Particularly Christians and that's primarily where the clash exists Okay, so again putting words to this right to what maybe many of you are sensing

But just have not been able to articulate and so again, this raises an interesting question if the purpose of education is to equip students with skills in order to become productive members of society and To develop and shape their character in order to use those skills.

Well Then what happens when the educators no longer share the same values as the parents?

This was not even a discussion several decades ago because even though many people several decades ago were not

Christian they at least shared the same basic values as Christians as parents today

But that is increasingly shifting as each year goes by and that means this is the six million dollar question that everyone should be wrestling

With what should we do when more and more educators and administrators no longer share our values

I like the idea of the collaboration and obviously parents voices belong at that table I also like the emphasis on students having a say in this and also other people that adults that aren't parents

I'm invested in that too even though I don't have children of my own and And I hear what you're saying about having to like parents needing to confront or address

I guess like what kids are learning at school but Giving kids the exposure to other ideas or other things that they wouldn't be exposed to otherwise is

I think part of what's gonna help? Raise the next generation of people that are able to look outside their own lived experience

But I think the language that is being used right now in this discussion is entirely unhelpful To draw a proper clash, right?

So if you've seen some of my debate videos This is what I mean clash clash is when you get two interlocutors together and they wrestle with issues

That's that's what you're looking for in a good debate is clash Right, so I'm just putting on my debate teachers had for a moment

In order to do that you have to define terms So what does this person who just spoke this teacher?

What do they mean by ideas? What what do some of these folks mean by collaborate right?

I I want parents voices at the table. What does that mean? Do you want their voices but not their values?

Is that what that means that actually would be a really good question to ask that's the question that I would ask if I were on the panel

These kinds of Clarification and diagnostic questions need to be asked if we're gonna have a proper disagreement on this issue

And again, it comes back to values, right? So you're gonna maybe get tired of me hitting this same guitar note, but it's about values

Some of you are probably thinking yourself. Oh, this person doesn't have parents. Therefore. They don't have a right to say no

It doesn't matter that they don't have children Yeah, they that's why they this person doesn't have children

So they don't have a right to say it doesn't matter that you know, they have kids or they don't have kids What matters is do their values align with ours?

That's it. Somebody who has no children can still share our values guys That's right

Notice to that that final sort of you know ending to that to that sentence there, right?

They said let's help people Look outside their own lived experience

Okay, that usually is a code phrase for postmodern progressivist views of truth

Do you remember this I talked about this in the unbelievable debate between Calvin Robinson and dr.

Espinoza Did you see that one? You can go take a look at it. It's in pastor reacts there in the playlist

Truth according to progressive folks is a social construct It's not an objective fact that is discovered and people's lived experiences.

There's the code phrase They they help to construct that truth Okay, that's why somebody's lived experience is incredibly important to progressivists, right?

Let's let's bring this and put it on the table, too Now do any of these people know that on the panel here?

I'm fairly certain, you know, this particular teacher does who use the phrase, but does anybody else?

Maybe not That's why it's important to find definitions of terms in these discussions

So you can get at the heart of the issue and you can truly clash or else This conversation will not be as productive as it could be

I think that oftentimes those different ideas are presented in the classroom as a student as the only idea when you're being taught that Oh this there's you know, this many genders or anything like this where you haven't been exposed to that in your own household

It's being presented as like the end -all be -all when it actually isn't it's about educating and not Indoctrinating as long as it's that is presented as a counterpoint to well

There's people who believe this but there's also people who believe this that's okay The reality of it is is that in most classrooms across the country that isn't what's happening and to piggyback off of that one

Side is labeled as a bigot white supremacist homophobic there's a lot of parents in America that are

Christian or you know, they believe in two genders gender binary and If you say that as a teacher, especially you could be labeled as homophobic.

So there isn't this Unbiased classroom because there's one side that can't really be you know as Loud as the other side without risk of you know, losing our jobs even but you two are kind of the ones that brought in The conflict of like there is an indoctrination going on and only one side

It has this opinion and this side is not allowed to talk and we have to be quiet when really you guys are actually

The loudest in regards to this issue thus far, right? I wouldn't necessarily say that that's the quiet What I would say though is like I I do want to push away if possible and I'm but I'd love for you to hear

This right is that idea of someone sees me and they go Oh, you're one of those that teach that there's 72 different types of gender doesn't

Fambrini He him gender -fluid bisexual my students do not know this because it doesn't come out cuz

I'm a learning specialist And it's my job to educate and teach a curriculum right now I'm asked directly by a parent or if there's confusion

Oh, why do you wear makeup same reason why girls do because it's fun for me It doesn't need to be this very controversial.

I'm gonna mess with this child's upbringing They're gonna go home and they're gonna turn into a gender fluid and they're gonna think there's 72 genders

I think that's a quick what the What so let me get this straight this teacher

Desmond says His students don't know that he's LGBT Cuz they don't talk about it,

I guess but wait a sec Parents go to him and ask why he is a biological male wearing makeup

What are the parents get the idea to ask this question? Do you think it's because their child came home with the same question?

Come on? That's that's that's utterly ridiculous. My students don't know that I'm LGBT Unless they like actually look at me with their eyes and see my face

Right, like just does anyone actually believe that the students have no idea what's going on with this person with Desmond.

I Look, I bring this up simply to point this out There is no such thing as an unbiased classroom or an unbiased teacher

This is literally Desmond is literally the same person who claimed a few minutes ago. There is no bias in classrooms guys

And it's obvious they are biased they're totally biased why because everyone is and The sooner we can wrap our minds around that the sooner we can actually cut through the noise and have a better conversation about education

You say you should go ask your parents about how they feel about that. Well, okay Okay Teachers are supposed to teach reading math science the things that are actually gonna make them contributors of society

Answering a child's questions about whether or not men or women should be wearing makeup or not is I don't think within that realm

Okay, so you said science, right? And so we're talking about a physical science talking about human anatomy and biology here So a child says

I thought boys could not wear makeup. I have an X &Y chromosome and I'm wearing makeup I could factually answer that without indoctrinating with any opinion, but it's in no way scientific

Your answer that question. How is that not scientific? I would say maybe cultural or it's a perception or an opinion, but it's in no way scientific anyone else

It's it's not scientific. It's an issue of values Again, are you seeing this for yourself?

It's not about facts. It's not about science It's about whether men should express themselves this way and why that matters.

That's an issue of values So he so here's the question that follows Because this is an issue of values why

Desmond should you be the one inculcating your values to students Did parents get a vote on whether your values are part of the curriculum?

They want their children to learn. I Didn't I think that's a much more interesting question.

I am a chatty person So I'm gonna take a pause and I'm going to let's see if anyone else So I just had one question for you because not all homes are are welcoming or open to conversation or safe So, how do we how do we balance that?

I think that what we're saying is that there's certain conversations that are not to be had with a teacher and I think that the

Argument that a lot of people on the right and conservatives are making is that we just don't feel as if actors of the state

Should be having conversations that are taxpayer funding conversations with children about Conversations that have not come up in their own households and to that point if you can't talk about God in the classroom

Why can we talk about every gender under the Sun? Right. I think that's the the the conundrum that we find ourselves in if we are banning those conversations

We've banned those a long time ago Then how can we have these conversations just because they're belong to a different side of the political app?

So I think we actually talk about God in the classroom all the time, right? Yeah, who's taught religion who's taught world religions who's taught like history in the way that you know puritans of like me and that's okay

Because God is part of the fabric of history and whatever else about it from a development perspective This is how Christianity original

Islam originate Talk about like this is what this gender is and this is if you feel this way then there's gender affirmation therapy all those things

I think you so This this young man gets so close to saying it and then he just stops short

It's about values y 'all So so we teachers do teach about God in the classroom

I did as well as as a literature teacher, especially as I went through early American literature with students

God was on the lips in the minds of early American authors, right? You can't miss it So so from hey like a historical perspective

Different teachers can broach the subject of God in the classroom But what about whether or not believing in God should be normative for students today?

Or or normative for the average person in society That's a question of values and that's the question that should be posed to all these teachers

Can someone teach about the fact that many people believe in more than one gender

I think you can I Think you should actually even as a Christian parent

Christian teacher, whatever I think students should know what's happening in society today but is the subject being taught in a very factual clinically descriptive way or is it also being taught as normative and If so, why is it being taught as normative?

That's a conversation that as far as I can tell most parents are just not having with educators and if they are having it

It's like ah, they're trying to but but it's not clearly articulated and that's not very productive

All right. Hey real quick We're having what I think is probably one of the most important conversations to have

I would really love for more people to know about this. Would you help me by liking and subscribing to the channel?

I really do try to make Videos that have a lot of value for you guys

So if you could help me by liking and subscribing, I'd greatly appreciate it. All right back to the video

Actually bring up a really good parallel of like I feel comfortable and I feel like it is Okay to talk about identity issues the same way we talk about God not

Indoctrinating anyone not telling this is what you have to be or you have to believe but saying this is something that some people believe

But in the sense of gender identity, I don't see that parallel How is that making someone more literate more successful?

What I hear you saying is that learning about different gender identities does not make somebody a more considerate well -rounded person

But learning about different religions does make you a more considerate. I'm saying that is a part of history I don't understand where gender identity falls and what we should be teaching religious history and really

God comes into play in terms of History cool, but don't gay people and trans people too It's not like I'm the first transgender person to ever walk this earth like there are trans people that were in and gay people who were part of major movements in this country like from the civil

Rights movement to the feminist movement to I mean obviously Stonewall like isn't that part of history, too?

Let's just take a step back. So just show of hands who here thinks public school is the best option for kids Okay, and who thinks private school is the best option for kids?

Who thinks home school is the best option for kids and then some of you guys didn't raise your hands at all

It's so challenging to pick one right answer for that because essentially what you're asking is who do you trust the most with your children?

Who do you trust to give them the cultural values that I have and then fill in the gaps where I don't necessarily know the answer

But I trust that they're experts and are going to give my children the attention that they need in Order to develop so that they can be a better version of themselves.

So this is my guy this guy Who just spoke knows what's going on?

He knows that it comes down to trusting educators to inculcate values into students just as much as it is

You know training them and equipping them math skills science all that stuff The answer to this question right home school private school public school.

The answer is depends on your situation and location Maybe there are some great private schools with teachers, you know that share your values and maybe

Now this is challenging for some of you to hear right? Maybe it's public school Maybe there are public schools where there are

Christians in the classroom Maybe there are public schools where there are Christians as administrators.

I know they exist. I wasn't the only Christian in a public school guys Now, let's let's let's just look at it from all angles.

That's becoming less and less of a reality as time goes on. I Acknowledge that but it still is technically true that these situations exist for students.

Okay but maybe the reality is home school is the only option where students get equipped and Their character is developed in positive ways as well

But it's just I hear this so much with with Christians who talk to other Christians about the education issue

They say ah, it's just this one thing guys. It's just this one thing home school is it's only home school guys.

It's not It's not a one -size -fits -all solution and anybody telling you that it's only

Public school, it's only private school. It's only home school. They're not helping you think through your options clearly enough if I had to Choose one.

It's public school. It is The best tool we have to give everybody a chance at a good education

No matter where you come from how much money you have public schools where not everybody thinks the same and people are coming from All walks of life is a good like microcosm of that global experience

Where you can learn critical thinking skills and learn how to be a good community member because not everybody looks like you or thinks like You tell you're shaking your head

Well, first of all, our schools are more segregated ever than our public schools, especially in blue states

New York and California have the most segregated schools and on top of that by the way self segregated self sick the students are segregating themselves and In some cases being very vocal and morally self -righteous in the fact that they are self segregating

Which is just stunning to see we are in a place where our public schools are not safe Especially the last 20 years and I just don't see why sending our kids to these environments where it's unsafe

We also used to be I because I used to be on the left We used to be against the institutionalization of our children.

These kids are being institutionalized having these places where there's 2 ,000 3 ,000 kids

I'm okay with public school But the problem with it is that it's become an environment where it's just almost like like the prison to the school to prison

Pipeline we used to talk about that in the 90s We're not talking about that anymore and I think that's something that parents need to wake up about and American needs to wake up about the institutionalization of our children as I talk about the school to prison pipeline

Yeah all day every day and I hear what you're saying. Yeah, the school to prison pipeline refers to the idea that Zero tolerance policies at schools

Affects students in ways that set them up for prison for prison time So if you have zero tolerance policies and students continue to get in trouble and like eventually they get expelled they'll eventually land in jail as juveniles and adults and And folks track this and call this the school to prison pipeline

That's it That's what they mean when they're referring to that saying that it's terrible that there are parents who are sending their kids to schools that Are not safe.

However, what about the parents that don't have a choice? Like I'm thinking about like the most marginalized community when

I said public schools here because I agree with you the public schools have a lot of work to do to become the safe places where our kids are not in institutions where they're ignored or not giving the services they need and Also for the people that don't have a choice and that is the only option their kids have

I just believe that's worth fighting For that's why I said absolutely. I'm a big advocate for school choice Well, why don't we just show of hands who who believes in school choice?

Can you specify like what so that's where parents can apply the money that they pay to taxes

They get vouchers and they can put that into any school that they want It's very popular in red states right now and a lot of blue states are against it

Especially teachers unions are against it because it's taking money away from the public schools and creating more of a competitive market, right?

Yeah, why I wouldn't raise my hand. Yeah Yeah, sometimes with school choice it gets a little bit tricky, right?

I had my first class had the first day I had 25 students by day two I had 19 because six parents switched out of the class because they saw me and they were like There's no freaking way before I even got a word in as a parent

I would want to know like do you not think that that is okay or their right to withdraw when they seen you because Ultimately, you're probably an excellent educator.

I appreciate that Um, I have no doubt about that But I think we we get into muddy waters when we start trying to take that choice away from the parent

Do I think that it is? Okay for a parent to see me and go not around my kid no,

I don't think that's okay I feel like that's really crossing the line because you are for lack of better words

Discriminating against me openly that's like seeing a black teacher and being like there's no way it is the same

It is the same. It's it is not at all Not at all

You see how this kind of stuff can be said when again when we don't

Acknowledge where the true clash lies it lies around values If parents are kids, it's not about this person's a decision, you know to do what they want

In terms of who they love or whatever It's about their values now as some of you are thinking well, but you can't disentangle the both

I'm just saying the parents decision to pull students is

Because it largely entails the fact that they're they don't want their children to learn the values that are gonna come from Somebody that doesn't share their values

In this particular way that Desmond does right if parents are concerned You know

That's what this is about. It's about it's about a bisexual man who challenges societal norms by wearing makeup on his face

Parents are thinking you're going to inculcate those values in their children Particularly at ages that parents believe students are too young to even broach those specific subjects in the first place

So again when you understand that this is about values Then you can quickly see that this is not discrimination over skin color or anything else as a matter of fact

I bet you'll find a large number of parents that are tolerant of LGBT folks teaching their students as long as they trust

That LGBT values will not be inculcated in them But see now we're back to the very issue at hand parents

Do not trust liberal educators any longer and that explains the behavior of parents pulling their students from certain classroom

So we're right of the parent to make that decision as to whether or not they want their child to learn from you

Okay, like it's still that parents, right? Like you can disagree with their motivations or motives their ideas Would you say that's still their chart this started around school choice?

Even if you want to decide on a different learning environment for your kid The people that do not have the option to send their child to a different place the bar should not be so low and that's that's my concern with school choice is that sometimes people think that if every if Everyone flees to the suburbs who is teaching in these schools where everyone has decided they don't want the tax dollars going to you

And that's that's one of the big concerns with funding of education being the way that it's set up It essentially makes it so that the people that are stuck with these as their options

Don't end up with as good a school and everyone deserves to have their kid go to a good school Well, if there's nah

Well, I'll circle back around that one. The question is how do you measure whether or not a school is good?

What is the metric to determine that? Because I got news for you. It's not simply money for better technology and free and reduced lunches

You have to consider the content of the education which again brings it right back to Equipping and values and for some fascinating reason the ones who are against school choice

Many of them also happen to be against traditional values weird how that works out guys school choice

They won't be stuck with those options. They can have other options. That's the whole point of that Also, it is the school district's job to appropriately use those budgets

Most of the budget in the schools aren't going to the teachers We got cafeteria workers janitors all of these people that are getting paid

It used to be nine out of ten people that were employees of schools and districts were teachers now

It's 5050. So there is some mismanagement of funds in this country We actually fund our kids really well

Just to go back a little bit to like when you guys are raising your hands about the different choices You raise your hand for homeschooling.

Can you talk us through like why why do you think homeschooling is the best option? I mean look at the history of this country a lot of people were homeschooled a lot of our founders were homeschooled like they

Were they only went to school till third grade a lot of them and I think what has happened is parents have

Decided that the government is going to do a better job at raising their children than themselves we have also come to a place where school is taking up the majority of our day and We have this mistrust of parents that they can't educate their own children.

And I think that that's wrong I think that a lot of parents and if you look at homeschool data like my friend bill right here

He's got seven kids and he's homeschooling that homeschooling them all and actually homeschool kids are turning out really well

I think you bring up a lot of very valid points But I have to say and I just want your opinion on this I would never homeschool my own kids and I want my kids to be smarter than than me that I ever was

How am I going to have a child that is smarter and does better than I do if I'm their only teacher?

You grow alongside your child. Okay, I think as a teacher I feel like I've learned the most in my life as a teacher like more so than in college and you know

So parents becoming teachers actually good for them as well Okay, and then even in the public schools a lot of teachers are relying on the lesson plans

But speaking from experience, I got to give the credit where it's due My wife does the homeschooling in it and I've watched that process of her learning alongside, you know to make sure when they ask these questions

I'm getting knowledge on the material as well so I can help you get through it Nothing replaces that value that bonding time that she gets to have with the kids

I taught high school for six years and I quit and I am I'm a stay -at -home mom with my own kids

So we're a one -income family. We're lucky enough to be able to live off of my husband's salary

Would you say that most homeschool families have one parent working? I do think the statistics show that that is the case

It's like the only way to do it. Well pretty much and you know, another misconception though Is that they think it's a matter of income and homeschool families have to be rich and etc

And I think the average homeschool family makes like 65 K So the reality is they're scaling back and making sacrifices for this lifestyle because they value what is coming out of it

So let's just say that for the people that homeschool isn't an option what is for so many people it's not

I do not think that school choice is the way to go about that Which I know is a lot of people's answer to that.

Yeah, I don't think the criticisms of school choice have a great argument The the effects of parents pulling their students from schools for better educational options

You know clearly has a detrimental effect on the public school You know,

I you know, the question that nobody is asking parents is what is causing you to pull your students from that school in the first place

If they did ask parents, I bet the school would learn that the reason is actually fixable without the use of a lot of state funds

Because in many cases again, it comes back to shared values and that doesn't cost a school anything to align its values to parents

By the way, I so I've been saying values this whole time. I don't want you to get the wrong idea I'm not talking about theological values, right?

Like I'm not talking about biblical values I mean, I it is included in what i'm saying But I also just mean it like the category is bigger.

I also mean values with regard to strong work ethic Right, like like you'll find a difference in values between say a private school

Uh, or even a lot of charter schools and a lot of public schools when it comes to minimum minimum f

Right or equitable grading And minimum f is it's where a child gets an automatic 50 percent even though they don't do anything for the assignment.

They just automatically begin with a minimum f A lot of people including myself would argue that the effects of minimum f leads to a decrease in a child's work ethic

And the that effect is values based it goes back to what I was saying It's more than equipping a student to be productive

It's also about inculcating values in order for these students to know how to use their skills.

Well Are there other concerns like, you know, like, uh, Safety and academic rigor and availability of technology that causes parents to utilize school choice.

Sure But we cannot ignore the fact that parents want schools to inculcate values into their children

And i'm not hearing anyone talk about that when it comes to these discussions. Can we just get get sean in here? What's your what are your thoughts on the school choice gives people an exit ramp?

You get to send your kid to a school that best fits what you think is best for their development At the end of the day, it's kitchen table conversations about we've worked hard to raise a family

We want to spend our money in a way that best fits our child best fits our family And when you don't have school choice, you do make those trade -offs.

There are real consequences there The school is Is considered one of those shared spaces one of those last kind of shared spaces where you might bump into someone who maybe comes

From a different background than you has a different ideology than you What do you lose if you homeschool and then you're not putting yourself in these kind of situations?

What you lose is negative influences One of the biggest things I think when it comes to homeschool is keeping my kids away from your bad kids

We've went and taken our children to pride parades and you know what I mean? We've been there we've been loving and we showed support to the people there

But at the same time we explain our views on the matter that we believe marriage is between a man and a woman and from experience

And talking to people I understand that a lot of people who choose that lifestyle It is based on trauma a lot of were molested or sexually assaulted as children

So I don't think it's okay for me to teach to my stitch incoming You can see something brewing look at look at edmund's face

I forget this person's name edmund Something's about to happen children and this is something normal. We ought to accept when it doesn't progress society

We would not be able to procreate if everybody were to choose that lifestyle So I think it's okay for me as a parent to say hey

This exists that exists, but this is our view on it. And this is how we want to present it to them

Do you think it's somewhat problematic that you're going like well This is our viewpoint that marriage is between a man and a woman because we can't move society forward with gay couples

Like we have factually proven that incorrect I can literally I could actually tell you that gay parents on average make

Exceptional parents and do exceptional things with kids because they adopt and they only adopt kids when they are financially capable

Which actually makes kids of gay parents actually more successful and academically competent So gay parents actually are very good at moving society forward and we have this decision to prove that be a long -term solution

Though if a large population chose to choose that lifestyle, there would be no children Nobody's choosing this lifestyle.

That's an opinion. Okay It's just okay. Sorry. Did you choose to be straight sir?

I've been teaching for 15 years So have I I will say that there is some kids now that are going for that community

That are doing it. I got not out of a genuine and there's pockets of them too Like you'll notice like friend groups of girls that will all of a sudden decide that they're now trans the idea of lgbtq being

This is a great point Uh that this lady just brought up Did you catch that I I saw this in the classroom as well

In the last couple of years that I was in the classroom before I retired and became a pastor I saw more and more students identifying as trans particularly young women

The new york times wrote an article about this last year Uh, they noted the cdc's findings that just in the last few years the number of young people who identify as trans has almost doubled

Younger people are disproportionately identifying as trans When you remember that four out of five youth who are gender questioning or gender confused

Essentially grow out of it Did you know that? By the way that this one i'm talking about right here.

Not the finding is of christians. This is from a psychiatrist who has presided over Uh a decade's worth of youths who have transitioned.

That's this is the doctor's findings So what these parents are pointing out like right now As a real phenomena that's really happening and that needs some kind of explanation.

Let's see what happens next Friending and the idea of teaching kids that being gay is a choice.

Those are two very so I answer that Yes, I chose to be straight. Absolutely So when you can you tell us about it like like you like so you actually

Be attracted to me if you wanted to be absolutely Most people have no clue that in 2023 best way to make money on the best part is ads is not with physical

Life and let me explain I have seen Transgendered people who I thought were born female that were very attractive

I didn't know now once I find out that that's not what you are I am choosing not to pursue that that's what

I mean So yes, you can be attracted to someone that is of another gender. Let's talk about what what do you think?

Should be taught about gender identity in school. What do you think is being taught? I just want to I want to go back to something you were saying earlier

That's related to this about like you're seeing trends and I am too right last semester when I was teaching everyone is seeing the trend everyone

What what people need especially from the lgbtq community is an explanation for this trend

I had a trans kid in every classroom and I was like, whoa when I started teaching it was wine in school Yeah, and I was like this is wow and they were really for it too

They like went for it and i'm hearing you that that is something i'm seeing too in the classrooms fair Okay Now i'm not gonna presume to be in the heads of those kids and to understand like what's real for them or whatever

But I will tell you this. It's a head scratcher guys. I don't know what I don't know what's going on I don't know.

We just embraced lgbtq values in the last couple of decades it started with television and you know the will and grace and all this stuff and I don't know why kids are

All of a sudden there's like this trending thing going on Especially among young females that are all of a sudden explosion of of of identifying as trans man.

That's a head scratcher guys I I have no idea what's happening historically speaking a disproportionate Number of kids who are gay who are trans or any of the lgbtqia fill in the letters, right?

Didn't live to see adulthood Maybe that's we don't why we don't part of why we don't have an older generation of trans adults because I attended a funeral of a

Trans student last month a lot of them didn't make it and so when I hear my kids like feeling comfortable enough

To try expressing something where maybe it wouldn't be they wouldn't be able to do in other spaces

And I understand that maybe okay, so that's an acknowledgement that it's a choice Which you

I thought you dismissed this earlier, right? And so now well, they've maybe they feel comfortable enough to try it guys That's an acknowledgement that it's a choice, right?

Did you just do that? It's not you want for you your kids, but i'm thinking about the most marginalized and vulnerable people and unfortunately statistically

For our just our queer youth disproportionately. They fall in that category mind you so this issue

I'm trying to stay on track. This was this is about education guys. Okay, this is The issue of an explosion of youth

Identifying as trans It is an issue I mean, what is it there? There are currently What's the numbers?

Um, there are currently only seven percent of the population that are between ages 13 to 25 right now

Seven percent of the population and yet within that age bracket twenty percent um are trans

When you see this explosion What you are seeing is the effect of the values of lgbt being inculcated to youth

And i'm not even talking about at school. I'm talking about in culture. I'm talking about in movies. I'm talking about music social media

These specific values are being taught and i'm proposing to you That the explosion of youth identifying as trans is the direct result of young people being influenced by these values

So that brings us right back to the issue once again When it comes to schools, what are the values that a school and a classroom teacher should be furthering?

Because there is no such thing as neutral unbiased spaces for students Every teacher is inculcating values in the classroom.

And as parents we should know what they are We should know what to expect And if these values don't align with ours

We should absolutely have the right to make necessary changes to pull our children and take them somewhere

Where their character is being shaped in alignment with our christian convictions So now i'm gonna i'm gonna speak as a christian now right uh to take it back to school choice there are

There are a lot of myths surrounding school choice Um, I heard some furthered by a couple of people on the panel there

But I would encourage you to take a look at it. If you're interested in going deeper I think uh, we'll bring this to a close where i'm gonna stop in an hour here

Uh give you a couple of pieces of literature here Say a few things Uh, one of the books to take a look at uh, so with regard to school choice, it's

I think it's called school choice myths Uh by deangelis and mccluskey, okay

Some of the myths that the book tackles is that school choice is racist That school choice creates, uh segregation

That it takes money away from public schools. This is just not true um

Let me give you another book to to help you think through this issue Um, if you're trying to understand and define for yourself what the purpose of education is what it looks like Take a look at howard.

Hendricks, uh book teaching to change lives Hendricks was a christian Uh and mentored if I remember correctly, he mentored dallas willard and jp morland

Okay I discovered hendricks when I was in grad school I was a grad student to become a teacher and he blew my mind now teaching to change lives is like this thick

Okay, so if you're not a book reader, you don't love to read you can still get through it guys.

It's not a slog Um, as a matter of fact, I would pull it back out and reread it every year that I was teaching just to refresh

Okay Some parting thoughts, you you know, you know what my purpose is, you know

What what my answer to the purpose of education is it's about skills. It's about character development

So then which institution should we trust to do the job? right Uh, should we just homeschool?

and my answer is as long as Whatever you choose aligns with your values and you trust the institution will develop skills and character in your child go with it

That could be public school guys for some of you out there your situation that could be you I know a lot of christians adamantly opposed to all public school

Okay, i've said this before There are public schools that exist that still teach values aligned with our christian convictions.

The number of them are shrinking Okay, that doesn't mean they don't exist But maybe it's private school, you know, maybe charter school

Maybe you feel like homeschool is the way to go. The wonderful thing is If you're intentional and you know what the purpose of education is

You have options But whatever you choose remember the bible holds you responsible for your child's education.

I'll End with this ephesians 6 4 again fathers

Bring up your children in the discipline and instruction of the lord Okay, you are responsible for your child's education.

However, that looks Like a lot of people have a lot of questions about this So there's my parting thoughts. All right now it's your turn. What do you think? What is the purpose of education?

What would you have said if you were sitting on this panel? I am I am thoroughly curious Do you ever do that you ever watch and you go man if I were up there i'd be like Giving him the one two three

Let me know in the comments below. I'd love to get your thoughts. I don't know where my voice went just then Uh, by the way, if you made it this far, thank you so much

You should join my patreon community guys. Come on I'm actually about to start a new series of videos at the patreon one actually on how to study the bible

Okay, so so my patreon community they're gonna help me by pilot testing it out for me

Okay, but listen, you'll also get early access to my videos. Uh, we'll get to chat more on one one -on -one there in patreon

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So Thanks everybody for joining me. Um I will return soon with more videos got uh got everybody in the live chat.

Love you guys really appreciate you um Yeah, but uh

I will return and uh, we will do it again next week. All right, uh, and in the meantime i'll say